The Squid Game invitation phone number was real — and it changed a man’s life
Since the ’80s hit “867-5309,” the entertainment industry should know better than to publish real Phone numbers in songs, TV shows and movies.
That’s why you see so many “555” digits. However, some productions love to add realism with real phone numbers. Enter Squid Gameone of the most popular shows to ever premiere on Netflix.
Squid Game offers contestants a chance to win $38 million
Hundreds of people receive invitations from a secret company in Squid Game. Anyone who answers the phone number can sign a contract to participate in a number of games. The winner earns $38 million.
It sounds like a great opportunity for the poor and desperate people who respond to the invitation. Then hundreds of participants are gunned down in a gigantic, terrifying game of “red light, green light”.
A man received 4,000 calls a day about ‘Squid Game’
Insiders report that Squid Game Season 1 was the most popular series on Netflix in 83 countries. In the first episode, the series protagonist Ki-hun shows both sides of a simple card. One has a row of icons resembling a Playstation controller. The other side shows the phone number to call.
sure, Squid Game Fans tried calling the number. Surprisingly, the original eight-digit phone number belonged to one real person in South Korea.
This person received 4,000 calls a day. Worse, people with similar numbers also got prank calls, including the businessman’s wife. She had a cell phone number that was one digit different from his and received calls too. Both lost sleep because of the problem.
A South Korean politician offered to buy the phone number for $85,000. In early October 2021, just three weeks after the series premiered, the streaming service reduced the number to just six digits, according to News24. Now when people call the phone number, it says, “The number you dialed is out of service.”
Lesson learned, albeit a little late.
How could the producers of “Squid Game” have handled the phone number differently?
This fake phone number could have been managed in many other ways. The manufacturers could have used a completely fake number with the wrong prefix (like 555) or an incomprehensible script. They could have blurred it or just changed the recording and not shown the phone number at all.
Producers could have done something Star Trek: Picard achieved in Season 2. Adam Soong (Brent Spiner) receives a metallic card from Q (John de Lancie). A phone number appears on one side of the map. It’s a real number, and fans can call it to hear a voice message from the almighty being himself, Gizmodo reports. That number is (323) 634-5667. You can call it today.
The future of Squid Game looks bright
Squid Game Season 2 is in the works. Showrunner Hwang Dong-hyuk said the second season could arrive sooner than 2024. The creator also promised new and better games for future seasons.
Until then, fans can look forward to the upcoming Primetime Emmy Awards. The dystopian thriller received 14 nominations in a variety of categories.
RELATED: ‘Squid Game’ HoYeon Jung Pays Tribute to Korea With SAG Awards Hairstyle
https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/squid-game-invitation-phone-number-real-changed-1-man-life.html/ The Squid Game invitation phone number was real — and it changed a man’s life
