Ashley Tolbert became one of the most hated, more precisely, the villain of Squid Game: The Challenge. That’s right after she hesitated and even refused to help her teammates during the Glass Bridge challenge.
But did she ever care? No. In other words, Ashley doesn’t seem to have any regrets. As the title suggested, she was the player 278 of the show.
When you work together, you simply don’t care about your benefit but for the team as a whole. Ashley Tolbert did just the opposite, which fans initially didn’t expect from her. She received backlash for not being a team player. In response, she trolled fans. Now, the question is – what did she do? Who is she?
On 29 November 2023, Squid Game: The Challenge unveiled 3 episodes, one of which highlighted the Glass Bridge task. Well, eliminations are part of all games. But, because of Ashley’s stubbornness and partial behavior, player 301- Trey Plutnicki got eliminated. Yes, he fell from the glass bridge, and fans were highly upset about it.
In case you forgot, Trey, aka player 301, was the younger one from the mother-son duo. The mother got eliminated in the marble challenge and hoped for his win.
Ashley Tolbert, aka Player 278, Got Addressed As The “Villain” Of Squid Game: The Challenge
In the Squid Game: The Challenge, we saw how the players implemented several tactics to secure their positions in the game. That was made either by forming alliances or using individualistic gameplay.
Before getting into why Ashley received backlash from the audience, let’s learn how the Glass Bridge game started. Everyone was asked to pick out a teddy bear from a claw machine and assign the number it revealed to any other player of their choice. Concerning the numbers, that would determine the order in which they would play or cross the bridge.
The Glass Bridge challenge was the same as that of the original Squid Game. Remember? Understandably, players would always want to be at the last as that would make it easier for them to play.
Now, concerning the strategy to play the challenge as a team, before starting, the players agreed to make it fair. To be more precise, they decided to give each player a 50-50 chance of survival. The plan had no exception, and each of them agreed to take one step ahead and wait to be overtaken by the person following them.
Trey did take a step and landed safely. Ashley was behind him, and everyone was waiting for her to move forward. After all, it was her turn. Guess what did she do? Something that no one liked, not even her fellow teammates. She refused to move one step ahead as planned and stayed stuck to her tile.
According to her, the contestants should have played for themselves, not to save others. Since they were running out of time and had no other choices, Trey had to move forward by taking the risk. Unfortunately, it was not in his favor, and he fell.
On Trey’s elimination, Ashley became the first person to make the move. She was left with a choice and had to go ahead. She chose the right glass tile and landed safely. The player 278 was so partial that she expected another person to do something that she didn’t do herself for Trey. In other words, she encouraged the person standing behind her to overtake.
Fans took the discussion to social media, and naturally, it led to the Glass Bridge controversy. One person wrote, “Didn’t everybody else see Ashley turn into a snake on that bridge and get Trey murdered?” Another appreciated player, 301, said, “I commend Trey for being the bigger person when all he did was play nice and fair. He is such a wonderful soul!”
Later, during an interview, Ashley Tolbert shared that she was already upset about the low number and didn’t agree to the plan in the first place. She said, “I’m not agreeing to any plan with anybody. It’s a game for $4 million, it’s one prize, only one person takes home the prize.”
Player 278 also shared that she took part in the Squid Game: The Challenge all by herself. She was there for her and not for anyone else. Therefore, despite the backlash, she didn’t regret it at all. The game was a matter of trust, and the players seemed to have lost it.
Now, it is to see who wins the Squid Game: The Challenge. The finale episode is going to be out on 6 December. A few more days to go!
