One player on ‘Squid Game: The Challenge’ has a unique connection to Kansas State
Editor’s note: This story contains spoilers for the popular Netflix reality show “Squid Game: The Challenge.”
Many who have watched the hit Netflix reality show “Squid Game: The Challenge” will recognize LeAnn Wilcox Plutnicki simply as Player 302.
The gray-haired mother of fellow contestant Trey Plutnicki (or Player 301) stands out in a crowded room of 456 green track suits because it’s not often you see a mother/son duo competing for $4.56 million in a spin-off version of a show that depicted ordinary people fighting to the death for the same prize.
But some, especially those with a deep knowledge of Kansas State athletics, know her for different reasons.
There is a connection between the Squid Game reality show and K-State. LeAnn Wilcox Plutnicki, who is 64, became the first scholarship women’s basketball player in school history in 1976.
Known simply as LeAnn Wilcox at the time, she scored 1,049 points with the Wildcats until her time in college was up in 1980.
She played well enough over the course of four seasons to get drafted by the Milwaukee Express of the Women’s Professional Basketball League. But she decided to instead pursue a career in journalism. She went on to work for the Kansas City Star, the Miami Herald and the New York Times.
Her athletic background has seemed to help her on the reality show.
Spoiler alert: she was quick on her feet when she was one of the last to cross the finish line in the first challenge, called “Red Light, Green Light.” Players had to walk across an arena floor with a large robotic girl overseeing their every move — or, more accurately, walk across that floor when she was not overseeing their every move.
Anyone who got caught moving when the robot girl’s gaze returned to the “playing field” was shot with a paint ball and forced to leave the game.
LeAnn Wilcox made it all the way to Episode 6 before she was eliminated.
After her time on the show was over, she told Netflix it was an unforgettable experience.
“I’m so proud about how I played and even prouder how Trey played,” she said. “It was fun to watch him across the room being his authentic self because I knew he was just being who he was.”
She is now retired and lives in New Jersey with her husband.
There were a couple of other Kansas City connections in the series, too.
Purna Biswa, better known as Player 031, lives in Johnson County and pursued a computer science degree at UMKC. He was one of the most successful contestants on the show, making it all the way to Episode 8.
One of the earlier fan favorites also hailed from KC. Contestant 243 was Stephen Lomas, a TikTok sensation who rocked a mullet hairstyle and talked about his hopes of winning the grand prize in order to provide for his family. He was felled in Episode 5.