Squid Game: The Challenge spoilers follow.
The winner of Netflix's first series of Squid Game: The Challenge has revealed they are still waiting to receive the prize money.
Following the tense finale episode which dropped on the streaming platform earlier this week, it was revealed that Mai Whelan (Player 287) was the lucky contestant walking away with the converted $4.56 million prize.
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However Mai has since revealed in an interview with The Times that she is yet to receive the money, despite filming taking place earlier this year.
"I feel like Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire. Show me the money!" she said, adding that she has "buyer's remorse" after splashing out on a designer outfit for a recent Netflix event.
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During the finale episode, Mai faced off against fellow contestants Sam (Player 16) and Phill (Player 451), beating the pair to win the biggest cash prize in reality TV history in a series of challenges that ended with a high stakes game of rock, paper, scissors.
"Today just validates that anything is possible. Even when you feel down and afraid, you have to pick yourself up, be a strong person and focus," Mai said after it was revealed she'd beaten Phill to the prize.
Speaking about what she planned to do with the prize money once she receives it, she added that she planned to donate to causes close to her heart.
"It's good because I would like to express my cause, that's the main reason why I joined the game, to help a cause, so now that I win I have a platform to tell the world to help the underprivileged," Mai said (via PA).
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"To educate kids and make sure the elderly are taken care of because when you're in a poor country, you don't have the necessity of medical care and kids don't have education."
Meanwhile, Netflix has confirmed that Squid Game: The Challenge will be back on our screens in the distant future, after renewing the spin-off the of South Korean drama for a second season.
Announcing the news on Twitter/X, the streaming site also added a link allowing fans to apply to become one of the next 456 hopefuls.
All episodes of Squid Game: The Challenge and Squid Game are available to watch now on Netflix.
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Reporter, Digital Spy
Brenna Cooper is a freelance journalist, who currently specialises in entertainment reporting. She joined Digital Spy in 2022, writing TV and movies stories for the site. After graduating with an NCTJ accredited Journalism Masters from the University of Sheffield in 2020 she has since embarked on a freelance career.
Brenna previously produced lifestyle content for Checklists.co.uk and has a specific interest in music, reviewing live acts and interviewing bands such as Confidence Man and Amyl and the Sniffers.
