John Hay and Stephen Yemoh (‘Squid Game: The Challenge’ executive producers): ‘Our mantra is ‘how you play is who you are'[Exclusive Video Interview]

“The big challenge is that we can’t plan this. We have no idea. 456 people turn up to that start line and we look at them all and say, ‘one of these is going to win; we have no idea which one it is going to be,” declares “Squid Game: The Challenge” executive producer Stephen Yemoh about the hit Netflix reality competition series. For our recent webchat Yemoh (who’s joined by fellow series executive producer John Hay) adds, “The nature of the games meant any slight error from their part could mean they’re gone. Our favorite people could go in the first 5 seconds of this game. That was the nature of it. It was really terrifying as producers, because all a producer wants to be is in control. But this show you had very little control.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.

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“Squid Game: The Challenge” is Netflix’s reality competition series based on the original Korean drama series blockbuster “Squid Game.” The Netflix original features a staggering 456 players (the largest reality TV cast ever) from all over the world competing for US $4.56 million, the largest single cash prize in reality television history. As the players compete through a series of games inspired by the original show (plus surprising new additions), their strategies, alliances and character are put to the test as competitors are eliminated around them, until one player remains as the winner of the huge cash prize and bragging rights as the first ever winner of the real-life (and thankfully less lethal) Squid Game.

“It’s a privilege to be able to start with source material this strong, but it’s also creates an enormous expectation,” Hay explains about the inherent pressure attached to adapting a popular pop culture touchstone. “Director Hwang had written such amazing storylines of trust, betrayal, friendship, sacrifice,” he says. “How do you create the conditions where those stories are going to play out without being able to write them? That was our biggest creative challenge in the whole thing. We thought of the whole thing all the way through as a giant test of character. Our mantra is ‘how you play is who you are.’ And I think a lot of the creative decisions were about creating the conditions for those storylines to play out in that way.”

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