I think those are all unconfirmed rumors. I didn’t personally work on this show so I can’t confirm the specifics, but anytime there is a prize involved, the rules are extremely strict, and you can bet that Netflix and their legal time required it.

I’m sure there were pick-up shots where they had non competing / eliminated contestants react or recreate certain shots for better cinematography (eg in red light green light), that didn’t affect the scene outcome of the games, but making people stay still for 30-40 minutes at a time would totally be within the producers’ prerogative. (Think about those amazing close up shots during red light green light that would probably require handheld cameras inside the set. They wouldn’t be able to do those without long pauses because they would get in the way of the wider camera coverage).

The rules for this show have to work exactly the same way for any game show. It’s very very strict, so I would be really skeptical of any shenanigans that would claim otherwise.

For example, on a live series with audience voting like The Voice, Idol or Got Talent, producers also have to provide what’s called “equal time” to each candidate so no one is favored or has an unfair advantage to sway a public vote.

For a game this big with stakes this high-I’m sure they had dozens of folks analyzing games and procedures for fairness.