"I am not sure what they’ve shown in today’s episode, but we did have an alliance. At least, that’s what we thought,” says Dr Ankur Khajuria as we connect with him on the day the latest set of episodes of Squid Game: The Challenge releases. The Indian-born and UK-based plastic surgeon was among the 456 contestants who participated in Netflix’s reality game show inspired by one of its most-streamed series, Squid Game. He tells us, more than five lakh aspirants applied for the game that rewards the winner $4.56 million.

Navigating a gritty battle, Khajuria emerged to be among the top 30 players. “Before the show began, I prepared for the games. For the game, Red Light Green Light [that has players run and stop at the cues of a life-size doll] I played the Korean song that the doll sings in the show and had one of my friends tell me to randomly start and stop running. Similarly, for Dalgona, I ordered the cakes, and practiced sketching out the shapes.” He admits that his surgical skills and athleticism played key roles in helping him navigate his way to the top. Khajuria, however, was eliminated when his friends failed to choose him to progress to the next round.