“This is not friendship game.
This is ‘Squid Game,'” Player 278/Ashley Tolbert tells EW.
Warning: This article contains spoilers forSquid Game: The Challengeepisodes 1-9.
Ashley Tolbert.Nic Serpell-Rand/Netflix
Player 278, a.k.a.
Ashley Tolbert, doesn’t care if you call her the villain onSquid Game: The Challenge.
After she was assigned No.
Trey Plutnicki.Courtesy of Netflix
And when Trey, in the No.
3 spot, made his jump and survived, everyone expected Ashley to step up after the No.
4 player was eliminated.
The Glass Bridge challenge.Netflix
Ashley then made her one jump, survived, and had the player behind her overtake her.
She ultimately made it through Glass Bridge.
Nic Serpell-Rand/Netflix
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What exactly happened with you and Trey during Glass Bridge?
5, and behind the scenes, I was really upset about that.
I didn’t agree to overtake anybody.
I’m not about to purposely sacrifice myself or eliminate myself.
and then took another jump.
In my perspective, Trey went rogue.
He took two jumps.
And of course, he was upset about his low number.
Trey gets eliminated, it’s my turn, and I take my jump.
I take my one and only jump that I was required to take, right?
But somebody has to be the villain, and it lands on me for not taking an extra jump.
But I stand by it I would do it again.
I made it across the bridge and I used what I had to get what I want.
Was I helping people on the bridge?
Probably not, but it wasn’t a team effort.
You’re thinking about yourself in that moment.
He wanted me to help him so that he could stay in the game.
So why is it bad that I want to help myself stay in the game?
Yeah, this was going on for hours.
Several of us were like, “We’re not doing that s—.”
And then once we got on camera, the group already knew I wasn’t up for anything.
5, I’m not cooperating with s—.
I’m getting myself across this bridge, that’s it.
Anybody that took that personally, that’s on them.
you’re free to’t have any expectations of me.
I don’t know any of y’all.
I’m chasing $4 million.
This is not friendship game.
I would have said the same exact thing.
Because I didn’t have to.
I could have stood right there and everybody could have continued on with their game.
Trey didn’t have to be eliminated.
Trey didn’t even have to take an extra jump.
And guess what, everybody had to come up and start overtaking me.
That wasn’t happening.
I was thinking about what worked for me, because I was there for me.
I came by myself and left by my damn self.
That someone else would overtake both of you or else the clock would run out?
Purna, he was the one I gave No.
6, he and I already made a deal.
He was going to overtake me anyway.
He was like, “We’re sticking to our plan.
I’m going to go ahead of you.”
We came to the agreement that we were going to help each other on the bridge.
Did I come to an agreement that I was gonna help this whole team of 20 people?
That was the only rule and I followed it.
Would you have made him jump across the entire bridge before you went?
What was your plan going into this?
There was no plan of action.
The goal was just to get across.
Once I got up there I was gonna do whatever it took to get across.
Tell me more about the deal you made with Purna.
Before the game started, I was upset, not wanting to talk to anybody.
We even did a stretch before going up on the bridge and I didn’t even participate in that.
I was just done with everybody.
Purna came up to me saying, “We’re gonna help each other.
I’m your brother, just forget about it.
That was the plan.
Once I take my jump, he was going to request to overtake me.
In the original series, nobody in the top 10 makes it across the bridge.
Me and Purna had the lowest numbers, and I made it across the bridge.
It was based off the way that I moved.
The only reason I was able to not be eliminated is because of my action.
And so I stand by it.
There’s no ill intentions with Trey or anything, I just did what kept me alive.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The season finale ofSquid Game: The Challengepremieres Wednesday, Dec. 6, on Netflix.
