Round 6: The Challenge was “cruel” and “rigged”, former participants denounce

Round 6: The Challengereality show inspired by the hit Korean series Round 6, was already causing controversy even before its debut, on November 22nd, on Netflix. Shortly after recording began, in January of this year, former participants claimed Rolling StoneNorth American that the program was “cruel” and “manipulated”.

In the days after the premiere, the deadline revealed that some former reality show contestants are considering suing Netflix over hypothermia and nerve damage during filming. The allegations match what was described by four players in February that the program was the “most cruel and meanest” experience they had ever experienced.

“We were treated like horses in a race, in the coldest way, and the race was constant”they declared.

In the dispute, which imitates the plot of the first season of Round 6, 456 participants compete in different games to compete for a prize of US$4.56 million (around R$22 million at current prices). If they are not successful in the task, they are eliminated and, in the series, killed.

Initially, the idea of ​​the reality show had already been criticized for allegedly going against the message that the series itself conveyed, about what people were going through to get money. Furthermore, another criticism was that, in addition to emulating the games presented in Round 6participants would also be “killed” when they lost the challenges, something confirmed with the premiere of the program.

However, in addition to these problems, the participants would have suffered from repetitions and recordings carried out under inhumane conditions, as four former players revealed in the interview with Rolling Stone USA. They highlighted the experience during the game recordings French fries, 1, 2, 3which left an impression on fans of the series.

In the activity, they need to cross a field, but they can only move while a giant doll sings. Recorded on Cardington Studios, former Royal Air Force base in Bedford, participants would have been in freezing cold, with a wind chill of -10ºC, for around nine hours. When they were “killed”, they could not move for at least 30 minutes.

According to four former players, in the interview, at least ten people fainted during the game and, when doctors were called, they took a long time to reach the participants, because the program’s producers were afraid that the care could ruin their lives. recorded scenes.

“All the torment and trauma we experienced was not due to the rigor of the game. It was incompetence on a scale. They [a Netflix] have taken on something that is bigger than they are capable of handling”said the former participants.

At the time, Netflix spoke out in a press release and confirmed that it was indeed very cold on the recording set, but “the participants were prepared for it” and “any allegations of serious injuries are false.” Still according to the streaming, only three participants would have sought medical attention at the time.

In-game manipulation?

In addition to the accusations against Netflix that the games were recorded under inhumane conditions, the former players also stated that Round 6: The Challenge it was manipulated and was intended to favor some participants, either because they were famous on social media or because they had stories that the producers wanted to explore.

“It wasn’t really a game show. It was a TV show and we were basically the extras on it.”they declared.

In one of the activities, dubbed “The 38 Second Massacre” by former participants, they reported that a large group of players completed the activity only to be warned shortly afterwards that they would all be eliminated.

Other accusations said that the production gave one of the participants more time to complete the challenge, “because she was one of the people they wanted to appear on the show”; and that Netflix had already purchased plane tickets in advance for some of the “extra” players so that they could return home right after the games in which they ended up eliminated.