Image via Netflix //

Our worst (or best) fears have been realised…

In what’s sure to tide it’s globe-spanning fandom over until its second season, Squid Game has finally debuted the trailer for its reality TV show, Squid Game: The Challenge.

A meta theatrical rendition of the show’s fantastical games and challenges, the show is centred on embodying the spirit of the Korean sensation but with a crucial difference, as there’s no actual danger involved. Add the fact that contestants are competing for a prize of $4.56 million USD ($7 million AUD), and it’s essentially a much more unhinged (and almost maniacal) version of Ninja Warrior.

Beginning with a quick introduction to the series contestants as they make themselves at home in the iconic Squid Game arena, the trailer quickly dials up the stakes as they’re shown competing against one another, with the threat of punishments like being shot by paintball bullets, being dropped into oblivion and fighting it out for fast food looming over (make no mistake, competing for a lone quarter pounder burger with twenty other starving individuals would be literal torture).

It seems like it’s a TV show formula primed for certain success, yet, the show’s production sounds like it was chaotic to say the least, with filming in Britain plagued by a harsh cold snap which left contestants requiring medical attention, with one source going so far as saying, “People were beating themselves up, including myself, around the fact that you’ve got a girl convulsing and we’re all stood there like statues.”

Regardless, Squid Game: The Challenge, will no doubt keep fans entertained while we wait for the OG show’s sophomore season, which is slated to debut on Netflix next year. For now, check out the full trailer below.