Sioux Falls, South Dakota – Ten teachers in South Dakota competed in a $5,000 cash scramble to fund their own classroom repairs in an event some have decried as "demeaning" and compared to Netflix's popular series Squid Game.

Viral video footage shows teachers, wearing helmets for their own protection, frantically stuffing as many dollar bills as possible into their clothes during the Sioux Falls Stampede hockey game on Saturday night.

The educators each came away with sums ranging from $378 to $616.

The money was donated by CU Mortgage Direct to be used on needed classroom supplies and equipment.

"With everything that has gone on for the last couple of years with teachers and everything, we thought it was an awesome group thing to do for the teachers," Ryan Knudson, Director of Business Development and Marketing for CU Mortgage Direct, told local newspaper Argus Leader. "The teachers in this area, and any teacher, they deserve whatever the heck they get."

But not everyone agreed that the Dash for Cash event was something to rave about.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, tweeted in response to the now-infamous video: "This just feels demeaning … teachers shouldn’t have to dash for dollars for classroom supplies. No doubt people probably intended it to be fun, but from the outside it feels terrible."

According to South Dakota News Watch, teachers in South Dakota earned an average salary of just $49,000 in 2020 – the second lowest of any state in the country.

The educators participating in the competition said they would use the money on supplies they usually pay for out of pocket. Some said they would dedicate the funds to improving their set-up for virtual lessons during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Dash for Cash event has set the internet ablaze and sparked conversation over misappropriated education funding and other real-life events that resemble Netflix's most popular show – where cash-strapped contestants put themselves at risk.