Video Of South Dakota “Dash For Cash” Event Goes Viral Due To Scary Similarities To “Squid Game”

Netizens are shocked and horrified.
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Tegan Sweeting
Tegan Sweeting

Netflix‘s hit Korean thriller series Squid Game is, without a doubt, the hottest show of 2021. It became the #1 show worldwide on the streaming service.

“Squid Game” poster. | Netflix

Its influence is unlike any other. For example, traditional Korean candy dalgona increased in popularity like crazy.

Lee Jung Jae in “Squid Game.” | Netflix

Yet, others found influence in more than just sweet hard candy. Some have clearly found inspiration in the Battle Royale-like concept of competition for money.

“Squid Game” | Netflix

Recently, MrBeast went viral with his Squid Game recreation. He made the sets just like the show, and 456 contestants competed for a grand prize of $456,000 USD.

MrBeast in his “Squid Game” parody. | MrBeast/YouTube

Now, not a direct parody like MrBeast’s, a new event is drawing similarities to Squid Game and definitely not in a good way.

Dash For Cash event. | Erin Woodiel/Argus Leader

South Dakota, United States-based reporter Annie Todd covered a recent event where local teachers competed in a game to receive money.

On Saturday night, ten teachers from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, participated in the community’s first “Dash For Cash” event. The objective is that each teacher attempts to grab as many single-dollar bills as they can in less than five minutes.

Remember how chaotic it was when the piñata burst open at a party, candy flying everywhere? Kids would nearly attack each other in hopes of obtaining hands full of candy.

That’s essentially what happened here, except it is adults and money rather than kids and candy.

At this Dash For Cash event, crowds in the stands at a Sioux Falls Stampede hockey game cheered as the teachers crawled all over the floor for dollar bills.

Annie Todd’s videos were then reposted on social media by other users, horrified by the event. It soon was spread all over Twitter, with many reposts going viral.

Netizens were disturbed to see the ill-treatment of teachers, those people we count on to bring up the future generation. So, many called the event “degrading.”

| @brooklynrwhite/Twitter

There was something eerily similar about this whole thing. It feels like something we’ve seen before…

People couldn’t help but think of Squid Game when viewing the now-viral video.

The premise of Squid Game focuses on a group of 456 contestants, all in financial debt, competing to the death in hopes of winning a prize of ₩45.6 billion KRW (about $38.6 million USD). Many characters sacrifice their morals and humanity as a result.

The majority of netizens are realizing just how real Squid Game is. It’s much more than just a television show.

The show’s creator Hwang Dong Hyuk created Squid Game to comment on South Korea’s social classism and capitalism. His own financial struggles inspired him.

So, while Squid Game was meant to be a serious critique on such issues, it seems to have gone over a few heads. Instead, some viewers must have been entertained just as the infamous VIPs were because it looks like Squid Game is now used as a manual rather than a warning.

There are, however, netizens who are using the sharability of this unfortunate event to bring awareness to the issue of teachers’ salaries, particularly in South Dakota. The reason why these ten teachers in the video would resort to public self-degradation is that, like the Squid Game characters, they have little to no money to provide for their students and families.

South Dakota teachers earn on average $48,531 USD yearly. This is the second-lowest teacher’s salary in the United States. Yet, the motivation behind the teachers competing in Dash For Cash was not selfish. They were thinking of their students.

Teachers competing in Dash For Cash. | Erin Woodiel/Argus Leader

CU Mortgage Direct donated the $5,000 USD to go to one’s classroom or school in general ultimately. Director of Business Development and Marketing for CU Mortgage Direct Ryan Knudson explained, “With everything that has gone on for the last couple of years with teachers and everything, we thought it was an awesome group thing to do for the teachers… The teachers in this area, and any teacher, they deserve whatever the heck they get.”

Teacher reaching out for a dollar. | Erin Woodiel/Argus Leader

Each teacher entered, hoping to obtain money for this very reason. Some hoped to grab enough cash to afford better seating for the kids. Patrick Heyen, a seventh-grade math and science teacher at Memorial Middle School, revealed his plan of flexible seating, “It just gives them options to be comfortable when they’re in the classroom.”

Patrick Heyen competing in Dash For Cash. | Erin Woodiel/Argus Leader

The participating teachers communicated no negative feelings about this event. Instead, they expressed their gratitude for the opportunity. Alexandria Kuyper, a fifth-grade teacher at Discovery Elementary School, says that while she gets additional funding for mischievous classroom items from a Parent-Teacher Organization that offers grants, she still often has to pay out of pocket for certain things. She shared, “I think it’s really cool when the community offers an opportunity like this for things that educations a lot of times pay out of pocket for.”

Alexandria Kuyper competing in Dash For Cash. | Erin Woodiel/Argus Leader
| Argus Leader
Barry Longden competing in Dash For Cash. | Erin Woodiel/Argus Leader

Still, netizens cannot turn a blind eye to this new community event. While the organizers may have had good intentions, a deeply-rooted issue can’t be ignored.

Even Martin Luther King Jr.‘s daughter Bernice King was disturbed by the viral video. And we can understand why.

Each day more and more, we realize just how scarily accurate Squid Game was. We definitely don’t need an American remake when there are events like this held already in real life.

Source: Argus Leader

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