The Circle - General Discussion

[GonnahearmeRoar]

51 minutes ago, Cranberry said:

I also loved everything besides the actual finale. I half paid attention as I did other stuff. I predicted the final five in the proper order, but I don't consider that too big of an accomplishment as it was fairly obvious which contestants were the most popular, and they all seemed to vote in the finals the same way they did throughout the entire show. It'll be interesting to see if people are more strategic in future seasons.

There needs to be more incentive for the newer contestants. Once the bonds are formed, it’s difficult to be accepted in. Almost not worth coming in late. 

[luckyroll3]

On 1/10/2020 at 1:26 AM, GoldaVining said:

I don't know why I am shocked to find decent, good, genuine people, or maybe just shocked to find them on reality television.

This!  I was thinking to myself as I watched the last episode how much I enjoyed almost all of these people because none of them were assholes and none of them felt they "deserved to win" for some reason.  They all acknowledged they had to work towards it by building actual relationships.  I for sure thought Joey would be a dick and Rebecca/Seaburn initially put me off by how excited he was to catfish everyone.  But they were both really nice and sweet.  The one person I probably wouldn't have liked is the model chick who got voted off first cause she was just straight up annoying.

[2727]

Sammie won the fan favorite vote! I was hoping for Chris but they're both great.

Nice interview with Joey. He talks about working in a gay bar, LGBTQ rights, trying to be an actor, and his relationship with Miranda. He had a chat with Chris late in the game where they talked about Chris's struggles and overcoming challenges.

If the show had been 20+ episodes like the UK versions, maybe we could have seen some of that. (And not had such a boring and rushed finale!)

[Melina22]

Thanks 2727. Excellent article. It led me to another one about the real "Adam". Funny. 

Edited January 17, 2020 by Melina22

[hnygrl]

Next season: 

1. MORE EPISODES!!!! At least 20!

2. Like others have said, make it fairer for the newbies. Once relationships are formed, there's nothing there for the new arrivals. Ex. Sean (is that her name?) getting voted out even though everyone LOVED her. She' wasn't OG so she had to go...

3. Please don't let the viewers EVER get involved. I want them to continue to forget they're being watched. We get involved they'll remember and it won't be as fun to watch. I love that they DO stuff. Like read. Actually read books. And puzzles. And art. That is so cool. 

4. More more more of their chats w/each other. I wanna see MORE of that.

This season was so good. SO good. And like everyone else, the finale...no...just...no. Why can't they split that up? The voted out crowd one day, and the final 5 the next day.

I found the UK version on my favorite (shhhh) site so I'm gonna go watch it now.

Edited January 18, 2020 by hnygrl

[AdorkableWitch]

Interesting tidbit about Chris - he's good friends with another Netflix star, Alyssa Edwards of Dancing Queen. I googled it after seeing him wear a House of Edwards shirt.

[Megan]

Ed's Mom literally added nothing. They should have had a couple if they wanted a multiple people pretending to be one person thing. She just watched him do stuff.

Shubham looked like and reminded so much of Pete Buttegieg to me that it was funny that he was voted most likely to run for President and then revealed he ran for governor.

Chris seems so familiar has he been on some other show?

 

Edited January 18, 2020 by Megan

[Fallacy]

5 hours ago, AdorkableWitch said:

Interesting tidbit about Chris - he's good friends with another Netflix star, Alyssa Edwards of Dancing Queen. I googled it after seeing him wear a House of Edwards shirt.

I noticed the shirt and Alyssa’s make up palette. Thanks for letting me know their friends because I had assumed he was just a fan. I love me some Alyssa Edwards!

I thoroughly enjoyed this show and will definitely be watching next season. I also don’t want any audience involvement, but I would like to see more of their conversations via group or private chat. 

Finally, I think Shuby let “Rebecca” off way too easy because he’s such a nice guy. Then everyone else took their cue from Shuby and did the same. I couldn’t stand “Rebecca” so I wanted to see a little more karma come his way. Oh well. Overall, I was happy with the outcome. 

[JenE4]

I wanted to watch the last 4 episodes before I came back to post, but now I forgot what happened. It was good while I was watching, lol! I had Joey and Shuby flipped in the finals. Only after trying to do the math did I remember that Ed was involved in the final voting, and he had Joey at #1. When I posted before this last set of episodes, I was iffy on both Joey and Sammie, but they really came out to be nearly as sweet as Shuby. I still think Shuby should have won. Somehow Shuby was influencer more often than anyone and still didn’t “hurt” anyone with his votes (obvious newbies) but Joey sent home Miranda and Sean after making a close connection and telling him he always had their backs THE SAME DAY HE VOTED THEM OUT. That was “gamesmanship” involved because they ranked him 1 because of that and then he promptly sent them home. Shuby was everyone’s favorite and the people he told he would never turn on, he always supported. I don’t know why I care this much. I just think Shuby was robbed. {laugh-crying emojo send}

[ExplainItAgain]

I binged the whole show yesterday. After the first episode I thought I was going to hate it, but it grew on me. Ed was such an afterthought and the mom thing was really a dud twist. Agree with some of you that if you're not a Day Oner, there's almost no hope for you to win.

The lighting for the final dinner and the reunion was AWFUL. So harsh.

Nearly everyone was likable and Shubham was just the cutest.

[Melina22]

1 hour ago, ExplainItAgain said:

After the first episode I thought I was going to hate it, but it grew on me. 

Everyone who watched seemed to have the same experience. It reminds me of my kids forcing me to watch a season 1 episode of Survivor a million years ago, and me saying "Okay, but I know I'll hate it." Famous last words. 😊

[amazingracefan]

On 1/18/2020 at 5:22 AM, hnygrl said:

Next season: 

1. MORE EPISODES!!!! At least 20!

2. Like others have said, make it fairer for the newbies. Once relationships are formed, there's nothing there for the new arrivals. Ex. Sean (is that her name?) getting voted out even though everyone LOVED her. She' wasn't OG so she had to go...

3. Please don't let the viewers EVER get involved. I want them to continue to forget they're being watched. We get involved they'll remember and it won't be as fun to watch. I love that they DO stuff. Like read. Actually read books. And puzzles. And art. That is so cool. 

4. More more more of their chats w/each other. I wanna see MORE of that.

This season was so good. SO good. And like everyone else, the finale...no...just...no. Why can't they split that up? The voted out crowd one day, and the final 5 the next day.

I found the UK version on my favorite (shhhh) site so I'm gonna go watch it now.

The last eps on the US version where harder to find than any of the UK one, I wonder how popular it is in America.

Both versions were produced by Studio Lambert in the UK, but I think it's better as a live version.  The original version had more episodes both last year (22) and the previous (18).

I think the contestants are aware they are being watched by the cameras, so they will play up to a degree, but that's reality tv.  The audience prize of 10,000 obviously wasn't awarded at the final show as it aired much later, but apparently it went to Sammie.

The main point of the new arrivals is that they shake up things and add to the suspicions.  Sean was ok, but the heavy handed message of the producers when she revealed her real self was annoying.

Edited January 19, 2020 by amazingracefan

[Mabinogia]

5 minutes ago, amazingracefan said:

The main point of the new arrivals is that they shake up things and add to the suspicions.  Sean was ok, but the heavy handed message of the producers when she revealed her real self was annoying.

I agree. I don't think they expect to win or even get far at that point (unless they are incredibly naive) but know that they are there to mess with the contenders. I'm good with that. Who was it who said they appreciated a new pair of eyes because it is easy to fall into "I've been talking to this person the whole time, I know they are who they are". I think it was Sammie. It was good to get feedback from someone who doesn't know any of them yet, and doesn't have relationships built. I think the guy who wasn't there long enough for me to remember his name basically called them all out for being fake. It helped open up the idea that Rebecca wasn't who she said she was and shook the core five up a little. Not enough to necessarily change the top five, but I do think it adjusted where each fell in the final vote. 

I think, like the catfish photo people, they were cast not necessarily as contestants but as props to shake the game up a bit. 

I still don't get the point of the one bringing his mom. The reveal was "meh", she really added nothing to the interactions. It might have been better if the mom came alone but used her son's picture as her profile. That would have been a little more interesting at least. 

[GonnahearmeRoar]

Finished Season 2 of UK Circle. Wow! Mind blown! 

[amazingracefan]

3 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

I agree. I don't think they expect to win or even get far at that point (unless they are incredibly naive) but know that they are there to mess with the contenders. I'm good with that. Who was it who said they appreciated a new pair of eyes because it is easy to fall into "I've been talking to this person the whole time, I know they are who they are". I think it was Sammie. It was good to get feedback from someone who doesn't know any of them yet, and doesn't have relationships built. I think the guy who wasn't there long enough for me to remember his name basically called them all out for being fake. It helped open up the idea that Rebecca wasn't who she said she was and shook the core five up a little. Not enough to necessarily change the top five, but I do think it adjusted where each fell in the final vote. 

I think, like the catfish photo people, they were cast not necessarily as contestants but as props to shake the game up a bit. 

I still don't get the point of the one bringing his mom. The reveal was "meh", she really added nothing to the interactions. It might have been better if the mom came alone but used her son's picture as her profile. That would have been a little more interesting at least. 

Maybe Sammie was a bit more self aware than some others such as Shubham and Joey at times.  The Chris edit diminished towards the end so not quite sure where to fit him in that ranking.

Shubham was right that older people were missing, the original version did dare to have older people and even older people portraying themselves as younger.  I hope they are more daring on the Netflix version next time round, even the two black people who catfished portrayed other black people.

[Spencer Hastings]

I did not expect to love this show.  I started it at midnight last night and finished it by dinner time today.  I love Shubby.  He should’ve won it, but I’m okay with Joey.  Joey probably surprised me the most in terms of personality from the beginning to the end. 

Seaburn’s angle for cat fishing is an interesting one, culturally speaking.  Shubby was going on and on about being authentic but in black culture, being authentic is not something that is supported or encouraged in vulnerable situations.  It’s hard because maybe he could’ve gone far authentically, but it’s not lost on me that two of the catfishes were 1. black and 2. that none of the flirty guys made a pass at them or tried to build that connection even though they were using very attractive women.  “Adam” was the only one who tried but he had less to lose being a married man/catfish. Black men don’t tend to make it far on reality shows in general, so it would be interesting to see a catfish from the opposite angle.

Edited January 19, 2020 by Spencer Hastings

[amazingracefan]

On 1/19/2020 at 11:47 PM, Spencer Hastings said:

 “Adam” was the only one who tried but he had less to lose being a married man/catfish.

He had less to lose coming in much later and having to make some kind of alliance.

[Cranberry]

Here's a neat new Vulture article that talks about the behind-the-scenes stuff. It confirms what I'm sure we all knew:

Quote

The app is a proper piece of chat technology, a bit like WhatsApp, I suppose, with bells and whistles and lots of extra bits. When we first set out, we tried to use it all by voice recognition. If we had done voice recognition to the level that the Circle does it, I’d probably have a job working for Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates by now. So what we actually have is, when you talk to the Circle, there’s a producer who’s transcribing what you say. Instantly, that gets pushed to the next room. So there is some humanity in the app, and that’s a couple of producers whose job it is to take dictation from the players.

 

[Eeksquire]

I found this show over the weekend (after two weeks of being sick) and just wanted something I wouldn't have to think too much to watch (too tired for Peak TV!) and I LOVED this show. Like, to an embarrassing degree.  I'm so excited there will be another season with more episodes, although I will probably wait until all of them are available - I would have been so annoyed if I had to wait a week in between eps.

[Meedis]

On 1/16/2020 at 6:29 PM, GonnahearmeRoar said:

There needs to be more incentive for the newer contestants. Once the bonds are formed, it’s difficult to be accepted in. Almost not worth coming in late. 

Hopefully there was some incentive behind the scenes that was given to the late comers.    Because they definitely were at a disadvantage.     I opted to wait until I knew all the episodes were added before watching.    I'm so spoiled by binge watching everything.  LOL.

[zenithwit]

Was thinking about the late newcomer disadvantage... I'm wondering if there are some small format changes the show could use to level the playing field without compromising the overall integrity. 

For example, maybe the show could start with a fewer number of initial contestants in the house so that at the end of the season, there were ultimately more "new" contestants vs OG's.  Also, perhaps they could be a bit more random with the distribution of incoming new contestants.  So rather than 8 OG's + 1, 1, 2, 1 (and a half), it could be 4 OG's + 1, 2, 4, 2, etc.  This would keep the existing contestants on their toes and having larger incoming groups would enable the newer contestants to create their own coalitions.

Another option is to start with all of the contestants in the Circle and then winnow it down to the one winner.  But of course, the show would then suffer from the same issues as other strategy competitive reality shows like Big Brother: really exciting at the beginning and boring towards the end as everyone becomes entrenched in their alliances.  Though a format like this could make the catfish reveals even more juicy.

 

[Eeksquire]

I was thinking that in some of the eliminations, the show could just require that one OG goes instead of just exempting the most recent newcomer from the first elimination that they watch.  Mix it up - this time, one guy ("guy") must go, one OG must go, one new person must go, the person eliminated must be from the middle X number of people, whatever.  They could still do the ranking the same way, but the top influencers are then given the parameters of who they are allowed/required to choose from.

[Mabinogia]

Have the "newcomers" sequestered in their own apartments, playing their own version of the Circle, forming alliances and whatnot so that when they come in, they have some foundation. Basically, two smaller Circles that, at some point in the game, merge, they have equal numbers so one group is going to have to "win over" someone from the other Circle. Kind of like when Survivor merges tribes, only the tribes would be equal in size. 

If someone felt like the outsider of their Circle, they might be eager to switch to the other group once they all form one big Circle. So you have to not only make alliances but watch out for who you don't include because they might turn on you. 

IDK, or just make all the newcomers just "shitstirrers" not there to win but there to plant questions in the OG's minds about who they are trusting. Like that guy who got sent out but had just enough time to make everyone start questioning Rebecca. 

[chloerose2]

Just found this show while home sick.  Binge watched it all in one day and I really oey is screaming everything he said.   Loved Shbby so much!  Just a sweetie!

[sadtvjunkie]

The Circle Brazil is now on Netflix. I'm watching it with the sound down and subtitles on. I think it and the UK one were filmed first. You can tell they type cast some people for each series.

[meatball77]

I'm on the first episode of Brazil.  I'm enjoying it.

I eat salad and Sausage at a BBQ lol

The long sleeved thong swimsuit.  Wow.

[meatball77]

Is Marina wearing ass-less clothes in all the episodes lol

[sadtvjunkie]

So far yes she is. She's super proud of her ass and shows it off constantly.

Edited March 16, 2020 by sadtvjunkie
spelling

[willgracefan]

I'm liking Akel, Gaybol and Lorayne. Not so much Marina and Duma. 

[Hiacios]

The one word to describe this show is... bisexual. 

 

I've had enough of that word in the 2 episodes I watched.

[truthaboutluv]

Just did a binge and it was kind of fitting that Joey won since he completely grew on me throughout the season. I spent the first two episodes rolling my eyes so hard at Joey being every possible cliche and somehow by the end, I kind of liked the old doofus.

I also liked that the Final 3 was him, Shubab and Sammie, who were all completely real from day one, which to me kind of proved that all the catfishing stuff was bogus and pointless. I was personally rooting for Shooby though but I knew it would come down to him and Joey.

And I think by the end, much like with me, Joey slowly grew on a lot of the other players. I think Ed being there at the end also helped pushed Joey further ahead. Since I suspect Shubab was low on his list and Joey was of course first. 

[Cranberry]

The Circle US has been renewed for two more seasons, although it'll be a while until they can film them due to the virus shutting down production on basically everything. 

https://www.vulture.com/2020/03/love-is-blind-season-2-renewed-the-circle-season-2-renewed.html

[sadtvjunkie]

I've just finished The Circle Brazil. The contestants there are a little more shady after the first few episodes. Lots more catfishing going on too.

Hopefully Netflix releases the UK one soon. These are becoming entertaining for me.

[truthaboutluv]

Forgot to add in my original comment that while I liked Bill well enough, though found him kind of bland, I was totally with Shooby on his "whatever, Bill" response to Bill's exit message. Dude was full of shit with all that he was about real connections but clearly everyone was there to be fake.

What real connections did Bill even come close to making. Dude was bland as fuck and had little personality and that's why he was eliminated because he never really connected with anyone. 

[sadtvjunkie]

Netflix is releasing The Circle France April 1.

[willgracefan]

I’m watching the Circle France, after have watching U.S and Brazil. I love how the first blocked contestant was pissed as hell. It was kind of refreshing to see! 

[meatball77]

I loved the Circle France.  The last episode was fantastic.

[sadtvjunkie]

Starting watching the circle france. They came to play for sure prize is 100,000 euros. Read an article that said they filmed all of US, Brazil and France at the same time in the same apartment complex.

[sadtvjunkie]

Just finished The Circle France. Loved how they did the final. Everyone seemed so supportive as well even though several were duplicitous.

[Michichick]

The Circle France is my favorite out of U.S., Brazil, and France. Best finale episode, since it didn’t insert a host into the meeting of all the players.

[Ciarrai]

The Circle Brazil: Oh dear god Marina put on some clothes. I cannot stand her and haaaate that she won.

[GrandMasterFox]

Loved the UK version, watched the Brazil and Us version, but original was best.

France version didn't hear about, will have to look it up.

 

The one thing that seriously bugs me about the netflix version (Brazil\US) is that while they do diversify in some things - they don't diversify people by age.

 

Almost everyone are in their 20s or 30s at best. Nobody has grey hairs... Nobody has children or even talk about them. It really is a shame. That always brings drama. Even from a strategic point of view - some people can't stop gushing about babies and doing the "ohh, I miss my kid so much" is such a huge pity card that people can play on.

 

The original version had both real older people and some catfish people pretending to be old or at least parents. It made things so much better.

There were plenty of young pretty people for people to drool over, but having a bit more diversity helped shape things along.

[LakeGal]

I watched the US show and enjoyed it.  I am now watching the France version.  I am loving it so far.  

[LakeGal]

I just loved the France season.  The ending was the best.  I loved the reactions at their dinner.  I did find several of the contestants were very similar to ones on the US version.  Type of casting I guess.  But they did have more catfishing.  Plus they seemed to give away more in their good bye messages.

[amazingracefan]

The goodbye messages in all of them often seem scripted by the producers to be ambiguous enough but to stir things up as well. 

The best so far is definitely the very first, back in 2018.  The French one didn't have a bad final, but I didn't like the top 2 that much.  I did like some of the changes they made to the staging of the final, it enabled the Netflix version to get a few more reveals than normal.  Obviously the near live CH4 version will still be the better format.

spoiler on French version 

 

The boot order became predictable at one point, the group I liked was down in numbers.  I would have preferred Cedric to stay over Romain,  And then I wish that someone on the other side had won the cake challenge to bring Virginie over. 

The producers probably instructed Virginie to self destruct so the final was better.

The casting does get a bit predictable at times, putting in types such the camp often bitchier HM or a model type with photos to match.  They should concentrate less on pushing types like that and just let decent players play the game than restricting how people play.  And please get away more from the catfish hunting storyline they were pushing all 2019.  Unless you gain an advantage for revealing a catfish first (or punishment for being wrong) it really doesn't matter.

Brazil spoiler

 

In the Brazilian one I was disappointed that Ana just missed out before the final, he deserved to get to the end.  He was funny and did well really.  Many of the new ones they do bring in during these seasons aren't that good (either for entertainment or strategy), but he really deserved it.

spoiler on Brazilian and the original 2018

 

I liked the early showmance in both, somehow better than a dating show which would seem even more contrived, as a side story I liked it.  

Edited June 12, 2020 by amazingracefan

[LakeGal]

I watched the Brazil season.  I liked the France and US one more.  But I did enjoy Brazil.

I did not get the appeal of Marina.  I found myself always yelling at her to get up off the floor.  Everything seemed to have her collapsing on the floor to hide under tables or do the splits or just show emotion by doing it.  

Lolo seemed to really hate JP at the end.  Everyone else seemed happy and friendly.  It was not a good look for her.  

For completely vain reasons I wish Renan had shown up earlier in the season.

The order of the final 5 was a bit surprising.  They had really rated each other in a way to try and make themselves rate higher and win.  It ended with second place going to someone that I was surprised even made the final 5.

[amazingracefan]

On 6/20/2020 at 12:17 PM, LakeGal said:

 I liked the France and US one more.

I thought the US one has been the weakest so far, little to enjoy in the cast for me.

[Kromm]

This would seem to be the PERFECT COVID time production, so I'd be shocked if more aren't being produced right this second. I mean the ENTIRE SHOW is based upon the notion of people NOT being face to face.  You can physically spread them out as much as you need, as long as their fake ass version of an Intranet actually works and isn't all post-production.  And as long as the moment the cameras are off, there weren't a legion of production assistants swarming the spaces they're in.  If most of this really was done with already in place cameras, and a legit realtime interface between these people instead of a simulated one, it's easy, safe and inexpensive.

[Cranberry]

It wasn't a real voice-activated messenger system, but it was real-time; they just had producers transcribing things all day: https://www.vulture.com/2020/01/how-the-circle-works-creator-tim-harcourt.html

"The app is a proper piece of chat technology, a bit like WhatsApp, I suppose, with bells and whistles and lots of extra bits. When we first set out, we tried to use it all by voice recognition. If we had done voice recognition to the level that the Circle does it, I’d probably have a job working for Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates by now. So what we actually have is, when you talk to the Circle, there’s a producer who’s transcribing what you say. Instantly, that gets pushed to the next room. So there is some humanity in the app, and that’s a couple of producers whose job it is to take dictation from the players."

[LakeGal]

Netflix has renewed this show for 2 more seasons.