07 December 2023 , 14:33
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She almost walked away £3.6million richer ($4.56million) after taking on the ultimate, life-changing test, Squid Game: The Challenge.
Bee Dee was the ideal player on paper, a brainy video game expert from London. Up against 456 others, the clever contestant gave it her all in Netflix's real-life competition based on the original South Korean series of the same name, released in 2021.
With the final wrapped on Thursday, making her 55-year-old co-star Mai Whelan a multi-millionaire, here Bee tells The Mirror all the behind-the-scenes secrets fans won't have known after watching the nail-biting series unfold. Bee survived almost all the way to the end, exiting on the role of a dice – but what did she find out?
Bee sits down with The Mirror after Squid Game: The Challenge (NETFLIX)Auditions and application process
In an exclusive sit down with The Mirror, Bee tells us getting on the show was actually quite simple, offering advice to anyone wanting apply for the freshly-announced second season. "I had an advert on my Twitter and I just applied for it," she explained.
"I didn't really think that much about it to be honest, I made a really rushed [audition]. I did two takes or something on my phone and sent it in, I did nothing else and forgot about it." Bee was later invited to several Zoom calls and follow-up conversations with producers before players had to have psychiatric and medical tests.
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Unbelievable set design
Once Bee passed all of the checks she was given a place in the show, becoming player 018, one thing she couldn't quite believe was how realistic the film sets were and how much they looked like the original series on Netflix.
She spilled: "It was identical from an audience perspective. It felt like I was literally in the show, especially games like marbles. And what's fascinating is that they went beyond what the show did, because the show only had to use like one or two walls anyway. So for them to have done a 360 set, working plumbing, operational bathroom, that looks exactly like the show... real sand in marbles, and little things like that. It felt absolutely incredible."
Red Light, Green Light
Bee couldn't believe how long it took to film Red Light, Green Light (NETFLIX)Arguably the most recognisable task in Squid Game, Bee tells us there were lots of hidden secrets in the absolutely massive set. Players were transported on a bus to the abandoned airport hanger and were given strict instructions from Netflix bosses.
Bee said: "I think the first thing most of us thought once we were there was, you know, obviously it was stunning, amazing. The colours are amazing, the little details of the houses on the side looking exactly like the show was fantastic. But what you don't see on the show is how far the run [in the Red Light, Green Light game] really is when you get in.
"So, for a lot of us were like, 'Whoa, okay, that's not close', because initially it doesn't seem like much of a distance. But it really is." Bee says all 456 players began filming in the morning and by the time they'd finished, it was pitch black.
"Well, we didn't have watches, so we can't give an accurate time," she explained. "But I can tell you that it was very long, it was long enough for it to have been dark when we came out." Bee detailed more about the rules they were given, adding: "They were pretty strict about us not talking because they didn't want us to get to know each other yet."
Hidden clues on upcoming tasks
Bee was living in a dorm for weeks with all the other players (NETFLIX)Sharing a dorm with 197 others after Red Light, Green Light, Bee tells us there were some subtle hints at what might be coming up next. Despite watching the original series "several times", things were done ever so slightly different in real-life.
Bee said she'd notice if producers asked everyone to go to bed earlier that there would be a big challenge coming up in the morning. She spilled: "Obviously we didn't have clocks. So in that case, the producers were like your lights out. It's gonna be early today, because we've got an early start tomorrow. But there's no indication of what we were doing.
"It was always the guards would come out. We'd be waiting all day for something to happen every day because we were like, 'what's going to be the thing today?' And they would usually just walk out, you hear a buzzer though. I don't think you hear the buzzer in the show, but it was really loud across the speakers and the guards would walk out."
Different voices
Netflix fans were thrilled to hear all of the familiar voices in Squid Game: The Challenge, with the main guard having the same voice from the original series. Unfortunately, Bee tells us that was added in afterwards and players never heard it.
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"We had a British woman in the dorms. We all got quite attached to her voice actually, I think we named her at some point. Like, I forgotten but we all gave her various names. So it's not the same voice but it has the same energy, that sort of overtly calm Game Master kind of thing. So yeah, she was very much real. She just didn't have the same accent," Bee told us.
Shocking bridge scene stunt doubles
Bee admitted it would take professional training to do the falls (NETFLIX)Quite possibly the most shocking revelation from our chat with Bee was that none of them actually fell through the glass bridge in episodes seven and eight. Players are given a 50/50 chance of jumping on a trapdoor, and viewers watched several contestants plummet into what looked to be a never-ending black hole.
Behind-the-scenes footage also shows a real-life 20ft drop with mats below, making fans think players were actually dropped a considerable amount. But it turns out what we were seeing was clever editing and crafty stunt doubles.
Bee explained: "Before we'd got in, we could hear the murmurs of like the set staff being like, 'oh my god, it's so cool'. And so, we got very excited. It was amazing, it felt so high up, because there aren't any barriers at the side and we're not harnessed up. We got given new shoes so that we had safe grip on our feet. But it felt so high up. And it was so dark. Other than the lighting on the bridge, it was it was amazing. I don't know if there's nothing I can possibly compare it to. The glass panels themselves were see through so you really did feel completely suspended in the air.
"We had stunt doubles who did the actual fall itself because it was about 20 foot up. You can't teach people to do that in instructions before a game, that is professional training level. And there were airbags at the bottom for the stunt people.
"We all had to practice because you didn't know who was going to fall and at what time. We had to squat really fast so production could get that shot, [of] people falling. Then a stunt double would come in and do the unsafe bit for us. So our reactions are reactions to the stunt doubles falling, because it was so high up. And we've never seen anyone fall from that height."
Creating confessional clips
Bee says producers would spend hours tracking everyone's movements (NETFLIX)Shows like RuPaul's Drag Race get contestants to record confessional, interview-style clips at the end of every filming day, something Bee said was a big part of Squid Game: The Challenge. She explained: "I didn't get called in more than once on the first day. And then after that, it was multiple, multiple multiple times. It definitely depends on what you've done.
"After the warships episode I was in there for what felt like an hour and a half, two hours. And then marbles I wasn't really in there at all, because I had a relatively uneventful game in which only one of us got our shot in. So, it wasn't much to say.
"But yeah, producers pay attention through the day on who's doing what and make notes, and then then ask you about it afterwards. And then when you're out like I was, there's a chance to ask you anything extra that they haven't captured."