Lorenzo Earned His Elimination in ‘Squid Game: The Challenge’

Do you ever feel like some people live in a completely different reality than the rest of us? Well, just wait until you meet contestant Lorenzo in Netflix‘s new reality show Squid Game: The Challenge.

Taking inspiration from the namesake television series, the reality show follows 456 contestants as they compete through a series of challenges for a $4.56 million cash prize.

In Episode 4, “Nowhere to Hide,” the remaining contestants are killing time in the dormitory while they wait for their next challenge.

During this time, fan-favorite player Leann — half of the sweet mother/son duo in the competition — finds a bunch of apples in the kitchen, with a few others, and they decide to slice them up and share them with those in the core room.

Lorenzo is displeased with their generosity, especially since there’s an aspect in the game that requires players to eliminate other players. Were Leann and the others being nice? Or do they have an ulterior motive?

Well, Leann has consistently been a star-player throughout the game and shows up for people, even in their worst moments.

In the second episode of the reality competition, she has a heart-to-heart with a hot-headed and cocky contestant Bryton, who has been racking up enemies since Day 1. “He’s out there, he’s brash… I’m not here to be everyone’s mom, but I just wanted to talk to him to see if that’s really who he is,” Leann tells the cameras in an interview segment about their conversation.

After hearing Bryton’s story, she tells him, “You’re not abrasive.”

Now, Leann does admit that she’s hoping he’ll pick her if there’s a tug-of-war portion of the challenge, to make up for her lack of strength. But her genuine intentions appear to ring true in a separate interview portion where she says, “I hope to make friends… I’m excited.”

Back to Lorenzo: When the player spots Leanna and her apples, he refuses to partake in the snack with the rest of the group. Rather than staying quiet, Lorenzo makes smart comments in real-time and during a later interview segment. “I’m not that excited about apples, I’m gonna pass,” he tells her while sporting a rude smirk. “Thanks for the kindness, but I don’t want that.”

“We’re just here to bring apples to everyone,” Leann comments in an interview. “I found him to be impolite, possibly rude.”

As others gather to grab an apple slice or two, Lorenzo says, “I’m done with the story about the apples.” He goes on to say in an interview, “I will naturally not go out of my way to make friends because I don’t really care about that. I know if there’s that energy in that room, they will just come to me and they will be loyal friends, and I’m sure of that. I cannot stand people-pleasers who go around like, ‘Hi! How are you?’ and discuss things that you don’t care about… I can’t stand that, I’m allergic to that.”

Immediately after this interaction, the players are directed to form a line. “You will each have to choose a player to eliminate,” a voice over the speaker says. “You will all vote and the three players with the most votes will be eliminated.” Many of the players react in fear, but Lorenzo — who apparently hates making friends — is calm, cool, and collected.

The instructor goes on to inform the players that the first time one of them receives a vote, their picture will appear on the screen, meaning everybody will know who voted for that person.

“Am I worried? No? I don’t have beef with anybody,” Lorenzo states with a cocky expression on his face. “I know I’m safe because there’s a lot of people that people don’t like.”

This very moment left me thinking, “This is the level of delusion I aspire to have.” Is Lorenzo living on a different planet than the rest of us? Didn’t he just make a major stink over Leann, who’s practically everybody’s mother, innocently passing around apples? Didn’t he admit that he doesn’t care to make friends? Lorenzo, have you lost your mind?

Predictably, Leann votes for Lorenzo to be eliminated, and as the line continues to vote, another player keys in his identification. Lorenzo is irate when Leann votes for him, and when it comes his turn to vote, he is ready for revenge. Right before casting his vote, he storms up to her to look at her identification number. “I can’t remember if it’s three-oh-two or three-hundred-and-two,” he tells her. She responds, “It’s the same either way.” Zinger!

“Haters gonna hate, but karma will bite them if they hate me,” Lorenzo says in a voiceover.

However, karma apparently didn’t get the memo because Lorenzo is voted out of the competition during the challenge. Better luck next time!