Topic: The Circle (Series 3)

[Ja'moke]

The regular edition of The Circle is now underway, after the short but surprisingly fun celebrity special.

This series is great already. They've done a twist that confettiinmyhair suggested in the previous thread. There are two players playing the same person, one real, one a catfish.

[JesusAndYourBush]

Surely the girl who's been cloned had some private chats and would be able to prove she was the real one by revealing something that was said during a private chat?

[Ja'moke]

Surely the girl who's been cloned had some private chats and would be able to prove she was the real one by revealing something that was said during a private chat?

Yeah that's what she's been doing. Although it's only day two, so I don't think they'd had many chats at this point. She's convinced the one girl she'd previously bonded with, though.

[BritishHobo]

Think they took a real gamble with that twist. If she'd picked a catfish then it would have been good fun seeing them sweat - the fella posing as the nurse, for example, trying to figure out whether the clone actually is the real person. As it is, it seems to have gone down like a fucking lead balloon with OG Tally, who seems upset in a very real, not-fun way.

[confettiinmyhair]

OG blue Tally reacted really badly. I'm worried about how she reacted to the twist. There were several different ways she could have reacted. She could've even made this work in her favour. I know 100k is on the line, but her reaction almost transcends the game and became uncomfortable in the same way some other reality show contestants have melted down and it goes beyond entertaining. I hope the show's Psychologists were checking in with her.

[BritishHobo]

Yeah, I really don't know how I feel about the whole thing. It's pretty lose-lose as well, because Yolanda's gone all in because obviously as a contestant you have a level of trust that, if the show encourages you to do something, then it's acceptable to do, and everything's been thought of. She comes off horrible at times, but I've no doubt that, if she was aware of the effect the whole thing is having on OG Tally, she would feel terrible and pull back. I think you can tell the producers aren't delighted with the outcome, as last night's episode seemed at pains to avoid mentioning the Tally situation after the first part. Clearly they were hoping for a big fun thing where, for example, the father and the daughter are faced with a clone of their character, and panic about whether she's the real person. Harmless drama. Instead they've engineered a situation where one contestant feels like she's being personally singled out, and is effectively being gaslit to a certain degree when she tries to express the fact that it's genuinely upsetting her.

Essentially, The Circle usually cuts through the dehumanising nature of social media in order to reveal the kindness of human interaction. Here it's done the opposite.

[Ja'moke]

I don't think it cut Tally that deep really. I felt her reaction was very "I'm on TV and I need to react this way."

She was right back to being cheerful and goofing around with Billy moments later.

Anyway, the others have to decide which of the Tally's to block tonight.

[Ludicrous Display]

She was having a remote control car race and being a right 'geezer bird' in the first part of last night's show, she's fine. I'm eating up the drama, the twist has kick-started the series.

[BritishHobo]

I do hope so, I don't want to be all doom-and-gloom, and I really like Tally - I hope the next episode proves me to be being stupid and melodramatic.

There's some definite champion candidates. Vithun is rightly beloved by all in the same way Tim was last series, and Shubham in the US series - although their losses probably don't bode well for him. Andy is very lovely as well, him and his friendship with the daft, wonderful Syed. Ditto Manrika, Billy, and OG Tally.

[Ja'moke]

I find Vithun to be the most boring so far, actually.

I love Hashu/Syed, though. Great enthusiasm and he plays the Syed character really well. I can see the reveal hurting Andy quite a lot, much like Dan and Alex in the first series.

[BritishHobo]

Yeah, that's gonna be a tough one. Was interesting to see him feel bad following his 'revelation' about Syed's struggles.

Which reminds me, I was in pain laughing at the triple-punch of revelations. "I lost my bowel." "I've faced racism and poverty." "I'm a letting agent in London..." Fucked it mate.

[BritishHobo]

If this ends on a cliffhanger I WILL FUCKING SMASH MY TELEVISION

[BritishHobo]

That's an example of good cliffhangering - we're all obviously going to be coming back, because we want to see that meeting.

Vithun has gone down a bit for me now. He's still a lovely person and I like him a lot, but I think his choice has probably separated him too early on from the (seemingly) infallible niceness of people like Tim. He doesn't seem to be getting as much traction as most of the others either, although he could just be a victim of editing.

[georgetaylor]

I usually hate the twists on the regular format, but that was great, having the screen 'update' and then show 2 of the same person was brilliant. Camera switching between head-fucked Real Tally and the 2 identical icons on a slow zoom with sinister music was class.
So many ways this could have played out, Fake Tally could have declared herself Fake from the get-go and also stated knowingly that the other Tally was also fake. Mess with everyone that way.

[JesusAndYourBush]

So many ways this could have played out, Fake Tally could have declared herself Fake from the get-go and also stated knowingly that the other Tally was also fake. Mess with everyone that way.

They could also have said "I've only just got here, and there's already someone here using my photo!" - therefore stating that they were the new arrival, but real at the same time.

[BritishHobo]

Yeah, that's what I thought was going to happen. Odd little diversion in the end, and their chat was pretty boring.

Not too fussed on the new pair. The general pace of The Circle always seems to be that any new contestants are just time-fillers anyway, until they whittle it back down to four OG players. I'm saying Andy, Manrika, Vithun. Add Tally if they do a final five.

[BritishHobo]

This is a proper weird season. Very messy in terms of alliances and teams. I'm not a fan of the fact that the secret missions this time are really encouraging fucking each other over - it's in proper contrast to last year, where you had that lovely mission where Richard Madeley had to fuck himself over, in order to help somebody else.  It's not just about the victims, either (although poor Billy) - the fact that they immediately outed Gemma's game is a bizarre choice, as it now lumbers him with being distrusted, for doing something the game made him do. It's irritating seeing some of them slag off Gemma just for doing the mission - the show made her!

I sound like I'm down on the show, but I do think it's made for a really interesting dynamic between the contestants that I'm hugely enjoying, and is making it feel fresh. Series 1 and 2 (and the US one) were fairly clear-cut. They generally had nice, genuine friendships with the odd rivalry, but groups were always loyal, and on the same page. This year, it's pure chaos. You've got the 'geezer girls' trio, in which Manrika hates Gemma, but is using her to secure support, meanwhile best friend Tally actually does like and trust Gemma. Then you have this fucking brilliant 'relationship' between Manrika and fake-soldier, then poor wonderful Hashu friendzoning himself - plus his good friendship with Andy, and their catfish-catching group, which has been massively tested by Gemma lying to them. Vithun sadly feels on the sidelines, but even he looks to be acting fairly cannily in terms of how he engages with people in order to get further. Everyone is appearing to play the game as 'block the catfish', but in private I think they're all building relationships that are much more complicated and manipulative than we've seen before. Every series seems to have a totally different endgame, and I can't wait to see how this ends up.

[Ja'moke]

I think it’s a great series and the show is naturally evolving from where it left off last year with “Sammie” and co forming the first real alliance and gaming the system.

There is more open gameplay this time around, which is refreshing to see in a UK reality show.

“Felix” is annoying me though. It’s a bit rich to call out “Gemma” for “lack of integrity” for just playing the game he was forced to do, while she’s playing a catfish and actively pursuing a romance angle with Manrika. The hypocrisy is what drives me crazy. It’d be fine if she owned it.

Fun series though. Except for Vithun. He does not make for entertaining TV.

[BritishHobo]

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. In previous series, Felix's handwringing about 'gameplaying' and 'integrity' is something most contestants seemed to share. Here, nobody gives a shit, they know they need to do whatever they can to survive. It's exciting.

[JesusAndYourBush]

I thought 'Felix' was as thick as pigshit for not understanding that 'Gemma' was playing the game.  And I'm perplexed as to why Billy was voted off, especially as the guy who was one of the people deciding (can't remember his name) had just had a conversation with Billy and had realised that Gemma was a massive bullshitter.  I wonder if Channel 4 forced his hand because it'd have been less interesting if he'd have chosen Gemma to be booted out.

[BritishHobo]

I did wonder that - especially given that Manrika has never liked Gemma. I suppose it's always possible that they edited bits of the chat out where they discuss Billy, to keep the tension going.

Up until yesterday, I thought Manrika was playing a blinder
 Keeping her cool in-chat in every conversation, and always telling people exactly what they want or need to here. Obviously she's spaffed that up the wall with this Felix thing. It really seems like the biggest mistake you can make is going all-in on one person. Good fun though to see Tally and Manrika, two real people, having a proper falling-out over two catfishes.

Manrika seems to be becoming the Designated Villain, at least in the eyes of Twitter and the Circle subreddit. People don't like that it's always about her, and obviously the self-righteousness and screwing over of Tally in the latest episode. I'm always wary of judging anyone based on an edited reality show - especially since she clearly knew at the end of the episode that she'd fucked up.

Weirdly it feels like popular opinion has flipped 180 from series 2 - where people really seemed to see James/Sammie as a nasty trickster - to the point that most people are very much in defence of James/Gemma, and see Manrika's 'I've got friends who are nurses' as being too self-righteous.

[Ja'moke]

I thought 'Felix' was as thick as pigshit for not understanding that 'Gemma' was playing the game.  And I'm perplexed as to why Billy was voted off, especially as the guy who was one of the people deciding (can't remember his name) had just had a conversation with Billy and had realised that Gemma was a massive bullshitter.  I wonder if Channel 4 forced his hand because it'd have been less interesting if he'd have chosen Gemma to be booted out.

I presume that Andy and Manrika played that more tactically than they let on, or than the show let on. For all their "let's just get rid of the catfishes" talk, they both have better relationships with Gemma than they did Billy, and so it's a benefit for them to keep Gemma around.

Weirdly it feels like popular opinion has flipped 180 from series 2 - where people really seemed to see James/Sammie as a nasty trickster - to the point that most people are very much in defence of James/Gemma, and see Manrika's 'I've got friends who are nurses' as being too self-righteous.

It's following the Survivor trajectory, albeit 20 years later. When Survivor first started in the US, the majority of fans hated Richard Hatch and co for forming an alliance and systemically voting everyone out. That wasn't in the spirit of competition! It was supposed to be who could best survive in the wilderness!!

After a couple of seasons though, people realised forming alliances and social politicking was the real aim of the game. And eventually it was the gameplayers that came to be respected by the audience and people would just roll their eyes at the "integrity and loyalty" types.

[BritishHobo]

Vithun is such a fucking wildcard, I love it.

[Ja'moke]

Definitely the most interesting series so far in terms of the gameplay and blockings.

[BritishHobo]

I'm so up-and-down with this series. I don't like how obvious the behind-the-scenes manipulation is (you could practically hear the producers knock together the latest twist to narrow the options down and guarantee Tally was in the firing line), and the cliffhangers continue to be bollocks. We're obviously going to be back on Monday, knobheads. We will want to see the full meeting, even if we know who it is.

On the other hand, I love what a mess it is. The relationships and allegiances are all over the fucking place. Booting Tally off feels a bit reminiscent of the Ella blocking from last series, but with none of the stability around it. Everyone's on their own gameplay track, and they pretty much all seem to have the resolve to avoid being swayed.

[confettiinmyhair]

Tonight's episode produced one of the most awkward post blocking meetings ever. It's worth a watch.

It looks like this series is Andy's to lose.

[Ja'moke]

Yeah that meeting was tense and awkward but great TV. I started to like James and go off Manrika last week, but that was a bit rich of James to have a go at Manrika for lying about painting a silly snake picture when he was lying about being a nurse etc.

As for Andy, I wouldn't be so sure. It will come down to if people rate tactically at the end, and it seems the majority of this cast will, which means he'll probably be rated low in the final. Which makes his whole strategy of "get rid of the catfishes" silly. It shouldn't matter who is a catfish or not, he should just be focused on aligning with people that will stay loyal and rate him high at the end.

Also, I don't get Felix at all. She really doesn't need to be taking it this deep with Manrika. She already had her on side, so why not just keep it at surface level flirting and work on building relationships with others? Instead she just keeps going deeper and deeper with Manrika... there must be part of her getting a kick out of it, despite what she says about feeling bad.

That's going to be great TV too though if those two meet face to face.

[JesusAndYourBush]

That was embarrassing to watch.  What an utter arse!  And he got annoyed that she'd called him a snake when he was a snake!

[jimboslice]

Tonight's episode produced one of the most awkward post blocking meetings ever. It's worth a watch.

It looks like this series is Andy's to lose.

Absolutely fantastic. Manrika stood her ground and Hunter lost his temper.

Femi's fucked up immediately too. Would have been more interesting if it was a fresh immigrant trying to play native.

[BritishHobo]

Yeah, that meeting has to be the most uncomfortable moment ever on this show. James really fucked himself right at the end - as some of you have said. I was fully on-board with him, felt like he was lovely and genuine in spite of the catfishing, and that Manrika was quite holier-than-thou and hypocritical. I've completely flipped after that meeting, where he really trampled any high ground whatsoever and left me siding with Manrika. It seems like the snake picture really unexpectedly hurt him, but it wasn't a great look, and it backfired on him really that, having lied about being a nurse, he was very vicious about her having played her own game. Just wouldn't let up, while Manrika was quite self-effacing, copping to his criticism without fighting back. I'll repeat for my own pathetic guilt that I don't want to definitively judge either of them - it was a heated, tense meeting - but it definitely left a sour taste in my mouth.

I've not felt as sick as that since seeing Dan meet Alex in series 1.

It'll be interesting to see what the dynamic will be going forward, as it does feel like the game has lost something significant now that the Gemma drama is over.