Dr Ankur Khajuria was one of the 456 players in Squid Game: The Challenge (Picture: Netflix)
*Warning: This contains spoilers for Squid Game: The Challenge
A surgeon by trade, Squid Game: The Challenge contestant Dr Ankur Khajuria is used to blood baths.
But nothing could have prepared the 32-year-old, from London, for the battle through a series of mental and physical challenges in the Netflix reality show, inspired blockbuster Korean drama of the same name.
Ankur was one of the 456 players competing for what is claimed to be the biggest prize in TV history – a jackpot of $4.56million (£3.61m) – and described his stint to Metro.co.uk as ‘intense’ and ‘tough.’
‘I’ve got Stockholm Syndrome,’ he joked. ‘I miss the Haydn concerto music that used to wake us up every morning.’
Ankur – although he said he lost all concept of time while shooting the show at Cardington Studios in Bedfordshire – estimated he spent two weeks being put through his paces.
Ankur said the Netflix show was mentally and physically draining (Picture: Netflix)
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While he didn’t cinch the jackpot, he got to the final 31 before being brutally eliminated in a dormitory task after the game of marbles – and now he has spilled what really happened behind-the-scene.
From eating meals ‘worse than gym food’ to potentially securing the sacking of one of the creepy guards, Ankur has told us everything from his mad fortnight as a contestant on Squid Game: The Challenge.
What the players actually ate
Ankur had a strategy while he was a contestant on Squid Game: The Challenge (Picture: Netflix)
MasterChef: The Professionals Squid Game is not, so the players were given bland yet energy-dense meals to fuel them through the tasks, according to Ankur.
Every single day for breakfast without fail, Ankur said they ate ‘stale’ porridge.
‘A lot of people could not bear the taste and they would give it to someone else. But actually, at that point, it was just fuel,’ he recalled.
‘I would just get it down as quickly as possible.’
Ankur works as a surgeon but decided to swap the operating table for Squid Game (Picture: Instagram)
Lunch and dinner were not much of an improvement and were based around rice and protein, like eggs or meatballs.
If you think it sounds like palatable but bland gym food, think again. ‘The gym food I’ve had is better,’ Ankur remembered. ‘For sure that food was not great.
‘There were even times where the proportions were slightly different between the players and I don’t know if that was done deliberately to create drama.
‘At that point, everyone was hungry, everyone was mentally pretty exhausted and I thought that was all part of the challenge.’
Why I think a guard got fired
The Squid Game guards are not to be messed with (Picture: Netflix)
The creepy guards were a fixture in both the original drama and the reality spin-off, wordlessly guiding the players to their games and overseeing the proceedings.
On Squid Game: The Challenge, they also patrolled the dormitories, where the successful contestants slept on towering bunk beds – but did they ever get a glimpse at the people behind the mask?
Ankur responded: ‘We had two guards who were right at the back of the dormitory just patrolling and they would try and not break character.
Ankur said the atmosphere was ‘tense’ because of the alliances formed (Picture: Netflix)
‘But at one point, one of the contestants just kept staring and staring and made a gesture – and then the guard repeated it.
‘I don’t know whether he was fired the next day but that was the only time [the mask slipped] otherwise they were pretty strict.’
What you don’t see on TV
The players were not allowed to bring a single personal item with them – not even lip balm or a watch, Ankur revealed.
Instead, they were given just a toothbrush, toothpaste, a comb, and a bum bag, while there were toiletries in the communal shower block.
‘It was really quite immersive,’ he remarked.
The clothing situation was similarly minimal. Ankur said the contestants were given just one green tracksuit – which they wore throughout the entire series.
Players were in for the chance of winning millions of pounds (Picture: Netflix)
They did, however, get fresh underwear every day and there was a ‘deodorising spray’ in the shower to freshen themselves up.
‘It felt more water to me than anything,’ Ankur grimaced.
Aside from the actual challenges, the contestants also had to contend with passing the time, often having to wait hours at a time for filming to begin.
For example, Ankur said the players were woken up around 5.30 am for the game warship and were then moved to the ‘white room’ while they waited to play the game.
The reality show is based on the Korean drama of the same name (Picture: AP)
Ankur’s team was the last to go and he reckoned they waited 10 hours in that room – which contained precisely nothing – before they were filmed.
When asked how they passed the time, Ankur said: ‘It’s a purely white room with nothing in it, so you just sit there and wait.’
‘People were working out, people were sitting or chatting. I used to work out a little bit, do some push-ups, and do breath work as well, because I’m big on that. And I also napped.’
Ankur spoke positively of his time on Squid Game: The Challenge (Picture: Netflix)
They faced a similar problem in the dormitories in their downtime and were forced to come up with creative ways to stimulate themselves.
Explaining a game his best friend created to while away the hours, Ankur said: ‘He got a load of socks and made a softball, so we played football, volleyball, catch – all sorts of things.’
But despite the tedium, the lack of laundry, bland food, and the mental and physical turmoil, Ankur has no complaints, insisting he knew what he signed up for.
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He said: ‘Not to blast other shows, but weren’t on Love Island. This was meant to be tough both physically and mentally and people knew that going into the show.
‘Yes, the conditions were challenging, but that’s just how it is.’
Squid Game The Challenge is available to stream on Netflix.
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A contestant has spoken to us about what really happened behind the scenes.