Circle, triangle, umbrella, and star: four shapes, one candy — how hard could it be? 

As fans of the original Squid Game series are well aware, looks can be deceiving when it comes to dalgona, the traditional South Korean sweet treat at the center of the show’s iconic second game. The assignment might seem simple — use a needle to carve out the symbol on the crispy honeycomb candy without breaking it — but working with the fragile dessert is precarious, to say the least. 

While Squid Game: The Challenge takes bold new steps to expand the scope of the fictional universe, the infamous candy returns to test a new group of players. And to bring the Dalgona game to life, the team behind the reality competition series encountered a slew of unexpected challenges. There’s just no way to sugarcoat it: “It was an absolute logistical nightmare to get from point A to where someone has completed the biscuit,” says senior development chef Amon Kadim. “For starters, they’re typically made to order two seconds before they’re meant to be eaten. But we had to make them en masse a day before the game. We had to play around with the recipe so we could create the perfect storage conditions for the big day.” 

To accommodate the scale of the series, as well as ensure fairness and uniformity for each player involved, a group of experts tinkered with a variety of ingredients. Some recipes needed more glucose and water to achieve the proper aeration, while others snapped too easily or became too soggy. Ultimately, 19 different versions of the recipe and thousands upon thousands of candies were created until the team landed on a devilishly delicate final product. 

Watch Squid Game: The Challenge on Netflix, and follow along with our official Squid Game: The Challenge cast guide. 

What to Know Before Watching ‘Squid Game: The Challenge’