Squid Game The Challenge Favorite Says Competitors Used Condoms as Chapstick During Filming

Squid Game: The Challenge contestants resorted to drastic tactics to keep their lips moist.

According to Player 301 Trey Plutnicki, competitors did not receive chapstick in the bag of toiletries handed out at the start of filming, and some were so desperate they turned to condoms for a little lubricant.

“I’m going to confirm this: Yeah, that’s 100 percent real,” Plutnicki told Entertainment Weekly.

However, he denied using the tactic himself, saying, “Do you think I did that? Do I seem like a person that did that? No, hell no. That’s so stupid.”

Plutnicki, who was featured on the show with his mother LeAnn Wilcox Plutnicki, said he instead experimented with using “lotion” and “conditioner” to un-chap his lips. “Those were the first two tries,” he noted.

He added: “And after I tried those and they weren’t working, I was like, ‘Well, that’s all of our options, because obviously we’re not going to use the condoms.’”

However, he said that wasn’t a consideration for many other contestants who eventually flocked to the item in order to get some lip relief.

“Within a day, maybe a day and a half, all the condoms were gone,” he explained. “It was absurd. And it still didn’t work!”

He recalled that no matter how many times the contestants “kept trying it” and it would not work and their lips were still left dry. “And I was like, ‘Obviously!’ Plutnicki added. “So yeah, that’s 100 percent true.”

The reality show participant said eventually producers conceded and gave them individual tins of lip balm with their contestant numbers on them — a souvenir he did not walk away with after giving it away before a challenge.

“I gave my chapstick to someone last minute because I accidentally kept it in my pocket during Glass Bridge [challenge],” Plutnicki explained. “And I was like, ‘Can you please give this back to me? It has my number on it.’ And they were like, ‘I will not see you again if you don’t make it over that bridge.’ I was like, ‘Great. Killer. Awesome encouragement.’”

Squid Game: The Challenge is currently streaming on Netflix, with the season finale set to premiere on Wednesday.