Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Squid Game: The Challenge Season 2 Episodes "Catch" and "The Doll." Stream the episodes with a Netflix subscription, and read at your own risk!
Squid Game: The Challenge popped up on the 2025 TV schedule with Season 2, and thus far, I still think it's more fun to watch than the actual series. Season 1 ended with an amazing finale, and the latest episodes are already off to a great start, delivering tons of drama as well as some heartbreaking exits for some hoping to change their lives with $4.56 million.
It doesn't take long for the new season to twist the knife, as Contestant 100, Mark Levy, was subjected to what could only be described as bullying by someone he called an ally. During the "catch" challenge, Contestant 272 singled out 100 by noting that, "because people judge him" due to his looks and physique, they wouldn't want to throw him the ball.
Contestant 272 argued this would protect the bulk of their team, while others quickly rushed to 100's defense to assure him that what 272 said about him wasn't ok. I had a chance to talk to Levy about the moment, and learned about what he was feeling in that moment:
It was really, really traumatizing, honestly. It was really bad. I walked and I see that the room looks like my elementary school gymnasium. The next thing I know, someone who I thought was an ally says something that is strictly bullying, and it like brought me back [to grade school] immediately. I remember like I was like barely able to talk immediately afterwards, so then I was more floored by everyone in the line. People I was aligned with, people I was not aligned with all coming to my defense, just so kind.
It was the biggest moment of the episode, and a moment where Squid Game: The Challenge viewers were hoping Contestant 100 would prove the skeptics in his group wrong. Unfortunately, reality television doesn't allow for the fairytale ending we may see in Season 3 of Squid Game. Contestant 100 dropped the ball when thrown to him later in the episode, and ended his own and Contestant 443's game.
For those looking for some sort of happy ending, Mark Levy did confirm he had some time to talk to Contestant 446 after they were both out of the game. In short, he's moved on from the incident, and he even has a different perspective on that moment, having had some time to look back on it.
Obviously, I think Ryan [446] meant well. We're good now, but it was not done well and it ruined both his game and my game.
It's good to hear that Contestants 100 and 446 are back on good terms, and that he wasn't intentionally trying to be mean to his ally in that wild moment. Squid Game: The Challenge has a lot of nastiness that happens throughout the episodes, but it's rare that insults and attacks get as personal as what we saw in that moment.
For that reason, I'm hoping Squid Game: The Challenge outlives the run of Squid Game, which is set to end after Season 3. While I fear its popularity may show we've learned nothing from the message of the series, good television is good television.
Plus, Prime Video now has Beast Games as a competitor series, so I'd love to see both continue and try to up the ante in showing how far folks will go to win a life-changing amount of money. Hey, maybe Disney+ will even get involved and give us its own spin on this format? I'd love to see it!
Squid Game: The Challenge drops its next batch of episodes on November 11th. Be sure to get caught up before those episodes arrive, and get ready for the wild ride that will bring the competition down to its final competitors.
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