Netflix's Squid Games is not what you would class as a vicar's cup of tea.
And indeed it wasn't for Father Lee Taylor from Bolton - but that did not stop him from ending up on the gameshow!
Father Lee found himself experiencing more the thrill than the terror depicted so gruesomely on the Netflix hit series of the same name.
He was selected by producers of the Squid Games, The Challenge, now showing on Netflix who happened to come across his Twitter profile.
The show follows the premise of the hit Korean Netflix drama where contestants were ruthlessly killed by playing games such as ‘red light, green light.’
It was this very game which Father Lee took part in - and he says the experience was like no other.
Father Lee told The Bolton News: “I began watching the original series when it came out on Netflix in 2021 but didn’t get very far into the first episode - it was too gory.
“However, the casting production team urged me to watch the whole of the original series and I was relieved to be given the reassurance that all contestants for Squid Game: The Challenge would leave ‘unscathed.’”
The first game by Father Lee is ‘red light, green light’ where the aim is to try and get to the other side of a giant domineering doll, who chants as her back is turned.
Those found still moving are eliminated.
Father Taylor said: “I just thought I would put my hat in the ring and give it a go.
“It was difficult because we were there for 11 hours in the cold.”
The game took place in January at Cardington Studios, with contestants from all over the world taking part but mainly from English speaking countries, despite the original show being Korean.
Father Lee said: “When the doll stopped and turned around, we had to freeze on the spot, maintaining the same position for ten, fifteen and even up to twenty-five minutes while drones flew overhead to detect the slightest movement from players.
“This was the most challenging part of the experience.
“The game took around seven hours to film and about a quarter of the way through, pain, tingling and numbness set in all over my hands as my nose was dripping like a leaky tap.”
Father Lee grew up in Bolton and was in Bolton Parish Church choir before moving to London and training as a priest in Oxford.
He still visits Bolton to see his family and is now the vicar at St Collen's Church in Llangollen.
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