The Circle

About

The Circle is a reality television series in which people compete to be the highest rated by their fellow cast members, but the catch is that they can only interact with each other via a social media profile they craft for the television show and interact with each other through text messages and group chats. This allows some players to attempt to catfish the rest of the players by pretending to be someone they aren't in the game. Players do not have access to their phones or the internet so they cannot investigate their opponents. Since the series debuted in England, it became a global hit with several international adaptations, including a popular American adaptation on Netflix.

History

The Circle originally aired on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom.^[1] The series premiered on September 18th, 2018 and has run for two seasons. The first series was won by a catfish, internet comedian Alex Hobern, who played as a woman named "Kate."

The series spawned a season as well as international adaptations in France, Brazil, and the United States. The United States version premiered on January 1st on Netflix and ran for three weeks.

Reception

The show was mostly well-received by critics. The New York Times^[2] praised the diverse casting of the show, which allowed for a variety of personalities and provided a contrast to other reality shows where the cast members are generally of the same temperament. Wired^[3] praised the show for the surprising authenticity of the cast, as the audience watches them craft an online persona.

Online Presence

Online, the show attracted a passionate following. Author @SheaSerrano tweeted he felt "the circle is a perfect modern reality show," gaining over 290 likes (shown below, left). User @rennlove posted similar adoration of the show, gaining over 300 retweets and 1,200 likes (shown below, right). Original US cast members Sammie, Joey, and Shubham became fan favorites of the series, and lasted until the end of the show.

The show's subreddit, /r/TheCircleTV,^[4] has gained over 7,600 followers since its launch on September 19th, 2018. The US show's Facebook^[5] page has gained over 3,000 members.

Search Interest

External References