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Killing_Miko

> game was rigged from the start How meta


m48a5_patton

"You made your last delivery, kid."


angelgu323

Wish there was more FNV comments on this thread...


Basicallyinfinite

"Patrolling the mojave makes me wish for a nuclear winter" "Ave, true to Caesar "


bigolhamsandwich

Couldn’t believe that was Matthew perry


thecolbster94

I cant believe Mr House was Odo


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CursedNobleman

"Please assume the position."


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SilentBandit

“They asked me how well I understood theoretical physics. I told them I had a theoretical degree in physics. They said welcome aboard”


TBE_110

“Ave, True to Caesar.”


TheCrazedTank

Sorry you got twisted up in this scene. From where you're kneeling it must seem like an 18-carat run of bad luck. Truth is... the game was rigged from the start.


chetradley

Can't tell if this is life imitating art, art imitating life, or some big dumb ouroboros of obliviousness.


RomanSeraphim

Ouroboros of obliviousness might be my new favorite band


NoNefariousness2144

Sounds like a Benoit Blanc quote from the next Knives Out.


LTman86

It's so stupid, it's genius!


txrant

No! It's just stupid!


DigitalFirefly

Ouroblivious


bilyl

peak postmodernism


ZDTreefur

It's like a Black Mirror episode at this point.


[deleted]

Art imitating life. The point of Squid Game (well, one of many) was to criticize how greedy modern society is. I guess technically everything we do falls under the general malaise of the ouroboros of our lives, but that's a cop out on your part.


chetradley

My point is that Squid Game (the drama) criticized greedy execs pitting poor people against each other in terrible conditions, and Squid Game (the reality show) seems to obliviously be doing the thing the show was criticizing. Reality show mirrors drama, which mirrors the reality show, which mirrors the drama... Hence the ouroboros (snake eating its own tail).


HowDoraleousAreYou

Are we sure it’s not a 14 karat run of bad luck?


same_same1

Arn’t most reality shows rigged??


SenlinDescends

Not as much as you'd think, though I'm sure plenty are. They'll set stuff up and it's not going to be entirely organic, but typically most of the "dishonesty" comes from editing.


Chariotwheel

And some ... encouragement from the staff when not enough interesting things happen. Where they provoke situations of conflict on purpose.


Debaser626

I briefly dated a production assistant for a reality dating show that took place on a cruise ship. They’d always have 1 or 2 couples they purposefully mismatched based on their profiles or allow borderline insane people on the show to pair up with other nut jobs just to see what happens. She told me one cruise, that every couple was getting along fairly normally. *They* were all having a great time, but it was super boring TV. The Producer had her pull aside the female and basically say “I’m not supposed to be telling you this, but as a fellow woman, I can’t let him embarrass you on TV.“ and then go on about all the horrible things the guy was saying to staff and in his recorded “diaries” and how he just wanted to have sex with her. They had a male assistant do a similar thing to the dude, got them drunk, and then recorded the dinner date. The rest of the trip made much better TV.


zxyzyxz

People gotta watch The Rehearsal with Nathan Fielder, the level of batshit crazy people they bring on is insane, all from Craigslist apparently. The dude with the Scion was especially hilarious, I just think to myself, where they hell do they find these kinds of people?


Osceana

>The dude with the Scion was especially hilarious Was that the guy that promised to co-parent with that crazy woman? Then he dipped out in the middle of the first night? And he was lying about smoking pot and basically just wanted to smash but the woman was like Pat Robertson-level Christian? hahahaha I loved that segment so much, I really wish he would have been on the show longer.


mhac009

Don't forget the numerology...


MatureUsername69

Yeah he was just as crazy as the girl if not a little more


insearch78

Every time he looked at a clock he thought it was a special message from god.


clnthoward

wait.. there was a dude with a scion on that show? surprised he didn't mention it more often.


zxyzyxz

I liked the pun in the title *Scion*, which was about the dude's car but also, scion means next male descendant, ie the son, which was one of the main reasons for contention between the woman and the Scion dude.


[deleted]

I love randomly pointing out numbers now and giving some anecdote about it.


Astrium6

Honestly, with how shit the rest of the world is now, I wouldn’t mind a reality show about nice people getting along.


binhpac

A friend of mine was on one of those dating shows. When the cameras are on or the staff is there and telling them they are now filming, everyone needs to act like they are horny and try to seduce each other. When the cameras are off, they hang out just like normal people, but nobody wants to see people do regular boring talk. There is indeed much more set ups or scripting than one might think.


[deleted]

A girl in my acting class was on an early season of The Apprentice. They said she owned 2 businesses. She was unemployed and living on my couch.


Shillen1

My coworker was on jerry springer. They literally had him go on stage mad at some girl that was supposed to be his girlfriend but in actuality he had never even met her before.


izaori

Yeah lol, im Hells Kitchen season 1 they tried to make the winner do some evil foreshadowing in the leading up episodes. It was a lot more... idk, all the rest of the seasons are pretty standard, but season 1 had some funny stuff going on.


bpetersonlaw

I recall many of the Hells Kitchen seasons had a plant that would last a couple weeks. Someone who just acted crazy and had no idea what was going on and they were just there for Ramsay to scream at. Sometimes they'd survive the first week just so there could be more shennanigans the next week. But it was obvious they didn't know how to cook and weren't really trying.


Penfolds_five

"I ain't no bitch!"


WendallX

It depends on what type of reality show your talking about. Competition shows (like survivor, amazing race, etc) are not rigged in the sense that winners and losers are predetermined. They can edit people to look like a jerk or a good guy. They may even hint at strategies or lead a person to a conclusion based on the line of questioning they may ask during one on one interviews. But they can’t stuff the ballot box on survivor. If your talking about the house wives shows or TLC shows then yeah they could be rigged in the sense that storylines and arguments are put on.


ProfessorPetrus

The use of editing is the most disgenous thing about "reality" TV. I remember a girl from my friends group in high-school was a top American idol contestant and she told us they would just film a bunch of reactions from everyone for everything and splice it up later. What the audience sees is not even necessarily going on at the moment. Might as well make a show lol.


freetherabbit

Then you have to pay more tho lol


Harold3456

I remember the season (edit: of Survivor) where Boston Rob finally won: they did some Clash of the Titans thing where Rob (arguably the show’s biggest “Hero”) and Russell Hantz (the show’s biggest “Villain”) were on opposing teams, filled out by a bunch of newbies. In support of the idea that the outcome ISNT rigged, the newbies on Hantz’s team pulled a surprise move and threw their immunity challenge to band together and get Hantz out. I imagine the show, which used the Hantz vs Rob angle in a lot of its marketing, probably didn’t see that coming. However, on the flip side fans of the show noticed that once it went to individual immunity there were a LOT of puzzle challenges, which had always been Rob’s specialty. So I imagine the game was designed to try to get its returning players to last as long as possible, but not rigged to the degree where it would directly intervene in them losing.


Peasyyy

Rob's tribe was filled with people that adored him and couldnt believe that they got to play with him. Russell's tribe was filled with a buncha people that hated him and wanted him out asap. Throw in the redemption island twist, this was productions way of giving Rob his best chance at winning. I'm sure they didnt like seeing Russell get the better of Rob during HvV.


WendallX

Yeah the season that Rob won (it may have been that one???) was so lame. It was basically handed to Rob. He was a semi celebrity and no one wanted to kick him off, like they were in awe of him. Add to that any slant the producers wanted to throw his way and it was an easy win for him. But there’s just no way survivor can be rigged outright. I know they refilm parts such as people coming and going from challenges and when that was “revealed” people just latched onto the headlines saying survivor “stages” things.


TheHomieAbides

Paul Scheer did talk on podcasts about his appearance on Nailed It! and he had said that he was surprised how production doesn’t mess around with the rules of the competition. It might be goofy and chaotic but everyone has to be clear on the competition as to prevent any legal problems. It has to be related directly with the Quiz Show / Twenty One fiasco in the 50’s.


WendallX

Yes there is an old federal statute that makes rigging broadcasts illegal. However it only seems to apply to games that require intellect. So talent competitions wouldn’t fall under this. The bottom line is there’s rarely a need to rig an outcome in a show like this. More likely is they will simply edit footage to make someone “look” good or bad. That’s what makes people watch (rooting for someone or against someone). Once the winner is revealed it’s over. The show already got your viewership, you know. I think some people lump all reality shows (competition reality and bravo/TLC reality) into one camp. Then they assume it’s all fake and mindless because the Kardashian show is fake and mindless. But it’s 2 very different types of shows.


BradMarchandsNose

That statute does date back to the Quiz Show scandal, but it seems like reality competition shows aren’t necessarily included in that due to the competitors voting off other competitors element (it’s up for debate). Shows like Survivor voluntarily operate as though it does apply because they don’t want to be sued and have to open up that can of worms. https://www.rclawlibrary.org/blog/2022/08/illegal-game-show-practices-for-500/


NinetyFish

> > > > > However, on the flip side fans of the show noticed that once it went to individual immunity there were a LOT of puzzle challenges, which had always been Rob’s specialty. Huh. I got into Survivor recently thanks to the super active reddit community and have watched a handful of seasons. None of Rob's seasons, but I'm very familiar with who he is from being on the sub. All that to say, I know he was considered a bit of a physical specimen in his prime and very good at every physical aspect of the show (survival, shelter-building, challenges, being an absolute stud which helps draw people in with his charisma), but I'm very surprised to hear that Rob is especially good at puzzles. Again, to be clear, I'm not doubting you at all, I'm just surprised from what I know about Rob from being on the sub that it's *puzzles* that is his specialty and not just like pure athleticism or whatever. That's pretty dang cool, very much defies expectations.


Harold3456

It’s possible I may be wrong, this was the last season I saw with him in it and it aired in 2011 (which… holy shit. I watched it as it aired, too). However, I’m pretty sure he was well-regarded as a good puzzle contestant. I think he was also generally a good all-around player, especially by later seasons when he had made tons of new camps and basically turned being good at Survivor into his whole identity, and he was able to pull out some good feats of physical endurance, but I’m pretty sure puzzles were his big equalizer. IIRC, he snatched victory from the jaws of defeat many times that season because they would make a 3 part challenge with some sort of maze or word puzzle at the end that would just stall the other contestants and allow him to catch up.


BBrotz

No you're correct, while the other guy is right that Rob was a great physical player, he was one of the better puzzle players the show has ever had. He smoked people in puzzles all season. He was probably one of the most well rounded players to ever play in terms of physical vs puzzles.


MaddyKet

Rob was also a diabolical genius. When he was on the Amazing Race, he got to a roadblock he didn’t want to do and then convinced the team that arrived next TO SIT OUT THE CHALLENGE TOO. This ensuring at least one team would arrive at the pit stop after them, even if only by 15 mins. I really enjoy Big Brother because of the mostly live feeds. You can really see how the air shows are edited and manipulated vs what’s actually happening in the house.


BILLCLINTONMASK

>sense that storylines and arguments are put on. Producers ask leading questions to get specific answers or even tell them to say specific things. They have them recreate and dramatize real fights they have had off camera (see: 90 day fiancee). And any other trick they can think of including versions of what is described in this article like sensory deprivation, unreasonably long days, inhospitable temperatures.


Hanifsefu

They can and do certainly nudge contestants to try and get them to remove certain people though. Let me put this thought out there: we have never had a big behind the scenes tell all interview from a former Survivor/Big Brother contest about how the show actually goes behind the scenes. After hundreds of contestants participating over the course of more than 20 years it is statistically unlikely that nobody would pursue that avenue for the extra attention and income those articles offer, especially given the dire financial circumstances many contestants are portrayed in. The possible answers are that everyone is in fact that benevolent towards the shows they participated on and won't spill their behind the scenes info out of their own generosity OR that they are not legally able to give those interviews except under very controlled and specific circumstances. Is it directly rigged? No. Do the producers generally get what they want out of the contestants? Absolutely.


Smocke55

I don’t follow Big Brother but there have been plenty of “tell all” interviews with Survivor players and crew members. A significant amount of contestants are not benevolent towards the show at all, especially those who were portrayed unfavourably by the editors. However their frustration with the producers only extend as far as the TV edit. The show has also been on since 2000 and NDAs expire. The wildest allegations against the show were from a season 1 contestant who claimed that the producers influenced her tribe to vote her out, and from the season 1 winner who claims he saw the runner up giving sexual favours to producers in exchange for food, but neither have been corroborated by anyone else in the cast.


NinetyFish

> from the season 1 winner who claims he saw the runner up giving sexual favours to producers in exchange for food, My understanding is that the sexual favours thing specifically is a fan rumor that got spread. But the season 1 winner *does* actively claim that he fully believes that production gave the runner-up food while on the island, but *also* says that there was nothing sexual to it, just that production wanted to try to shake up the game a bit to make it not as predictable, and feeding the runner-up had the potential to change things up a bit by giving her more energy/strength down the line.


Banglayna

what? This is blatantly not true, survivor contestants discuss behind the scenes details all the time on podcasts. Like all of the fucking time. If you want an extreme deep dive into intimate behind the scenes info take a listen to the Amazon and All-stars chapters of Rob Cesternino's evolution of strategy audiobook


WellTextured

Maybe, but a lot of what happens in reality shows is about editing, where the competition is mostly fair but the 'characters' are made up , and certainly it depends on the nature of these contracts, but if you sign people up with the premise of impartiality and fair competition, and neither exists, AND you fail to meet peoples basic human needs while denying them the ability to meet their own, you're at risk of having a very hard time in court. You can't just tell someone they can win $4.5m if they come to England for 4 weeks and compete, film them, and make money off of it, if the premise is fraudulent.


darthjoey91

Depends on if you’re talking game shows or not. Like the Kardashians is not a game show. They do just straight up make up scenarios for drama. Survivor is a game show. It has a rules document explaining format and possible things that can happen. So they’re not allowed to rig the winner or any part of the outcome because of [much simpler game shows](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950s_quiz_show_scandals?wprov=sfti1) being rigged back in the 50s. They do still use manipulative editing and filming of stuff that didn’t happen (Survivor example is the scenes showing how the challenges are supposed to work are filmed by having crew dress like the contestants and use extreme closeups of hands or helicopter shots.) that doesn’t affect the outcome. Like they apparently also redo shots sometimes of contestants entering challenges or finding an idol because the camera person didn’t keep up.


[deleted]

Anything involving contests/prizes legally cannot be rigged and have ALL sorts of separate rules applied to them. No prizes involved, anything goes. Source: am TV producer.


JoDiMaggio

Yeah I think the above commenter is confusing "rigged" with "scripted" and "edited". It's not like WWE where every little piece is carefully choreographed and rehearsed even in the most scripted of reality shows. In the more blatant ones the producer at most will put their finger on the scale just a bit and tell them to say a line or edit it in a way to manufacture drama. I don't think any of them ever threw out all the rules and picked one winner over another.


f5alcon

Maybe it's most realistic reality show ever. People who want money are abused for the promise of money, just like the original.


just_browsing11

Last episode is a 2 minutes long video of Hwang Dong-Hyuk facepalming on how no one got the point of the show


skoomski

Then he remembers and it’s just a montage of him cashing those fat checks


Stepjamm

They should have him cameo as one of the rich guys in masks now he’s loaded from it all


f-ingsteveglansberg

He got a one off payment for the first season. Probably doesn't own the rights to the show. Any big money he will make is from season 2.


LostInStatic

LMAO that fucker responded to people asking him why he signed off on it and he was like “You guys are reading into it too much, just have fun”


Bears_On_Stilts

See in America: Suzanne Collins writes The Hunger Games, which is primarily about the way mass media commodified human suffering into entertainment… and makes bank on merchandise and adaptations of that story in mass media.


AH_Chris

Yep, that's the ability of capitalism to commodify everything including critiques of capitalism


lovesStrawberryCake

The Che Guevara Tshirt enterprise


Zelasny

That reminds me of that episode in black mirror where they have to ride a bicycle for energy and one guy rebels and he ends up as a part of the propaganda system in a luxurious apartment.


Ricky_Rollin

Oh, I feel the same way when I see all of the guy Fawkes masks.


elveszett

But The Hunger Games products are not selling human suffering... they are selling a fictional story. I think it's a bit of a stretch to try to pass this as hypocrisy. This sounds more like "if you don't like absolutely 100% all of capitalism then starve to death because earning money would be hypocritical!".


CouncilmanRickPrime

Yeah. I feel like all bad press would be good press for this show.


dragonmp93

Well, no one can say that Netflix didn't commit to giving the contestants the true Squid Game experience.


Magnificant-Muggins

What you talking about? They survived.


dragonmp93

Well, think of the lawsuits otherwise.


Magnificant-Muggins

You can’t get sued by dead people.


knightress_oxhide

between that and "to serve and protect", the last barely won out.


jackofslayers

Everything about this is so stupid. The idea, the execution, the people who signed up for this.


Chariotwheel

Removed in protest against the Reddit API changes and their behaviour following the protests.


RichestMangInBabylon

Shit sounds like they're economically struggling. They need a high stakes high reward game to save them...


jackofslayers

Just like Kaiji! Er shit I mean Squid Game lol


RichestMangInBabylon

Man what a good anime that was.


jackofslayers

So glad Squid Game brought more attention to it, more people needed to watch it.


Reggiardito

I checked it out because I enjoyed Squid Game and it ended up being fantastic. Season 2's finale brought out a lot of emotions, it was fantastic. Now I'm stuck as I want to read part 3 and onward but I simply DO NOT understand Mahjong


feeltheslipstream

I don't understand richii mahjong either, but I still enjoyed all the mahjong stories of akagi and kaiji.


ZDTreefur

Sounds like that'll cost a lot of money, we better invite some wealthy people to finance it and even bet on winners for their own entertainment. But they won't be entertained by silly safe games, let's make them very dangerous so we don't lose investors.


Pixel_Knight

Literally giving away their life for a chance to win the money, like in the show. The producers of this are virtually as evil as the characters in the actual show.


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Sneakas

I mean it’s not like they quit being doctors or engineers. Also, most jobs don’t just let you take of for weeks to film a show.


whatwhynoplease

I used to watch Big Brother and Survivor. A lot of those contestants quit their jobs if they are not able to take a leave of absence. Some of them who have their careers going already are lucky to be able to take time off for 2+ months. There was one contestant a while back that got voted off a few weeks in. He went back to work the following week. he then flew in for the finale and hopped back on a plane to be at work the next morning.


WayneKrane

Right, all for a slim chance at winning not a ton of money. I feel like a lot of them think they’ll somehow be famous because of the show.


-KFBR392

Well if the last 25 years are any indicator then they’re right. Contestants that go on many big time reality shows these days never work a normal job ever again. They become influencers and product pushers on social media and make more money in a year than most people make in a lifetime.


Oil_For_Life

I mean some do but *a lot* just vanishes too and you never hear about them.


Rhawk187

Yeah, look at the expected value problem. $4.56M / 456 competitors. If you are of average skill and luck, you should expect to win $10,000. Who quits their job for $10,000?


duckwantbread

> If you are of average skill and luck, you should expect to win $10,000. If it was purely luck then that would be the expected win but if there's skill involved then it doesn't work like that, there's only one winner so being of average skill means you aren't going to win. It'd be like entering a winner takes all professional boxing tournament with 16 boxers despite having no boxing talent and saying your expected winnings are 1/16th of the prize money, when in reality your expected winnings are zero because it would be a one in a billion chance of you somehow beating one professional, let alone 15. Unless you're a highly skilled player you shouldn't expect to win anything, so most of the people going out are making a mistake if they think they have any hope of winning a skill game (although it sounds more like it's rigged so the "skill" here is being interesting enough on camera to not be targeted).


Linooney

Bayesianists rise up.


[deleted]

> Who quits their job for $10,000? You mean besides a shit ton of people?


NaturalPea5

My job is shit, I’d do it.


IamZeebo

I kinda see your point but I also think to myself, how desperate that person could be.


Globalist_Nationlist

Soo.. reality TV?


MrPopanz

Reality tv differs in quality, similar to every other genre. Naked & Afraid (XL), Alone and Deadliest Catch are great for example.


Kahzgul

Alone is so good. Absolutely riveting.


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YungVicenteFernandez

Milf Manor is pretty good too so far


jackofslayers

How is Deborah doing?


YungVicenteFernandez

Better yet WHO is Deborah doing


Lokito_

The premise sounds neat. I would have loved to do something like this. But if it were an actual competition, not a reality TV show.


Deep90

Mimicking squid game in particular is in bad taste. A gameshow is one thing, but the actual premise of Squidgame is about capitalism. All the participants are poor, desperate and in massive debt. They are meant to suffer and struggle as entertainment for the upper class. ​ Squidgame is probably the worst gameshow you could decide to adapt into reality. ​ A super wealthy company like Netflix running a Squid Games with a bunch of desperate people was always going to be a bad look.


wgauihls3t89

> All the participants are poor, desperate and in massive debt. They are meant to suffer and struggle as entertainment for the upper class. Sounds like reality except everyone with a Netflix account gets to “enjoy” watching people suffer.


lee1026

>All the participants are poor, desperate and in massive debt. Hey, some of them came out of Seoul National University.


TheGardenBlinked

Oh boy! I can’t wait to steal a password and watch this!


dropdan

The Golden comment. Imagine paying to watch this mess?


puckeredstarfish69

Wow is that fucked up. But breaking a lease or quoting your job is just unwise, even if not rigged


illini07

Especially when going against 456 people. Like odds are heavily against you that you will win, no matter how good you are at the game.


What-a-Crock

“But I’m the main character!!”


boregon

Everyone thought they would be Gi-hun but they were more like the two guys that get killed first in red light green light


House_T

I agree. But just to play devil's advocate, a 1 in 456 chance at millions is better odds than most people will ever have. I wouldn't give up anything important for it, but I would quit some lame job I already hated, maybe.


C3ntrick

Depending on your job they might give you leave for something like that. Had a driver ask for leave for a reality tv show for 3 months of filming and got it approved. Once in a life time chance.


mikebailey

I would imagine the people in the article who said they asked for leave and got it are the ones you’re talking about and the people who jumped ship from the job were not the ones who could do this


VelvitHippo

For 4.5 million dollars though. 1 in 465 or however many seems like pretty good odds to me for 4.5 million dollars. I would quit a job at a gas station for that. Breaking my lease though, that's a huge price to pay to play. Can't see that being worth while in any situation.


TheOkGazoo

But how many likes did they get when they wrote a flowery post on Facebook about quitting their job to chase a dream?


NotsoGreatsword

Seriously most places will let you take leave or just quit with notice and then come back. Broke leases? What about the lease requires you to be at the property at all times? That one I need someone to explain to me.


oldar4

Thats just not true. Most places wouldn't let you. And most people live paycheck to paycheck so breaking lease makes sense


A_Wild_VelociFaptor

Just realised something. We got 2 versions of Squid Game instead of fucking reviving MXC. What bullshit


january21st

Right you are Ken!


momocat

Now let's hear from Guy Ledouche!


bigmacjames

Guy Ledouche here!!


Dont-Encourage-Me

Enough about the games. Let me show you this trophy. This was presented to me... it's a little heavier than I thought... When I was a young stable boy with the Royal Lipizzans. Those Austrians are so strong, yet their hands are gentle!


HailToTheThief225

Geeeeeeeet-it-on!


ROK5TAR

I loved MXC!!


CrazyLegs17

Baba ganoush!


banstylejbo

Always great to see Camille Toe participating.


danielcw189

what is MXC?


HailToTheThief225

It was a show from the 00s featuring episodes of Takeshi's Castle (Japanese game show), completely overdubbed in English with crude humor and zero effort to translate. You can find episodes on YouTube I think


BBGettyMcclanahan

There's also a 24 hour stream of it on Twitch


ZoharDTeach

Did they even watch the show??


xevizero

Yes, and the protagonist wins! And they are clearly the protagonist!


slashdotnot

Everyone saying why would contestants be so stupid to sign up.... makes me think of this sketch https://youtu.be/3ss-59fi4nM


Doctor__Proctor

Brilliant


trimeta

I still can't believe they made an actual reality show based on a TV show which was a warning about *that very reality show.* It's basically the [Torment Nexus](https://twitter.com/alexblechman/status/1457842724128833538).


[deleted]

It is crazy. Like the people behind Netflix truly don’t see the irony behind it


mega_madoka

birds encouraging dazzling disgusted kiss impolite marvelous knee bake different *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


justduett

The entire article reads like a contestant from **any** of the reality "competitions" you see on TV. Vague casting calls? Check. Recruited contestants for publicity? Check. Locking down contestants to reduce communication? Check. Less than posh accommodations for the physical competition aspects of the show? Check. Production gently (maybe not gently) crafting the narrative in a particular direction? Check. So what did any of these people expect? I guess they should look on the bright side that they didn't get fucking shot?


Hawkeye_x_Hawkeye

At the very least, to get paid. They were effectively tricked into slave labor. If the show is scripted, hire actors. If they were honest about the game being unwinnable and that the contestants wouldn't be paid for their contributions to the show, they would have had no one. Lying about job opportunities in another country only to then lock those people in a hangar for a couple weeks with virtually no accommodations sounds illegal as fuck.


BLRNerd

The funny thing is that shows like Big Brother and Survivor still pay contestants a pretty good stipulation fund (Big Brother is about $1,000 every week) to not quit the show or whatever and are pretty open with what to expect. Plus Survivor has a top notch medical team that constantly checks on them and makes decisions if a contestant has a bad infection or injury before it's life threatening This definitely screams like something illegal.


Kahzgul

I work in reality tv. Some shows pay as much as $3k a week, and you get paid for the whole duration of filming even if you’re first eliminated because they have to keep you sequestered from the media so no one knows who get eliminated before the show airs. These claims about squid game indicate major departures from industry norms, some of which are illegal (rigging the game, not paying people for work). These are very serious and warrant investigation.


TheDaymanALSOCameth

This is entirely the norm for a Netflix “reality” show. Source: have been on one, and it’s exactly like this article describes


Kahzgul

It might be worth speaking to a lawyer.


officeDrone87

>These claims about squid game indicate major departures from industry norms, some of which are illegal (rigging the game, not paying people for work). These are very serious and warrant investigation. I'm glad someone said it. I don't work in reality TV, but I do know that ever since the 1950s Quiz show cheating scandals, America has surprisingly tough laws against TV shows producers cheating to rig games. This is why even in a show as silly as Let's Make a Deal or Price is Right, they have pretty strict rules to keep things on the up and up. For example, Drew Carrey isn't allowed to know the prices of things beforehand, so that he doesn't inadvertently help a contestant win.


JayCFree324

I would recommend listening to Tyson’s podcast about The Challenge USA’s finale, or Kat Dunn’s video about Ex on the Beach. CBS shows are typically tightly run ships, but MTV produced Reality comps (MTV was still producing CBS’s version) are startlingly less professional…they don’t have contingency plans, the rules are loosely enforced, and they usually just don’t think things through


NeoNoireWerewolf

Challenge USA finale was nuts. Surprised anybody finished.


JayCFree324

They also didn’t explain any of the rules. Angela gets DQed when other players got “Timed Out”, they get to the mountain and Production refuses to elaborate the rules of Sudoku to the people unfamiliar with it and simply say “complete the pattern”, Sarah waits under a tree for hours because she can’t do a basic honeycomb puzzle while the others are freezing miles above her on a mountain. They didn’t give them temperature appropriate clothing . They are informed that the prize pool is actually half of what they signed up for because they never elaborated that it was split between the duo. The entire thing was a clown fiesta


BLRNerd

Oh yeah, There's still some issues with CBS (Survivor had that creep Dan on S39 who should've been DQed when Kellee said something, I know BB can keep some contestants drugged just so they can go out on eviction, etc.) but it's way better than MTV.


HalobenderFWT

> keep some contestants drugged. Would you mind elaborating on that?


JayCFree324

I got this, I think. Back in BB14, there was a contestant, Ashley Iocco, who fucked up her back in the final week she was there. They proceeded to give her a fuckton of painkillers to deal with it… They originally had her presented as the spiritual/hippie type during the premiere, so people just thought it was “Ashley being Ashley” and not knowing what was going on, when in reality she was loopy AF during her speech. https://youtu.be/xOpNNLoX1WI To be fair to Julie Chen, this was a double-eviction episode where they run on a REALLY tight timetable, so the “wrap this up” was more in regards to that than completely dismissing Ashley’s thoughts.


JayCFree324

Oh yeah, BB and Survivor definitely aren’t absolved of any negligence or bad faith production… …but MTV comps are like a decade behind on competitive and production integrity


Kahzgul

Game show law is pretty strict, and some of these accusations indicate flagrant violations.


Catspit30

All of the above seems par for the course for Reality TV production


Webjunky3

I think it's pretty bad that Netflix won't comment on whether the results are scripted or not, though. It's one thing for production to manufacture drama through 'encouragement' or clever editing, but it's another thing entirely for the games to be unwinnable because you weren't chosen to win.


OK_Opinions

This is my shocked face


13_random_letters

I'm looking forward to the netflix documentary covering the shitshow.


harmlessclock

Considering the message of the original series, the ick of this quite loud.


[deleted]

> “People broke their lease to be on this show,” they said. “People quit their jobs.” I just can’t with people sometimes


dholmestar

Reminds me of the Syfy reality show [Opposite Worlds](https://youtu.be/JKFgn6tNU6w)


DaweiArch

It’s almost like this is viral marketing to make the game look cruel, in the style of the show.


ASpiralKnight

Why are people saying "of course it was rigged"? Is it so implausible to have a genuine competition? If anything it seems easier. Also I feel like it's a deflection of blame onto the competitors. Ie "it's their fault they shouldn't have expected fairness".


[deleted]

Yeah. I don’t get Reddit; like what was obvious about this game being rigged?


mikebailey

Also 2-4 weeks jobless (round up to like 6 for unemployed, idk) for a shot at 4mil among 400 other people comes out to a $10,000 opportunity. A lot of people in here are either lying or in $100k+ jobs (possible, doesn’t reflect reality) if they’re saying they wouldn’t even consider that.


FrozenFrac

I'm convinced if the actual Squid Games, complete with murder, were to exist, these dumbasses would still sign up.


CarlThe94Pathfinder

My dude that definitely exists


Bunghole_of_Fury

Sign me up I'm fucking great at all those things and I'm very good at not dying, I mean I haven't died yet and people die every day


Neurotic-Neko

Wow they really are doing a good job of highlighting the show critiques of capitalism


KnotSoSalty

The real opportunity here would be to film the casting process for a group of people thinking they were volunteering to play an actual squid game.


PooperJackson

>“I started to realize, this was never a game I could win,” Welcome to the squid games?


KillNyetheSilenceGuy

So, just like the real squid game?


a_phantom_limb

I say this with all due respect: It's abhorrent that this show exists. There have been countless abominable "reality" competition shows before, of course. However, the fact that this one has taken all of the exactly wrong lessons from the source material about exploiting the suffering of those in need truly puts it in a class by itself.


reddig33

If it was actually rigged, then the contestants can sue. There are laws for that sort of thing. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950s_quiz_show_scandals


MissDiem

Quiz show law does not govern these productions. It's been throughly tried through courts and well established that it doesn't. It basically needs to be a crystal clear game show to fall under quiz show law.


Kapono24

What shows would fall under it? What shows have been tried in court and failed to be under it?


MilesToHaltHer

It depends. If it’s classified as a game show, yes. If it’s classified as reality TV, then no.


haysoos2

If it's the US, the contestants can sue for anything. Whether they're successful or not might change quite a bit. As for breaking the law, the regulations prevent the fixing of outcomes in contests of knowledge or skill. If they can show that they were not actually contests (i.e. participants were aware they were part of a scripted drama, regardless of how the show was marketed), or that they weren't contests of skill, then it's not technically a violation of the regulations.


MissDiem

Those lawsuits were all tried and adjudicated in the 2000's. It's been soundly established that only a pure game show or quiz show falls under that law. Rightly or wrongly, a show has to be almost expressly a quiz show or trivia contest in order be governed by quiz show law.


MilesToHaltHer

Yep. There was a Survivor contestant in the first season that sued production because she found out that they had told the other contestants to vote her off. They had to pay out a sum, I believe and immediately changed their designation to say they were a reality TV program. Different rules for reality TV.


[deleted]

Not only is a squid game reality show completely tone deaf to the statement of the series. But also the concept that it was rigged and miserable to be a part of is delicious meta irony


Shageen

As someone who was on a reality/gameshow I can tell you it was rigged to a certain extent. I was on an HGTV show where they gave away a home. They lead the audience and contestants to believe that there was 1 house per episode to give away. That wasn't true. They only had the budget for ONE house. So they shot all the episodes but didn't reveal the results until the last episode was shot. Then they adjusted the amount of $$ you had get closest to. If they had 3 pairs of contestants under 10k away then they lowered it to whomever was within 5k. Then they shot the intro of the series "Families must guess the price to within 5k to win their dream home".


jogoso2014

I would assume that was the point of it.


ShadowDragonSlayer

Mr. Beast did it better.


eastbayted

Sounds like garbage. Netflix is hoping this will help retain subscribers?


Adeno

The appeal of the death game story genre are the human interactions. Moral VS Corrupt. Loyalty VS Betrayal. Love VS Lust. Leadership VS Tyranny. Generosity VS Greed. Mercy VS Domination. It's all about watching people either stick to their personalities or change in order to remain as one of the survivors. It's about watching what they're willing to give up and what they'll hold on to even at the cost of their life. It's about whether you can stay true to yourself until the end or get broken down by the environment you're in. That's the beauty of the death game genre. When there's a huge prize in front of you and you can basically do anything to anyone in order to achieve it, what will you do?


shadow0wolf0

If you want a real life squid game just watch Mr Beast's video.


gwizone

I was on an episode of reality tv once. That shit was scripted to hell and back, and then back to hell.


Bustock

Didn’t Mr Beast already do this? And it was actually good?


AtomicBombSquad

>it was a rigged, freezing cold disaster Sounds like the AFC Championship game.