The Circle (Channel 4)

[Lordofthefiles]

I really hate that cliffhanger shit with not saying who's been blocked. If it's a good compelling show then we're gonna watch tomorrow anyway. We're gonna watch to see who the nlocked person meets, watch to see what happens with Madeley. It's shit and lazy. I'm more likely to switch off because of the celebrity guests than a lack of characters.

I've literally just turned to my missus and said "I might not watch that anymore. It's treating us like mugs".
That's a really shitty way to do the show. I get nothing out of it if there's no conclusion.
And if the conclusion is the beginning of the next episode it's not a conclusion is it?!!!
Twats

[Ja'moke]

Yeah, the cliffhangers are frustrating. I didn't notice them as much in the first series because I watched it all on demand, so just immediately clicked to the next episode. A lot more frustrating when you have to wait 24 hours.

[George Oscar Bluth II]

Yeah absolute nonsense, they should have told us who was going because either way it's interesting. Who will Madeley give immunity to? Who will he visit? Who would "Jay" visit? It's weird and shit, if we're watching episode 6 you probably don't need a hook to keep us watching, we're already in.

[BritishHobo]

ARGH THIS SHOW IS SO FUCKING NICE

I can't believe Richard Madeley has made me cry, TWICE. I really want Georgina to win.

[Ja'moke]

Tim is very observant and on the money with his calls. It's a shame nobody else seems to be on the same page. "Jay" seems so obviously fake me... but I suppose it's different not being in there.

[Fabian Thomsett]

I've been enjoying this. The most recent one is the best so far - highlights being Tim toying with Jay's mum and Jay's mum evident pride after reading out text acronyms. Second shittest catfish I've seen after the woman posing as the dullest grandfather in the world in last years' series. I hope she stays in til the end (but she won't).

Georgina's no-bullshit attitude towards everything and everyone makes me want her to win.

[gmoney]

Georgina or Tim to win for me. I missed a couple of episodes though, how does Tim know specifically that Jay is his mum pretending to be him? What tipped him to that?

[Ja'moke]

Georgina or Tim to win for me. I missed a couple of episodes though, how does Tim know specifically that Jay is his mum pretending to be him? What tipped him to that?

He was already suspicious that Jay was a catfish, and then Jay uploaded a new profile photo of him and his mum. That tipped Tim off that the woman in the photo is most likely the one playing Jay.

[gmoney]

Ah, cheers. He's a clever soul isn't he? When he clocked that the acronyms Jay was reeling off where in alphabetical order and speculated she was probably reading them out of a manual, that was pretty great.

[Ja'moke]

Ah, cheers. He's a clever soul isn't he? When he clocked that the acronyms Jay was reeling off where in alphabetical order and speculated she was probably reading them out of a manual, that was pretty great.

Definitely. That alphabetical order bit made me want to stand up and applaud. I hope he figures out Sammie too.

[JesusAndYourBush]

Ah at least we got to see who's leaving this time.  The meeting tomorrow should be interesting!

[Fabian Thomsett]

Catfish meets catfish!

[BritishHobo]

The shady portrait round was dead interesting. Love to see when some of them go too far, and then regret it when everyone else is lovely.

[BritishHobo]

That mutual moment of realisation when Jay and Sammie met. Fucking brilliant.

[gmoney]

Quite like the idea of a couple playing one person, but the voting element seems totally redundant - I don't give a shit who does it.

[BritishHobo]

Yeah, they seem really worried about ensuring the viewers get some input, while making sure we can't actually affect the outcomes, but I don't think they need to. People are gripped already. They're not going to switch off just because they don't get a little vote every Friday.

They've clearly walked back on the celebrity guest element after feedback from last week's show, so at least they're open to scrapping things that aren't working. Felt like a lot less time was spent in the live studio this week in general.

[JesusAndYourBush]

I hope people vote for the couple who are already in it.  It'll make it more interesting because they already have knowledge of the people in there but they'll have to be careful to portray their old lady as not knowing too much so there's the possibility of slip-ups.  With the other couple the guy is playing himself with his girlfriend tagging along, and that's hardly a twist.

Yeah, they seem really worried about ensuring the viewers get some input

Yeah, "Vote Night".  They're trying to make it more like Big Brother when it was OK as it was.

[Ja'moke]

This week's live show was much better. As mentioned above, it seems they listened to feedback last week and cut back on the celeb guests. They went straight into the episode this time, rather than spending the first 15 mins chatting. Also, all the guests were past players, which works better.

The couple twist could be interesting, especially if it's the two already in there, as they're strangers. As others have said though, we don't need to vote on these things.

[BritishHobo]

I was kinda eager for the two bottom ones to go, as I find the show is at its worst and most boring when you've just got some bloke who comes in to flirt - it turns the show into exactly what the premise makes critics think it is, Big Brother meets Tinder - but as you guys have said, I think I would find their coupling up more interesting than the actual couple. And I'd rather see everyone interact with an older woman.

[BritishHobo]

People HATE Paddy. He's not done himself any favours by coming in bitchy, but I think people on Twitter are falling into exactly the same trap. The whole point is that it's daft to go off your first impressions - Tim thought on day one that all the fake ones were real and the real ones were fake.

I think one of my favourite moments so far is how all-in 'Sammie' went during the painting round, saying it was 'vile' for someone to use her baby son in the picture. Proper gleeful outrage.

[gmoney]

There does seem to be an inbuilt flaw with the show that everyone hates the new people. Paddy did come off as a dick because he was flippantly dismissing Tim, when everyone watching knows he's wrong about him. If that had happened if he was in on the first day, no one would have batted an eyelid. It doesn't matter too much I guess, as the public voting seems to be restricted to ways that won't affect the outcome, but I can feel myself doing it as well. I instantly took a dislike to Ella because she was hating on my faves. Jack seemed alright though, mainly because he hated the shitty jokes "Jay" was making.

[JesusAndYourBush]

I just had a silly thought.  Imagine how awesome it'd be if there was a vote to choose between The Proclaimers catfishing as Jedward, or Jedward catfishing as The Proclaimers!!

[JesusAndYourBush]

That was weird, the Scouse guy playing the woman with the baby was barely in tonight's episode, he was only seen twice. Once for about half a second in a montage and again about 40 minutes into the episode speaking about 3 words.  I wonder if he's gone and they're covering it up to reveal it later?

[Ja'moke]

He's still in, he's in the preview clips for tonight. I think he's just become kind of boring, so not much need to show him.

[BritishHobo]

It was definitely noticeable how little focus he got. It's a shame, as I'm finding him really affable.

[BritishHobo]

Cracking work from Joyce. The way they tripped her up on the Arsenal question was fucking masterful. I deleted Twitter yesterday because the hostility on there was getting to me. People were being absolute cunts about Paddy - ironically judging him entirely on his own hasty judgment of Tim, despite him criticising himself for doing that - and just being humourlessly horrible about Beth and Jack. I found them bland at first myself, but I don't like the fucking venom that comes from reality show gossip. Dan from last year's series was proper slagging them off, which seems harsh from someone who should understand what it's like to be on the show.

Anyway, it's all getting a bit more complicated now, which I love. Still fairly sure we'll get a final four made up of three originals (Tim, Georgina, Woody) and Ella, but with Tim's betrayal and the Ella/Woody friendship being so strong, the balance of power could tip any which way.

[Ja'moke]

Paddy does annoy me. I think since I found out he's a reality tv regular in Ireland with his own show. I dunno, he just seems disingenuous at times.

Beth and whathisface are just extremely dull. But they did do well with the finger nail stuff tonight.

Sad to lose Brooke; I liked her a lot, she was quiet but chill and funny, and absolutely gorgeous. But the blocking was worth it to see her meet Georgina. It really felt like they formed such a genuine friendship.

[confettiinmyhair]

Any Reality TV fans see a couple of the contestants as
having previously popped up in other shows. Tim seems familiar, as does the guy who's co-cat fishing as Joyce?

[Ja'moke]

Brooke finding out about Sammie was a fantastic moment.

[BritishHobo]

It's just a cunt's trick. I said this last time, but it goes moreso now - anyone who's watching it at this point isn't going to switch off five days before the end because there wasn't a cliffhanger. And seeing who he picks IS STILL a cliffhanger.

Poor lovely Woody, though. I can only hope for his own sake that he's picked a catfish, so it'll be guilt-free for him. He has said before that the money isn't that important to him, so it may be he's less likely than others to strategically block a friend.