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‘Squid Game: The Challenge’ winner says she still hasn’t gotten her jackpot

By Stephen Iervolino Dec 8, 2023 | 4:06 PM
Getty Images for Netflix/Roy Rochlin

(SPOILERS) The winner of the reality competition version of Netflix’s global phenomenon Squid Game says she’s yet to collect her $4.56 million grand prize. 

Fifty-five-year-old Mai Whelan, player 287, beat her competitors in Squid Game: The Challenge, but now she says she has a different challenge: 10 months after the show wrapped, she claims she hasn’t gotten paid yet. 

“I feel like Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire,” she told the U.K.’s The Times. “Show me the money!”

For their part, the producers of the show tell The Wrap, “The winner was always aware of the payment plan.” They added, “The winner will receive the prize fund now that the finale has aired.”

The prize — which was awarded, at least on camera, after the immigration adjudicator bested second-place finisher Phill Cain in a game of rock, paper, scissors — is the biggest in reality TV history, after the $5 million won by Tate Stevens on The X Factor in 2012.

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