Eric Roberts, the Irish representative on the hit Netflix show Squid Game: The Challenge revealed what really went down on the show and how editing cuts do not do justice to the realities the contestants faced.
Speaking to Beat's Megan O'Regan Byrne, the TikTok who finished second on the first game 'red light, green light' said the game itself took over six hours for him to complete despite the show showing about 30 minutes of the game.
The 33-year-old told Beat: "It was very dependent on how quickly you crossed the line. I got over the line in six hours because I came second but if you were one of the last people to cross the line, you might have been there for eight to nine hours."
He added: "We would run for five seconds and then we would freeze in a static motion for thirty or forty minutes. It was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do physically and I suppose mentally as well."
The Donegal native also explained that he wasn't sure if contestants were allowed to use the bathroom while in that frozen position.
Eric said the most difficult part after the first game was to converse with 'The Americans' and people he might not have spoken to in his everyday life.
He said the contestants were starved, sleep-deprived, and had no concept of time.
Eric said the only thing that helped him get through the games were the conversations with other people in the room.
Asked if he struggled to form alliances as the games went on, he said: "Early on I did. I am very sarcastic and I have a self-depreciating Irish humour and that did not land with a lot of the Americans early on."
He also struggled to find the second Irish contestant, Kildare man Mikie Bowe, who was on the game show: "There was another Irish contestant there and I didn't actually find him until we were there for two to three days. That is how big a scale this was."
Eric explains how he had to form new alliances after the different cliques he was part of kept being eliminated. At some point, he also cried because he was losing his friends.
The TikTok star survived the marble game and described how the women formed alliances to eliminate the men as there were more women than men.
Talking about the food on the show he said: "My sister is one of the worst cooks imaginable and there were days (on day three or four) where I was really missing some of her meals. That is how bad it was. There was mushy porridge in the morning and you could only describe it as something you would see out of a prison. It was horrific grey porridge and we would get white plain rice and an egg maybe or just some dry pasta."
After speaking about the game itself, Megan put Eric through a series of tests to confirm some of the rumours from the show.
They also chatted about general life.
He gave his red light, green light thoughts on socks in bed, someone who remembers his mum's birthday, someone who identifies as a dog parent, someone who orders from the kid's menu and more.
The Donegal man was asked questions about the South East including facts about the area, people food, and history.
Let's just say Eric needs a trip to the South East soon to brush up on his knowledge.
He revealed that he believes Netflix was hoping for some romantic relationships as there were condoms in the bathrooms - but he insists they were just used as lip balm.
He went on to say: "There were condoms available but obviously, 200 people in a room with no windows people's lips started getting chapped. Now I'm blessed with some tiny lips so luckily I didn't have to rub any condoms over my face, I just licked my lips every now and again. But there were some people you would be having a conversation with and mid-conversation they would pull out a condom and start rubbing it on their mouth. It was a strange, strange time"
Asked if he would take part in the game again, the 33-year-old said he would although he wouldn't recommend it as it is not 'for the weak-minded'.
Following his successful run on the show, Roberts has been trying his hands on acting, comedy, and presenting saying he has 'really fallen in love with presenting'.
Listen to Megan's full interview with Eric by clicking here.
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