Ten months after the recordings, 38-year-old Dylan cannot believe what happened to him. He talks about it with great enthusiasm to RTL News. “It was really surreal from start to finish. The whole thing was so surreal. Everything is truly recreated 1v1 from the series and you’re completely part of it. It’s almost impossible to explain.”

Dylan recorded over a year and a half ago. “A friend of mine brought the producers’ call to my attention. He thought it was something for me. I first went through a local casting round, then national, then international again. It was a months-long process. Eventually I heard that I wasn’t allowed Participation only in December. That made me very happy.”

Shooting began immediately in January this year. Dylan flew to London for this purpose, although he told colleagues he was going on holiday to Bali. “I never take a long vacation, so I made the excuse that I wanted to do it now. We also had to hand over our phones for recordings and I said I wanted to go on vacation without using my phone.”

The Rotterdam hotel ended up in “a completely different world.” “They didn’t just build a few groups. They actually recreated that environment, it’s just you in this world. You have to rely on each other, all 456 participants. On top of that, you’re completely cut off from the outside world.”

Player temperature is low

The first recordings immediately caused a stir, with some participants suffering from hypothermia. “It was during the recording of the match Annemaria Kukoc.“

Annemaria Koekoek is a children’s game that has been played all over the world for years. When the match begins, all players stand on one side of the field behind the starting line, except for one person. He stands on the other side of the field facing the players. When he turns and calls out Annemaria Quickwick, the participants are allowed to move. After that they are not allowed to move anymore.

“In the series, a segment like this might last five minutes, but recordings take hours in the cold. You had to stay as still as possible. Of course, we weren’t used to doing that at all. So it was intense, although fortunately “There were no serious complaints.”

For Dylan, this was an experience he will never forget. “I live for this, for these kind of special experiences that you can talk about later. Not only was the game itself weird and wonderful, but so were the people I met there. They came from all over the world and taught me that I could be happy with my life.” . The stories of some people who fled war or were rejected by their parents stayed with me.”

The game itself also left its mark, Dylan says. “I’ve sometimes had nightmares about it, but I can’t say more about it yet.”

What he can say is that he would participate again in a heartbeat. “100 percent! It was really worth it. I can’t imagine you wouldn’t want to be involved in this, especially if you’re a fan of the show like me. I thought watching the series was really great, I think the filmmakers did a good job.” truly. “So to be involved in this yourself is especially special.”

In addition, just like in the series, there is a prize associated with the game. “That’s right, $4.5 million to the winner. Of course that’s nice, but that’s not why I wanted to participate. Because statistically, the chance of you winning is of course very small.”