With only the finale left for Netflix's Squid Game: The Challenge, it is time to start thinking about picking a winner.
The streaming giant's latest reality hit has been something a bit different for the platform, serving as a spin-off of the beloved Netflix drama Squid Game, as opposed to an original series like some of its other reality-based fare (ala Too Hot to Handle, Surviving Paradise, etc.)
Over the past few weeks, The Challenge has widdled down its cast of contestants - by way of high-stakes schoolyard games - from 456 to just three.
Now, with only one episode remaining (streaming on Wednesday, December 6), Squid Game: The Challenge is mere days away from handing out its record-breaking $4.56 million prize.
Meet The Finalists in Squid Game: The Challenge
There are now only three players left in Squid Game: The Challenge and one of them is going to be crowned the winner.
Mai, Phill, and Sam all have proven formidable competition within the confines of the game, playing The Challenge to a tee.
Mai (Player 287) is a 55-year-old immigration adjudicator who, while looking unassuming from the outside, has been a force to be reckoned with. Her strategy has been all about making strategic alliances, building trust with her fellow players, and then ruthlessly using them as a springboard on her way to victory.
In the last couple of episodes leading up to the finale, the rest of the cast started to catch on to Mai's merciless ways, but it was too late. After forming bonds with the likes of Roland earlier in the season, Mai then showed no pity, eliminating her former ally in Episode 9 during the Circle of Trust Game.
Fans will know Phill (Player 451) as the long-haired scuba instructor who, while not the biggest physical threat, has shown a level of intellect that has kept him in the game as long as he has been.
The last audiences saw of Phill, he plucked Ashley out of the circle during the Circle of Trust game, quickly deducing that she was one of the killers left and punching his ticket to the finale.
Throughout the season Phill has become close with the other finalist Sam. Sam (Player 16) is a 37-year-old artist from Florida who approaches the game from a more humanistic angle than most.
He is the last true empath on the show, still looking for the best in people despite everything that has happened during The Challenge's nine episodes thus far.
Who Will Win Squid Game: The Challenge?
No one will truly know who wins Squid Game: The Challenge until its hotly anticipated finale airs.
Each of the three remaining contestants has proven worthy of the $4.56 million jackpot prize.
It remains unclear what game will be played in the finale, but Mai, Phill, and Sam have all proven they are ready for any physical or mental challenge that is put in front of them.
The biggest thing to keep an eye on going into the finale is the bond between Phill and Sam.
While Mai made friends throughout the show, each of these relationships proved to ultimately be disposable for the player. This is completely different from what Phill and Sam seem to have cultivated over these last nine episodes.
When it came to it, Mai was able to put aside her feelings (real or not) and leave people she 'claimed' to be friends by the wayside, but will Phill and Sam be able to do the same?
Yes, the pair of players come into the finale with something Mai doesn't have (someone seemingly on their side), but only one person can win.
This is why Mai feels like the odds-on favorite to take home the prize money, leaving Phill and Sam in the dust on her way to victory.
The Squid Game: The Challenge finale hits Netflix on Wednesday, December 6 at 12 a.m. PT/3 a.m. ET
