Squid Games: The Challenge: Who will most likely win the $4.56 million prize?

As Netflix's widely popular Squid Games: The Challenge debut season draws to a close, audiences can't help but speculate about the one lucky winner who will walk away with a whopping $4.56 million cash prize. Squid Games: The Challenge airs its finale on Wednesday, December 6, 2023, at 3 a.m. ET on Netflix, and out of the three remaining finalists, our bet is on Mai, otherwise known as Player 287.

The successive eliminations at the end of every episode on the Squid Game-inspired show have reduced the number of claims to the jackpot to just three - Sam (Player 016), Phil (Player 451), and Mai. Judging by her conduct in the previous episode, Mai is a formidable contender.

Mai brings to the table the perfect mix of ruthlessness and shrewd design that is needed to survive on a show as brutal as Squid Games: The Challenge. In the 'Circle of Trust' episode, Mai lets her friend Roland (Player 418) take the fall in a decisive attempt to save herself. However, once back at her dorm, she lies to Phil and Sam about Roland so that they don't consider her a backstabber.

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Who is Mai from Squid Games: The Challenge?

Mai Whelan is a fifty-five-year-old immigration adjudicator who was born in Vietnam and currently lives in Fairfax County, Virginia. Mai's job involves reviewing F-1 visa applications advanced by international students who wish to live and study in the United States.

Mai is no stranger to putting her life on the line. In Squid Games: The Challenge, she narrated the tale of fleeing Taiwan with her family back in 1975. She recalled an instance when a gun was pressed against her head before her mother took her to safety. Although the incident has no direct bearing on her stint on Squid Game: The Challenge, it can be guessed that she has a lot of relevant survival experience to draw from.

Squid Games: The Challenge mirrors many of the K-Drama Squid Game's challenges, and similarly, a player who, while unassuming and otherwise thought to be meek, has the strongest claim to prize money in both shows. Remember Gi-Hun?

Mai has acquired a reputation for being duplicitous on the show. This came after she saved Chad (Player 286) from elimination instead of a woman, defying an earlier pact made among the remaining women. The alliances she made on The Challenge were similarly meant to further her interests alone, and she didn't think twice before throwing many of her supposed friends to the wolves.

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Who are the other finalists in the Squid Games: The Challenge

Other than Mai, Phill Cain and Sam Lantz are the other two finalists vying for the $4.56 million cash prize on Squid Games: The Challenge.

Sam made it to the top three by carefully building alliances and by letting other players access risks for him. He successfully managed to learn from others' mistakes. Sam was left in a tight spot during the Dalgona challenge when he was given the difficult star shape to carve out the cookie. However, he managed to come through the challenge.

Phil, on the other hand, didn't plan on making it to the final three. Though he maintained cordial relations with his allies, he didn't extend it to his supposed ally Hallie or Player 355 in the ninth episode. Now that he finds himself locked in fierce competition, he must summon all of his courage and dive headlong into the fight.

Squid Games: The Challenge finale episode premieres Wednesday, December 6, 2023, at 3 a.m. ET on Netflix.