How do the Apex Games actually work?

So I'm a fan of Lore, especially in this game. I love it all. So I was wondering on how the Games actually work in the world?

There are way more people in them than just the legends that we can play as. Which is cool. But what I'm trying to figure out is the death and respawn mechanic. In the game we respawn. And in some cinematics, we see Wraith picking up a respawn tag from Mirage and Pathfinders bodies (not boxes). But also in the little lore excerpts, we see that a lot of the people that go into the games die. So death is a very real threat. How come some die and some can be respawned?

And then that leads to the question of the winner. In order to win. You have to be the last team standing. So that implies that everyone else is dead, but we see that the legends keep playing in the games over and over again. But we keep seeing how death can be very real in the game.

What are your guys' thoughts?