Kriti Mehrotra
While there’s no denying Netflix’s ‘Squid Game: The Challenge‘ is a reality competition series through and through, it does end up giving the players more than a mere once-in-a-lifetime experience. It may be a rivalry in some cases, but it’s forever friendships in most — the two prime examples of this are that of Stephen Lomas and Rick Mercurio as well as Mai Whelan and Chad Van Horn. Yet for now, if you simply wish to learn more about the latter — with a specific focus on not just their experiences together but also their current standing — we’ve got the necessary details for you.
Mai and Chad’s Squid Game Journey
Although both 55-year-old Mai and 38-year-old Chad bid their time upon stepping into this production to make their presence known, they’d connected on a personal level on day one itself. The truth is neither wanted the spotlight until it was absolutely inevitable, and their strategy of gliding along in the hopes they wouldn’t wind up with a target on their back actually worked wonders. However, everything changed once the Immigration Adjudicator nominated herself to do a chore, especially as it inadvertently led to the Marbles game and the whole player pool dwindling by half.
Then came the test of alliance, wherein Mai was first to be picked thanks to player 182 TJ Stukes feeling as if they were two sides of the same coin, only for her to subsequently choose attorney Chad. Player 287 was a bit confused at first since she didn’t know whether going with him or following through with a Women’s Alliance would be better, so she ultimately just listened to her guts. She said in a confessional, “286, Chad, has my trust, loyalty…” — on the other hand, he always gave her so much respect they’d become a sort of unbreakable duo, which she really solidified in the test.
Mai and Chad’s association went to such an extent that during the ensuing Glass Bridge game, he asked her which side to select and blindly, without hesitation, jumped — he was lucky to survive. But alas, his luck didn’t last long because mere minutes following a dorm conversation with his friend regarding how they’d play if they both somehow ended up in the finale, he was eliminated. Player 286 left things to sheer chance in Test#7 by following the group’s precedent of deciding to self-eliminate if his die rolls a 6 — unlike Mai, who’d selected Ashely Tolbert — and it became his downfall.
Mai and Chad Have Remained Friends
The second Chad rolled a 6, Mai actually broke down and even hit his chest in anger as she simply couldn’t see him go, yet she also had no other choice; after all, it was every man for himself. The fact they were speaking of playing the finale together only hurt her heart more, particularly since he was so excited over the possibility while she was holding her strategic cards against her chest. She’d gone back to not completely trusting him in preparation for a betrayal close to the end, whereas he’d asserted that if it were just them two to make it, he’d only give his 99% in the hopes she win.
It thus comes as no surprise that Mai and Chad still appear to be on good terms – from what we can tell, she’s not extremely active on social media these days to help either confirm or deny, but his nicety plus their journey does suggest they could’ve made a friendship work, even with long distance. We specify “long distance” because while the former, a Military Official turned Immigration Adjudicator, is currently based in Virginia with a family of her own, the latter, a bankruptcy attorney as well as a family man too, resides in Florida at the moment.
Read More: Where is Mai Whelan Now?
