An Irishman starring in the new Netflix show Squid Game: The Challenge has said it was a 'terrifying experience'.
Donegal man Eric Roberts was one of 456 players to enter the show in pursuit of a life-changing reward of US$4.56 million (€4.2m).
The show sees players competing in a series of games inspired by the South Korean smash hit that saw cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete with deadly results.
Eric Roberts. Image: NetflixMr Roberts, who found fame on TikTok this year, after stepping away from his job as a Special Needs Assistant (SNA), told Moncrieff that the first challenge will be very familiar to fans of the show.
He said the game saw sensors fitted everywhere with contestants wearing special blood packs.
The blood packs exploded if contestants tried to move during the Red Light, Green Light game - which saw over half of 450 contestants eliminated.
He said that first game was actually the most difficult for him.
"The rest were definitely more of an emotional battle," he said.
"After the first day, you went into the dorms and you made your friends.
"As the games progressed, the alliances that you've made and the friends that you've made may not necessarily make it through the games.
"That was quite difficult and it was lonely at times.
"They definitely weren't as physically gruelling but there was definite mental battles throughout".
Squid Games: The Challenge. Image: NetflixEric said becoming a contestant was a "long process".
"We had several Zooms with casting directors, and I suppose they just wanted to whittle it down to who they thought was going to be the good personalities on the show, and who they thought might be able to withstand the torture that we went through," he said.
"They were just general chit-chats about our own backgrounds and our experience, have we seen the show and what did we expect when we get in there, and our gameplans."
Squid Games: The Challenge. Image: NetflixMr Roberts said he went in without any real gameplan.
"I just wanted to go in there and enjoy the experience and try and get as far as I could," he said.
"As the game progressed, you could see that people were making alliances, and that was part and parcel of the game, so it was understandable.
"I found that quite difficult; I just tried to remain as humble and as myself as I could while I was in there.
"I stayed true to myself, and I'm happy with that, so I wouldn't change anything but there was huge game-playing going on while we were in there".
Elimination days
Eric said you do need to make alliances in the game.
"Some of the games are team games and during the days where there wasn't game days there was elimination days," he said.
"So, you needed to make sure you had people that had your back in there.
"The bigger your alliance, the more chance you had of getting a victory at the end".
Mr Roberts said there were a number of ways to get eliminated.
"People would nominate themselves to take part in certain challenges, and those people might win the opportunity to eliminate another player, or vice-versa.
"If you didn't complete a challenge you were at risk of being eliminated.
"It really was 24/7 just a terrifying experience", he added.
Squid Game: The Challenge was filmed in January in London, with five episodes dropping on Netflix today.
Four will follow next week and the final episode the week after.
Listen back here:
