This story contains spoilers for the season finale of Squid Game: The Challenge.
After Squid Game: The Challenge picked off early hopeful after early hopeful, one player rose through the ranks to win Netflix's massive cash prize. Her name is Mai Whelan, but everyone knows her better as Player 287. Through some cunning play and level-headed decisions, she made it through to the December 6 finale with two other finalists. And now, thanks to some major rock, paper, scissors skills, she just won $4.56 million.
Hailing from Virginia, Whelan is a 55-year-old immigration adjudicator. She left Vietnam when she was just eight years old, according to her Netflix profile, during the Fall of Saigon in 1975. Whelan recounts that she barely escaped a chance encounter with a soldier who saw her move in a killing field. Mai later joined the Navy, and, later, a single mom and then a grandparent. "Of all the things that life throws at you, I've been down to the bottom of the pit," she says in Episode Six. "My family does not trust me, in my decisions... being in the military, or be a single parent at 19. It's hard, because I have nobody." She then tells another contestant to "never give up," before she's forced to eliminate them during the game.
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Over the next couple of episodes, Mai survived the Glass Bridge by drawing a number further down the line. She also correctly guessed the player who attempted to eliminate her in a game of deceit called "Circle of Trust"—by closely observing her opponents' body language. "She's really intuitive," said Hallie (Player 355). Even one of the most hated players, Ashley (Player 278), agreed. Ashley quipped, "Mai is so smart," adding that her advancement in the game should've been "a wake-up call for everyone."
Well, it's safe to say that Ashley was right, wasn't she? We're happy to see Mai—someone who clearly earned every bit of her success in the game—take home the prize. Now, it's time to start prepping our Season Two applications. And become extremely skilled at rock, paper, scissors.
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