I am a Squid Game: The Challenge contestant and it took me SEVEN hours to complete a gruelling task that felt like it was real

A Squid Game: The Challenge contestant has revealed what it was like filming the game show as it launched on Netflix after months of waiting.

The spin-off is based on the record-breaking Korean drama, but sees 456 real-life contestants compete for a whopping $4.56 million in cash prizes.

The show features the same challenges without the deadly consequences of the original, with games like Red Light, Green Light, Honeycombs and Hopscotch all returning.

One of the contestants has now shed light on what it was like filming the show at London’s Wharf Studios.

Lorenzo Nobilio, 26, told BBC News: ‘It felt like it was real – it didn’t feel like you were in a fictional place.’

Battle: The show, which is based on the original Korean drama, is now available to stream

He added that the Red Light, Green Light challenge was the most grueling of the entire show, taking seven hours to complete.

In the original program, this is the first challenge the contestants face and the moment the characters realize they will be killed if they fail.

A giant puppet stands at the front of the arena as the competitors try to crawl forward and are shot if caught.

The spin-off also features a 4.1-meter-tall ‘Young-hee doll’, but instead the players are disabled with a radio-controlled dye.

Lorenzo continued: ‘I got past the queue in seven hours, which was a long time, but it’s called Squid Game: The Challenge, it’s not an all-inclusive holiday in the Canary Islands.’

The players wear green zip-up tracksuits, just like in the original show, and each person’s elimination adds $10,000 to the prize pool.

The substantial prize will mean that TV viewers should see the same level of competitiveness as if the players’ lives were actually on the line.

In the original show, the contestants are all in debt and play children’s games to win a huge cash prize.

Tough Competition: The reality competition show features a whopping 456 contestants

Notable games: Some challenges from the original show will also appear, including Red Light, Green Light, Sugar Honeycombs and Hopscotch

Stop! The infamous Red Light, Green Light was reportedly filmed for seven hours, with some participants ditching the show due to poor filming conditions

Although they are initially shocked by the fact that they will be killed if they lose, their desperation for money soon leads to a deadly competition between them.

Contestants have previously spoken out against the new spin-off show, complaining about the conditions they had to film in.

They emphasized that they had not signed up for a Bear Grylls or Naked and Afraid type show and were shocked by the filming conditions.

One participant describes playing Red Light Green Light Variety: ‘This is not a game.

‘The fun is over now. You can’t tell people to stand in sub-zero temperatures in just a tracksuit and two pairs of socks.”

A second alleged situation was ‘absolutely inhumane’, detailing four people fainting during the second round of the game.

The plaintiff said they could see a girl faint when she heard her head hit the floor, adding: ‘But then someone hit the floor [microphone] and told us to hold our positions because the game was not paused. Then people dropped like flies.”

In a statement, Netflix and the show’s producers, Studio Lambert and The Garden, said that “although it was very cold on set – and participants were prepared for it – any claims of serious injury are untrue.”

They continued: ‘We care deeply about the health and safety of our cast and crew and have invested in all appropriate safety procedures.’

Squid Game: The Challenge is now available to stream on Netflix.

A real feeling: a giant doll caught the players with radio-controlled dye

Deadly: Players will risk everything to claim the whopping prize pool