Last Irishman standing on Squid Game: The Challenge speaks about his experiences

The new Netflix Show sees 456 contestants battle it out in a series of games with a chance to win $4.56 million.

Kildare man, Mikie Bowe (36), who now lives in in Belfast, was one of players chosen to compete in the first ever Squid Game: The Challenge with a chance of winning 4.56 million pounds.

Bowe’s love of the original Netflix series that the new reality show is based on, prompted him to apply. Once accepted, the Kildare man had to say goodbye to his wife and five kids as he didn’t know when he would return. The show was filmed in London between January and February this year.

The first game that Bowe faced was ‘Red Light Green Light’. Contestants had to make it from point A to point B before a timer ran out. They could only move when a green light was called and had to stop when a red light was called. Anyone caught moving during red light was eliminated.

Bowe said it was one of the most difficult things he has ever done.

“Red light green light lasted around seven hours and was especially hard for me as I suffer from ADHD,” he said.

When the green light was called, contestants only had a couple of seconds to cover as much distance as possible.

“When they called out red light we had to stand still for roughly 40 minutes before they called out green light. That continued for roughly seven hours.”

After the first game, the contestants were brought to their living quarters where they ended up spending most of their time.

“We called the living area S block, short for squid block. Once in there I started making friends and a few of us formed an alliance, we were called the corner as we all hung out at the corner of S Block,” Bowe said.

He became friendly with his fellow corner alliance member Kyle also known as player 087. The two players bonded over their similarities when it came to family values.

After going through a series of other games, including “Honeycomb”, “Battle Ships” and many mini challenges, the Kildare man found himself in a marbles’ game. The contest involved two players facing off against each other in good old-fashioned games of marbles. Bowe was partnered with new best friend Kyle and had to go face to face with someone he had bonded with for weeks.

The two contestants decided on a one-marble play-off game. Both men threw a marble towards a wall with whoever got closest winning. To Bowe’s surprise, he ended up beating his friend and moving on to the next round.

After the marbles game, the group faced another challenge to whittle the number of players down from 30 to 20.

“It was Chad, player 286, who had the fourth pick of the round and to my surprise he chose for me to move on to the next game. I think the reason Chad chose me was because an hour or so before we had a conversation about family and we both related to one another,” Bowe said.

The next challenge was most people’s favourite from the original show “Glass Bridge”. The rules of Glass Bridge were simple; all players were given an order in which they had to cross a bridge. Players then had to choose one of two glass plates, one of which would hold the contestant’s weight while the other would collapse.

Sadly, for Bowe, he chose the wrong plate and he – and his chances of winning the £4.65m – went tumbling to the ground.

Despite that, the Kildare man has no regrets about entering the contest. He said it was “a beautiful nightmare”. Back home in Belfast, he said he enjoyed his time participating in Squid Game although it was also one of the most if not the most difficult thing he has ever faced.

And if you fancy your chances of going all the way, you’re in luck as Netflix is now casting for Season 2. To apply go to: www.squidgamecasting.com/