The new Netflix original series, Squid Game has burst onto the scene in a big way. Unfortunately for one South Korean woman, the popularity of the show has led to her getting absolutely deluged with phone calls from fans of the Netflix hit to the point where producers have said they will edit a part of the show causing the problems.
Squid Game is a nine-part series that depicts poverty-stricken playing several different childrens' games, that has been giving a deadly twist. The series has become an international hit since it first aired on Netflix and that has caused problems for a woman identified as Kim Gil-young who runs a small business in South Korea.
According to Reuters, the woman has the same number that is briefly shown on a mysterious invitation card given to potential players in Squid Game. During a recent interview about the problems the show caused, the woman showed messages from people, including some that requested they be allowed to participate in some sort of real-life Squid Game they thought existed. it appears that Netflix and the producers of the show took the woman's problems to heart and announced that they are working to find ways to make sure that she isn't getting any more calls or text messages stemming from the series.
Netflix announced earlier this week that it will edit the Squid Game footage in question. In the meantime, execs for the streaming service asked people to stop calling the number. The company signaled out people who were calling or texting the woman's phone as a kind of prank call, understanding that it wasn't actually involved in the show in any real way.
The woman is between a bit of a rock and a hard place because the number is tied to her business. For that reason, she cannot simply give into Squid Game fans and get a brand new phone number. She's even been offered up to 100 million won (over $800,000) to sell the number but so far she has refused.
As far as why people are calling the number, it's possible at least some of them believe it was intentionally included in the Netflix original program. Several shows and movies over the years have linked marketing campaigns to websites or phone numbers. However, producers have made it extremely clear that's not what happened here. Some critics have gone so far as to question publicly why creators didn't check to make sure the phone number wasn't attached to a real person.
Squid Game is now streaming on Netflix.
Source: Reuters