Four New Jersey players move closer to winning $4.56 million in Netflix's 'Squid Game'

"Squid Game," the viral Netflix sensation that took the world by storm in 2021, has now entered a new dimension with a reality TV version of the Korean series.

This time, contestants aren’t actors but actual people competing for a $4.56 million cash prize. Three out of the 456 contestants are from New Jersey, and their performances look promising.

Just like in "Squid Game," the new reality TV version – "Squid Game: The Challenge" – contestants face each other in a set of easy games that many played as kids, such as battleship and red light, green light. Through every challenge, a portion of contestants gets eliminated until there is a sole survivor.

Besides winning challenges, there's a need to be socially strategic, given that the game includes a few opportunities in which players could vote out other contestants.

Filmed in London, the reality TV show replicated everything from the original drama series with every detail in mind: same setting, same uniforms, and very similar rules. The only difference: Physical violence is not allowed, and nobody dies in the reality show.

The show has 10 episodes, of which five were already released on Thanksgiving weekend. The next four episodes will premiere Nov. 29 with the finale airing Dec. 6.

Who are the New Jersey contestants in 'Squid Game'?

Five out of the 456 players are from the Garden State. Their performances have been good enough that all of them made it into the top 26 percentile.

So far, in the first five episodes that have been released, one of the New Jersey contestants was eliminated, while four remain with an eye on the prize.

Out of the 456 initial players, only 63 remain in the competition.*Spoiler alert beyond this point.

Jada, player 097 from Ocean County

Jada Sasha, a 24-year-old marketing coordinator from Ocean County, is ready to take the cash prize home. She is one of the 63 contestants out of the initial 456 that remain in the competition.

In the first episode, Sasha showed herself as someone convinced of her chances to win the game, given her ability to read people, she said.

“Jada actually means, you know, ‘the gift of knowing,’ and I swear there’s no coincidence that my parents named me that because I literally know everything before it happens,” she said. “I can read people really well. I know when someone’s lying like that. I know when someone is not being trustworthy."

Save for the show-stopping moment when Sasha snatched a burger from Player 198, she has kept a low-key demeanor, not calling too much attention to herself but still friendly. That might have been a good strategy, since every time there was a chance to vote somebody out, the loudest, leading players were the top picks.

A former student of LIM, a New York City fashion business school, Sasha plans to donate a portion of the cash prize to a kidney donor assistance center. A year before the show filmed in February, Sasha donated a kidney to her brother, an experience that’s inspiring for her today, she said.

LeAnn, player 302 from Bergen County

Player 302 or LeAnn Wilcox Plutnicki,  is a retired New York Times editor from Bergen County competing in the game along with her son from Illinois, Trey.

According to the show synopsis, this 64-year-old player decided to compete after her son convinced her to do it so that they could have an alliance.

But Plutnicki has been smart enough to not spend too much time with her son and end up becoming a target.

The show’s online fandom quickly made her one of the favorite contestants. She's been nice to everyone and has never stirred the pot against anyone, putting her in a safe position.

But unfortunately, a plot twist got her covered in tears.

After the game moderator asked players to pick a partner for a picnic, she picked her son. But she didn’t know that everyone’s picnic partner was also against whom they would have to compete in the next challenge: a classic marbles game.

“Most mothers, would let their kids win,” she said amid tears.

“I see those marbles, and my heart sinks. Either I am going to eliminate my own mother, or she is going to eliminate me,” her son said.

And, unlike what most social media fans are rooting for, Plutnicki told her son that “(he) really better win it. Seriously.”

A former sports editor, she loves competition, playing several sports in high school. When she attended Kansas State University, she became the first woman to receive a full-ride basketball scholarship.

“I always had a ball in my hand. I never had dolls,” she said.

More: 4 New Jersey celebs named most powerful women in reality TV

Daniel, player 204

The 51-year-old player is a physician's assistant and, as he put it, "a true-born leader."

In the show, he has been quiet overall. But let's not confuse being shy with being reserved, as he is currently leading the Gganbu gang, the biggest alliance in the show that was quickly formed during the first episode.

And being quiet has been smart. Even though the alliance he leads has been a main target in the show, players haven't voted him out but rather other loud, non-leading members of his alliance.

Daniel has five kids, and he is most excited to play Glass Bridge.

Other 'Squid Game' players from New Jersey

• Tom Crooks, player 446 - Belmar resident Crooks is an actor and former CEO of Coastal Healthcare, a medical group practice at the Shore. He is 58, and before filming the show, he told Netflix that he didn't like that he was probably going to lose some sleep. He said he always wanted to be on a show like “Survivor.” Unfortunately, he was eliminated in the third episode during the battleship game.

• Rob, player 339 - This SWAT sergeant is 31 years old, loves to dance and box, and before the show was filmed, he told Netflix that he was planning to form many alliances, "while showing empathy when needed." But so far, not much has been seen from this contestant who still remains in the competition.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Squid Game: Meet the NJ players eyeing at the $4.56 million cash prize