With just 20 players left and $4.56 million dollars on the line in Episode 7, “Friend or Foe,” the stakes of Squid Game: The Challenge have literally never been higher. Imagine, then, the remaining players’ collective trepidation when the doors to the next game swing open, revealing a bridge suspended above a nearly pitch-black abyss, illuminated only by the twinkling of big-top lights. Laid out before them are shining, parallel rows of stepping stones that look like glass. The objective, of course, is to cross the “glass” bridge by choosing the correct panel — left or right — between the two in front of you. Step on the wrong one? You’re eliminated from the game, and your hopes of becoming a multimillionaire are dashed. Step on the right one? You have only a moment to celebrate before you — or someone else — has to risk it all again.
In the original scripted Squid Game series, the bridge was described as being made of two types of identical-appearing glass panels — one made of thin, normal glass, and the other of tempered glass. Those who landed on the regular glass broke through and fell to their deaths. Of course, the Squid Game: The Challenge bridge had to evoke the same sense of anxiety in its players, without actually putting them at risk, a task that games designer Ben Norman took on. The resulting game is a feat of design, engineering, and some of the most anxiety-inducing filmmaking reality television has ever seen.
Since the show couldn’t rely on shattering glass and 30-foot free falls to make a visual impact, executive producers Toni Ireland, John Hay, and Stephen Yemoh explain that they had to get creative about how to pull off a similar game — and how to do so safely.
According to Ireland, the steps themselves were made of Perspex, a type of clear acrylic, not glass. “The challenge was to make sure that every single stepping stone trapdoor was totally identical,” she says. “So the contestants never knew which one was a pass, and which one was a fail. Those doors had to withstand the weight of any contestant who stepped on them, and they needed to be triggered to open when it was safe to do so.” The pass-or-fail pattern of the stepping stones was also determined before the game began, and the pattern was so top-secret that only a small group of people on the production side knew exactly which stone was which. Independent adjudicators were used to oversee the game in progress to ensure nothing changed.
Ireland said the team watched the game play out behind the scenes, and each time a player stepped forward, a message over the loudspeaker would alert them as to whether they’d passed or failed. You might assume that players who failed would then fall through the trapdoors onto some kind of mat below — but the reality was a lot more complicated, and ultimately a lot safer.
“The ‘fall’ through the trapdoor was done by a stuntperson,” Hay says. “That fall takes specialist skills. We took the care and safety of our players incredibly seriously, so we shot as much as we possibly could with them, then, at the very last minute, we swapped them out for the stunt performers. The stuntperson shot and VFX is used for just that fall moment.”
Hay explains the full process went as follows: After each player stepped on a stone, they were notified if they’d passed or failed and their first reactions were captured on film. Then they quickly stepped aside for the stunt person to physically perform the fall. Although the final cut of the show makes it look like a long drop, the bridge was roughly 16 feet high with a nearly 6-foot-tall airbag positioned underneath — in other words, the stunt performers had to fall about 10 feet, and the additional “falling” seen in the episode was added with VFX.
“The [players’] reactions are all genuine,” Ireland tells Tudum. “Even though there was a little bit more process than what you see on screen, the emotions are still real. They’ve just seen their friend eliminated. They then have a difficult decision to make in order to stay in the game.”
The series of high-intensity eliminations seems to take its toll on the remaining players — especially in the instance of what happens between Ashley (Player 278) and Trey (Player 301). In the episode, right before TJ (Player 182), who’s been assigned to go first, takes his first step onto the bridge, Roland (Player 418) suggests everyone should take one step. In other words, if the first player chooses the correct stepping stone, the second player in line should leapfrog them. Then the third player in line should leapfrog both of them and make the next choice, ensuring that everyone would have a 50-50 chance at survival: Those who successfully passed one stone wouldn’t have to immediately choose again. After some back and forth, the players appear to come to a quick consensus — but it wasn’t quite that simple.
“They came up with a plan, but it was never totally agreed [upon],” Yemoh says. “It was spoken about, and it seemed like some people were up for it, but it was never set in stone. That’s what made that moment between Trey and Ashley quite complicated… She didn’t agree to do it. She didn’t make Trey jump [forward], but at the same time, she didn’t offer to leapfrog him like Marina did (and Marina was eliminated because of it). Some would say she was in the wrong for doing what she did, but some would say it’s her prerogative to strategize.”
Ultimately, the split decisions made in this moment set off a chain reaction that changes the trajectory of the game — and seals Trey’s fate. Ashley then takes a risk and steps forward.
“The pressure of the decision-making in that moment was fascinating to me,” Hay says. “They all walked onto the bridge thinking they were playing one way, and then an idea gets pitched on the platform that feels like there’s almost a pressure and obligation for everyone to sign up to. But they came out to play an individual game — and then some of those people start to have second thoughts about whether or not [playing as a group] is a good idea in a game that’s ultimately individual against individual.”
And in the spirit of Squid Game: The Challenge, there are never any perfect decisions.
“[The Trey and Ashley moment] shows the moral difficulty in playing a game like this,” Yemoh says, “especially when you’re trying to play as a group, but chances of winning that money are at stake.”
Watch Squid Game: The Challenge on Netflix, and follow along with our official Squid Game: The Challenge cast guide. To learn more about how Red Light, Green Light, was created and arbitrated, check out our detailed explainer.
