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YouTube star MrBeast created a real-life 'Squid Game' set and had people compete for $456,000

Squid Game
Still from MrBeast's Dalgona game in his real-life "Squid Game" next to the still from the show Youtube / MrBeast / Netflix

  • YouTube star MrBeast recreated Netflix's "Squid Game" at great expense.
  • 456 real-life contestants competed in the games for $456,000 provided by a video game company.
  • MrBeast said he spent $2 million to build the sets and $1.5 million in prizes.
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YouTube star MrBeast (real name Jimmy Donaldson) shared his recreation of "Squid Game," which included full-scale sets, costumes that looked just like the ones in the show, and cost a total of $3.5 million to recreate.

"Squid Game," Netflix's most-watched show of all time, is a Korean drama series about a group of morally-grey characters who take part in children's games with deadly twists in order to win enough money to pay off their debts. The violent aspect of the show was one of the things that kept audiences hooked on the show.

Following the success of the show, Donaldson, who is known for hosting large-scale YouTube competitions, pledged to recreate the show in real life if his TikTok video reached 10 million likes. The video quickly went above that target.

Squid Game recreation
MrBeast with contestants from his real-life "Squid Game" competition. YouTube / MrBeast

The competition went through the important sections of the TV series starting with "Red Light, Green Light." However, a mechanism attached to contestants would "explode" and stain their shirts when they were eliminated rather than them getting shot. The tug of war game and bridge jumping game also had foam underneath to stop contestants from falling to their deaths.

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In the final round, the contestants played musical chairs with their hands tied up instead of Squid Game, the Korean children's game the show is named after. In addition, Donaldson did not recreate the scene where all the contestants fight to whittle down numbers. Instead, they played Ddakji, the paper-throwing game that "Squid Game" protagonist Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) played in the first episode.

Squid Game Recreation
Still from contestant playing the bridge jumping game in MrBeast's video. YouTube / Mr Beast

Everyone in the video wore costumes inspired by the show including Donaldson who was wearing the Gamemaster's black clothing.

In the video, Donaldson said $3.5 million was spent on the real-life "Squid Game," which was partly sponsored by the video game "Brawl Stars." He said on Twitter earlier in the month that he spent "around 2 mil to build and produce and 1.5 mil in prizes" for the recreation video.

Disclosure: Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member.

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