True timelessness is marked by perpetual relevancy. Notorious B.I.G. summarizing the pitfalls of success with the phrase “Mo’ money, mo’ problems” in 1997 still rings true in 2023; just ask Mai Whelan. In the week since the world found out she was the $4.56 million prize winner of Netflix’s Squid Game: The Challenge, her life has not been the same. But, the post-Squid Game: The Challenge life started much earlier (and was a bit stranger).
The reality competition show film in London over a 2 1/2 week period in January. For nearly a full calendar year, Mai had to go to work, spend time with her family, and exist in the world without telling anyone she was a (soon-to-be) millionaire. Thankfully, she tells Men’s Health that Netflix allowed her to tell one person about her winning, and she chose her husband. One of the first moves the pair made after she returned from her competition ordeal was to pack their bags, get their dogs, and spend a week on a farm in Ohio, where all she did was catch up on all the sleep she lost during the competition. That rest came with some odd consequences.
“I had weird dreams about players and games and all that, which is common,” she says. “The [show’s] psychologist told me that it’s normal. Even other players had weird dreams. We were compressing our mental state, so everything was coming out in weird ways.”
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It didn’t take long for her circadian rhythm to rebalance and her 9-to-5 at Homeland Security to resume like the 2 1/2 week fever dream of a competition show never happened. As we drew closer to the finale, Mai knew she had to right some wrongs with her former castmates. In the penultimate episode, she caused Roland (Player 418) to be eliminated. In the game “Circle of Trust,” she placed a miniature coffin on his table, knowing the motherly attention and hair-braiding she gave him would make him not suspect her, and as a result, lead him to pick the wrong person and be eliminated.
Mai says Roland didn’t know it was Mai who put the coffin on his desk until around the time of the Squid Game The Trials Live Los Angeles Experience on November 30, a week before the finale. That’s when she had to come clean. “I saw him at the L.A. event and said, ‘Roland, I’m so sorry.’ It’s that moment where you just thought you could trust someone and, suddenly, the game made a person untrustworthy. But, he’s good and accepted my apology.”
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Besides racking up over 22,000 followers a week after joining Instagram recently and her coworkers jokingly referring to her as a star, Mai has had quite the post-Squid Game life.
Venmo Scammers
It didn’t take long after the finale for Squid Game: The Challenge fans to treat Mai like an ATM. She says people used her full name to figure out how to request money from her on Venmo and PayPal not long after she won. “A lot of people were trying to request money from me out of nowhere. I’m bewildered by it. They know my first and last name, so I got requests from Venmo and PayPal asking, ‘Can you please pay me rent? It’s just 10 pounds. That’s it.’”
Luckily for Mai, she dissuaded them from continuing the requests without realizing it. The day after the finale, she revealed in an interview that she had yet to receive the $4.56 million prize. The Venmo vultures heard her loud and clear and retreated. “When I said I hadn’t received the money, it was for my benefit that I told the world I did not receive the money so they could just leave me alone.”
As of the publication of this story, Mai says the money is still coming “in due time.” While she waits, she already has plans for the money.
What has Mai spent her $4.56 million on?
Mai didn’t win Squid Game: The Challenge by being reckless, and that risk-aversion doesn’t change when you add a few zeroes to her bank account. She tells us inflation makes her cognizant of how far her $4.56 million fortune can go, so she’s thinking sensibly. She told Tudum she wants to renovate her home, including adding a small boating dock. She also wants to give a portion of her money to the right charities and non-profits helping with climate change and causes that will help protect the future.
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She’s only made one splurge purchase: the sheer, decadent black velvet dress from Ralph Lauren she wore to the New York City watch party last week. Outside of that, Mai’s focus is on the next chapter of her life…literally.
Mai’s Memoir
When you were seconds away from being killed as a child during the Vietnam War, survived as a single mother, and beat out 455 other people to win $4.56 million, it’d be assumed you’d have a lot to say. Mai believes the same and tells us she started working on her memoir on December 12, shortly before our interview. “I’m writing a memoir about myself. I’m inspired to write something and give back to people who ask me to write a book. I want to be their inspiration for whatever may come their way.”
She already has a few pages written but says she doesn’t plan on dedicating an entire chapter to her Squid Game experience. Instead, the 2 1/2 week competition will be interwoven with her other life experiences that led to winning the game. She doesn’t have a title in mind. When I suggested she call it Mai Life (an objectively cool title), she almost quickly shut it down. One thing she is sure of is her Squid Game: The Challenge participation being one-and-done.
“I think I’ll pass the crown to another person. I don’t need to do it again,” she proclaims. “I accomplished a mission. I challenged myself, and I did it.”
Keith Nelson
Senior Editor
Keith Nelson is a writer by fate and journalist by passion, who has connected dots to form the bigger picture for Men’s Health, Vibe Magazine, LEVEL MAG, REVOLT TV, Complex, Grammys.com, Red Bull, Okayplayer, and Mic, to name a few.
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