After several weeks of cutthroat competition, “Squid Game: The Challenge” just wrapped its sophomore season and declared a winner.
The reality series, which is inspired by the scripted show “Squid Game,” tasks contestants with surviving the same challenges they witnessed in the original show. (Of course, players only pretend to die in the reality competition.)
At the beginning of Season 2, 456 players embarked on a journey to win the $4.56 million prize. Along the way, they had to outlast each other in a series of high-stakes children’s games.
The Season 2 finale began on a high note for the five finalists — Dajah, Perla, Steven, Trinity and Vanessa — as they enjoyed a well-deserved gourmet dinner while dressed in their finale tuxedos. But the mood quickly shifted as a new game began.
In a move no one saw coming, Trinity graciously sacrificed his own game to allow the other finalists to continue on in the competition. Then things got real. The remaining four contestants had to compete in a game of “Red Light, Green Light” with Young-hee, an animatronic doll from the show.
Contestants were tasked with a race to the finish line, but they could only move after Young-hee said “green light.” Vanessa was eliminated first, followed by Steven.
One of two people left, Dajah suffered an untimely injury while running. The motion triggered a response from Young-hee, and Dajah was eliminated, leaving Perla the last contestant standing.
As she reflected on the gravity of the moment, Perla narrated her inner thoughts in a voiceover and said, “I am the last woman standing. It’s just me and the finish line. I had faith, I had strength and I had the luck. I am about to win ‘Squid Game.’”
Once Perla crossed the finish line, she dropped to her knees in joy and said, “Thank you, God.”
In a confessional interview, Perla expressed her relief after winning.
“Now I can finally take care of my family. I can breathe now. Money is not gonna be a worry and that is just something I’ve never been used to. I just feel like the luckiest girl in the world right now to be honest,” she said.
After, Perla could be seen visiting her family and celebrating her big win.
“I always felt powerful, but now I’m like, ‘I am powerful.’ I am never doubting myself any longer. Like if I say I am gonna do something, I am gonna do it no matter what,” she said in a voiceover. “I am a force to be reckoned with.”
Perla Reflects on the ‘Hardest Part’ of ‘Squid Game’
Perla looked back on her time on “Squid Game: The Challenge” in an interview with TODAY.com.
“I think the hardest part for me was obviously in (the) slides and ladders (game), not letting the full Bronx of me come out, and start cooking people verbally. I did a little bit of it, but not too much,” she said, referencing one challenge that turned tense for the contestants.
During the game, another contestant tried to make Perla feel guilty by reminding her she was playing for her son at home. The emotional manipulation didn’t sit well with Perla.
“As an empath, it was really hard because obviously I do care that you have a dream and a reason to be here, but I think it’s very unfair (to act that way). I have a lot of friends in the show that had kids and never threw it in anyone’s face. So it was really tough,” she said.
Perla, who entered the competition with her brother, said she “was already losing my mind” after her sibling was eliminated.
“I was just like, this is the last thing I could hear,” she said.
Going into the competition, Perla wasn’t quite prepared for how intense the experience would be.
“I knew that production plays games with you, like mental games in the dorms and setting these like little traps. But I think our season, it doubled and then we were constantly being like, ‘Is this person doing that because of da da da da? Does he have a coin?'” she said. “So the mental games that they play with you in the dorms, it was actually even crazier to experience it than watching it from Season 1.”
What Will Perla Do With the Money?
After witnessing Perla win the competition, the question on every viewer’s mind is: What’s she going to spend her earnings on?
“I will definitely buy my mom a house. That has been her dream since we all moved to America and it’s really hard to get a house in America. So that would be No. 1,” she said. “And then, you know, get a boob job.”
