Who got out in the first four episodes of Squid Game: The Challenge season 2, elimination details explored

Squid Game: The Challenge season 2 is back with new games, old emotions, fresh strategies, and alliances on Netflix, premiering on Tuesday, November 4, 2025, and releasing the first four episodes.

The next four episodes will stream on November 11, 2025, and the final episode will stream on November 18, 2025, revealing the ultimate winner who will win the prize of $4.56 million.

The season kicked off with 456 contestants from across the world playing eight children-based games, and the ones who lost in the game eventually got eliminated from the competition.

Netflix describes the new season of Squid Game: The Challenge as:

But, this time around, the stakes are higher than ever with shocking twists and never-before-played games. As players face elimination and deception at every turn, they must ask themselves, “Why make friends … when you can make millions?

The three-week series, which is the biggest Netflix competition, is filmed in the UK and is more intense than before, as the viewers witnessed the number of players cut down to half the quarter of the original number of participants who originally entered the dorms in the premiere.

In the latest episode 4 of Squid Game: The Challenge season 2, after the Mingle game, 42 players remain in the game, and here is a detailed exploration of the elimination math that took place in the series.

From 456 to 42: How did the number of players reduce so drastically in Squid Game: The Challenge season 2

Squid Game: The Challenge season 2 begins with 456 players, but after the first challenge, The Count, the competition is cut in half, leaving 228 contestants.

Two players, the twin brothers (Jacob and Raul), raised their hands to volunteer to lead the two teams, Team X and Team O, in which all the remaining players were divided.

The game was simple; each team member had to press a buzzer at exactly 456 seconds, and the team pressing the buzzer closest to the time would win, and the losing team would be eliminated entirely.

Team X won with only 2 seconds' difference, while Team O lost by 12 seconds, leading to all 227 players getting voted off from the show. Team O leader Raul got saved as he volunteered to lead, along with a twist that he had to further eliminate three players personally in an hour, otherwise he himself would have gotten out.

So, after the first challenge, 226 players remained in the game.

The next game, the Six-Legged Pentathlon game, required players to be divided into groups of 10. Then, they divided themselves into five-member groups. Each group played games with their legs tied in a relay format.

As per a source close to production, who told the Parade about the leftover players, the number 226 is evidently not divisible by 10.

Two players left the game for personal reasons prior to Pentathlon. They have a few groups of three and four contestants play pentathlon that were not shown, because the math would not have allowed all groups of five.

After the Pentathlon, the players again dropped to nearly half with 112 players remaining after the eliminations.

The first elimination vote focused on performance in the Pentathlon, where the five slowest players from each game were voted off, narrowing the competition and reducing the pool to just 107 contestants.

The next challenge, called Catch, featured players who had to work together to throw and catch balls in a coordinated relay, but a few fumbled throws cost many their spots in the game.

By the end of the round, another 33 contestants were gone, leaving only 74 players still in the running for the win. 2 more players got eliminated before the Mingle during The Doll when Natalie (player 075) eliminated Ashley and Matthew, making the total 72.

At the start of the Mingle challenge, two contestants were granted immunity thanks to a Nesting Doll advantage, leaving 70 players to take part in the chaotic round.

As the game started, contestants shuffled to form groups of a specific number each time the carousel stopped and a new number was announced. 

By the end of the challenge, the player count had dropped to just 42 contestants. These players then formed pairs and revolted to stop the game.

Finally, the episode ended with a cliffhanger, revealing that their next game would be the emotional Marbles game, which would even cut the players in half.

Stay tuned for more updates.