![]() Saturday, noon Sunday, WQED-TV) marks the latest labor of love from WQED producer Frank Caloiero, himself a former Tamburitzan.Ī 90-minute production, “Phoenix” highlights music and dance cultural traditions from Croatia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Romania and Ukraine. Lauderdale, Fla., is also among “The Challenge” contestants. They’ll celebrate the premiere of “Squid Game: The Challenge” tonight with a private viewing for family and friends at the Fox Chapel location.Ĭhad Van Horn, a Gateway High and Robert Morris University grad who’s now a bankruptcy attorney in Ft. Mercurio’s family owns Mercurio’s restaurants in Shadyside and Fox Chapel. Mercurio said he’s not looking to get on another reality show, but he’s such a winning character in “Squid Game: The Challenge” one could imagine reality show casting producers might come calling. We were eliminated and there were no congratulations, no high-fives, no paycheck. “On the show when the characters die, after the cameras stopped rolling, people high five and congratulated them on what a great showing and they went home to their family and they got a paycheck. ![]() “It felt like we were dying,” he said of contestants who were shot with paintballs when eliminated. Mercurio said the crying/wailing by some contestants when others get eliminated was not a put-on response. Mercurio also says in the series if he can’t win, it would be an honor to help one of his new friends win. Mercurio said he told stories during downtime and it’s clear he became a father-figure to a mullet-sporting contestant from Kansas City. In the series, Mercurio says he will get a tattoo of his player number, 232, and he’s done that and more, adding the “Squid Game” logo and “gganbu” to his left arm. “I was floored how many people there never practiced anything. “I practiced marbles with my wife, played Red Light, Green Light with the grandchildren,” Mercurio said. To prepare for the series, Mercurio played all the games seen in the scripted “Squid Game” over and over. “I just never expected a man like me - you know, an older person – to be who gets these kinds of opportunities,” he said. “I actually floated home from work that day,” he said.įrom there, Mercurio ran a pre-game gauntlet of interviews before getting selected in December 2022. ![]() ![]() 17, 2022, he received a text at work saying producers loved his application. Mercurio checked his email multiple times each day hoping to get a response to his submission. I didn’t want anyone saying, ‘Dad lost his marbles.’” “It took me three seconds to say, ‘I’m doing this,’” Mercurio said of his decision to apply. Mercurio, a physician who practices geriatric medicine, including at Kittanning Care Center, said he was a fan of the scripted “Squid Game.” When searching the internet in June 2022 for information on the show’s second season, he saw producers were seeking contestants for the 10-episode “Squid Game” reality show. With 456 players at the start, it seems it would be impossible to get to know any of the contestants well, but when the first game is Red Light, Green Light, led by the same creepy doll statue seen in the scripted show, the winnowing of contestants happens fast (more than 250 players are eliminated in that first game).Īfter that, characters start to come into focus, including a son and his mother, who is a retired New York Times editor the arrogant and widely disliked jock Brynton and Mercurio and his alliance in the Gganbu Gang (“gganbu” is Korean for “old and close friends”). Mercurio, a beekeeper who turned 69 while filming “Squid Game: The Challenge” on enormous soundstages outside London in January 2023, gets a hero’s edit where he’s shown to be a likable, down-to-earth guy and one of the show’s oldest competitors. The production values are huge and magnificent – the show, featuring 456 contestants at its outset, boasts a $4.56 million prize – and when “The Challenge” works, it’s because of its characters, particularly Rick Mercurio of Kittanning. The success of 2021’s scripted South Korean drama series “Squid Game” naturally made Netflix pursue a reality show version, “Squid Game: The Challenge,” now streaming.
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