Tag: Channel 4

Most people in my life wouldn’t see me as the type of person to watch reality TV and for the most part, they’d be right; but there’s one exception. Last year, a friend of mine introduced me to a new reality show on Channel 4 in the UK called The Circle where the basic concept is this: It takes the Big Brother format of throwing personalities in a house to see what happens, but the twist is that the people never actually meet. Instead, they can only communicate through a messaging system known as “The Circle”, this means that people can literally be whoever they want and no-one will ever know and I think it’s brilliant.

They always get a nice mix of genuine people and catfish for the show and watching them all interact and slowly all grow suspicious of each other is extremely compelling TV, amplified by the fact that eliminations aren’t down to public vote, instead the participants rank each other from their most to least favourite person and then the most popular people decide who to eliminate (or “block”).

I loved watching the show last year and the now the second season has recently come to an end, I can say the show is going from strength to strength, there were a couple of tweaks to the format this year, most of which I think were positive, and the personalities on the show have become a lot more pronounced and varied than the original season. Probably due to the success of the first season giving the producers a much larger number of applicants.

The first change is how the ratings are done. For those unaware, in the 2018 season players rated each other out of 5 stars, everyone’s star ratings would then be averaged out to create the rankings. While this system was fine for the most part, it meant that the finals were entirely decided by 3 of the participants rating everyone tactically low and 1 person rating honestly, essentially handing the win to their favourite player. The change to a ranking system completely avoids that problem, since now everyone has to give top marks to someone else, but it doesn’t kill the tactical element of putting people higher up that you think are on your side.

There was also the weekly votes, which gave the general public a chance to influence the game by deciding things like, who should be the next new player? or who should get the power to block anyone they want? I thought they were a nice way to bring in a level of audience interaction without unfairly affecting the game too much. Speaking of the weekly live shows, they were a bit hit and miss, the first one was awful as the live segments ate up so much time on the show that it barely felt like anything happened with the players, however in later weeks they adjusted the format, got rid of the celebrity interviews and instead focused on talking to blocked players & hyping the votes which was much more entertaining.

Of course, what really makes a show like this entertaining to watch, is the people so I’m going to run down what I thought of each of the players in the order they were blocked. I’m not going to judge them as people, because that just seems rather mean, I’m instead going to talk about how they played the game and how they affected my enjoyment of the show.

Emelle, Age 31: Playing herself, but straight and age 24 – Given that Emelle was only around for two episodes of the show, it’s honestly hard to say much about her. I think she had exactly the right kind of personality for the show and I think that had she made it past this first blocking, she would’ve become quite a popular person amongst the group. Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be as Sammie correctly identified her as a threat early on and made sure to kick her out as fast as possible, which from a tactical standpoint, was absolutely the right move given the powerhouse she could’ve become.

Sy, Age 35: Playing himself – He’s a farmer, that’s just about all we ever found out about him. Sy was one of those people that I didn’t have any kind of dislike for, but he also never stood out amongst the other players. Ultimately his one-note presentation of himself was what got him blocked and I can’t say I expected him to go much further. In those early stages of the competition, he felt like such an afterthought compared to the other players, who all had extremely strong personalities, ultimately I just think he was never going to last very long regardless.

Richard Madeley, Age 63: Playing “Judy”, a 27-year-old woman – Yes, THAT Richard Madeley. I was a bit apprehensive about a celebrity being inserted into The Circle this year, I was worried the producers would focus too heavily on them and it would drown out the other players, but this was handled really well.

For one thing, Richard was a great choice of person to bring in, he’s got a very down-to-earth personality and being a presenter he found it very easy to connect with people and come across like a proper player of the game, not a gimmick. On top of that, his role in the game was handled very well, allowing him to become a member of the group before hitting him with the secret mission to get himself blocked. It meant he was able to get in the best of his personality and really add to the game, then removing him from the game before it became a tired act. Funnily enough, though, I actually think he could’ve gotten quite far if he was allowed to keep playing nice.

Katie, Age 43: Playing “Jay”, her 25-year-old son – I’m of two minds with Katie, because for the longest time, she did quite a good job of fitting in as “one of the lads”. There was plenty of cringes to go around, but for quite a while there weren’t many people holding suspicions of her, she made a lot of allies in there, only amplified that she still managed to land 4th in the ratings where she got blocked. Ultimately her stumbling block was going into too much detail and not quite preparing properly for the wave of questions thrown back at her and once people started asking her specific questions about being a builder, the game was over for her. She wasn’t necessarily one of the strongest personalities, but I think she added something to the game in the time she was there.

Brooke, Age 24/25: Playing herself – At the start, I honestly thought Brooke would be a contender to win, she got right in there early on, made friends with everyone and made sure to get her personality across as much as possible, unfortunately after the first week or so, she faded into the background completely and never recovered. She became somewhat of a supporting player to the people who had started leading the charges in games & group chats and ultimately became a bit boring to watch. She stopped being featured as heavily with her private chats (which isn’t entirely her fault but they obviously weren’t interesting enough to make TV) and with almost every group chat her contributions were pretty inconsequential so I’m not surprised that the other players got bored with her. Maybe she’d have gotten much further if she’d kept that energy she brought early on, but for whatever reason, it didn’t happen.

Jack & Beth, Age 29: Playing “Joyce”, a 62-year-old woman – So let’s get this out of the way first, as solo players in the game, they were boring and I’m not surprised they got blocked as quickly as they did. However, when they got the opportunity to come back as a duo and play Joyce they became extremely entertaining to watch.

Putting the extreme amounts sexual tension between them aside, it was very interesting to watch them going through the feeling out process of working as a team and creating Joyce’s personality (as they had no time to prepare, unlike the other catfish). Unfortunately for them, this led to some pretty major stumbles early on and once the seed of doubt was in people’s minds it was impossible to remove, even if they did become quite good at playing the character towards the end. While I wouldn’t want it to become more common in later seasons, I enjoyed watching these two work as a pair, the way they were able to bounce off each other made them feel like much stronger personalities than when they were on their own and I’d even go as far as to say that they might’ve been quite successful if they had more than an hour to prepare Joyce’s character.

Busayo, Age 24: Playing “Josh”, a 24-year-old man – Did anyone tell Busayo this was a game about being popular? Because I honestly don’t think she knew based on how she played the game. She wasn’t as bad as someone like Precious from the first season, who was extremely confrontational, but it seemed like she didn’t have any idea how to deal with shade being thrown her way.

She’s someone who I genuinely think would’ve done much better on the show as herself, because the way she played Josh meant that there was no personality injected into the character whatsoever and she couldn’t make any real connections with people, so no-one wanted to save her. There were several times where she put her foot in it and made it very obvious she was a catfish, including confronting the whole group about it at one point which was honestly the stupidest move possible and is what sealed her fate.

I also can’t get over how fed up she looked at the finals.

Jan, Age 58: Playing herself – I don’t really know what to say about Jan, because we found out so little about her. Entering as late as she did (a week before the final) seems like such a curse, the blockings come thick and fast in that final week as the players are whittled down from 9 to 4 and it means Jan had absolutely no time to create any connections that were anywhere near as deep as the ones everyone else had built with each other over a longer period of time. I honestly can’t say whether I think she would’ve done well or not given more time because this brief glimpse we got of her didn’t show us much of anything about her, she’s a victim of circumstance and it’s a shame it had to happen like it did.

Ella, Age 24: Playing herself – SHE WAS JUST SO NICE.

Seriously, I don’t think I need to say anything more about her, she was on a mission in The Circle to spread positivity everywhere she went. I won’t lie, I initially wasn’t a fan, she came across as a bit much to me and it felt like she was trying too hard, but once I got used to her and she got more comfortable in the environment I couldn’t help but adore this unabashedly kind and genuine person.

She was a victim of the game as it happened, you can be nice to everyone all you like, but in a game like The Circle where the whole point is to be as popular as possible, that kind of attitude is going to make other players think you’re being tactical. I wish I could’ve been there to see exactly what the deciding factor was when Georgina & Tim made their decision to block her and that shot of her face as she saw Georgina walk into her room and knowing she was blocked is perhaps the most heartbreaking image of the whole series.

I wish she could’ve made it into the finals and even though she got taken down by people who thought she was something she wasn’t, it doesn’t take away from the fact that she was an absolute joy to watch and gave the whole show a much more positive atmosphere whenever she was on screen.

Woody, Age 18: Playing himself – Could pretty much copy/paste what I said about Ella and it’d cover my exact sentiment on Woody, it’s no wonder they were such good friends.

Woody had this combination of youthful optimism and down to Earth vibe that made watching him interact with everyone a really pleasant experience. It’s not quite like with Ella where I was constantly awwing and how nice he was being, watching him talk was just such a calming and positive experience in so many ways. Not only did he honestly and seriously try to be as friendly as possible to absolutely everyone, but he also didn’t have a shred of naivete about him, he was constantly on the ball when it came to sniffing out the bullshit and still did his damndest to turn all of it into a positive.

When the last few days of the series came down and the intensity was ramping up thanks to things that we’ll get into in just a moment, Woody remained a breath of fresh air and ultimately seem unburdened by it all. He’s got the kind of attitude towards everyone else around him that I would love to have, but in reality, I think I’d be a lot more like…

James, Age 26: Playing “Sammie”, a single mother – I don’t think this series would’ve been half as interesting as it was without this man. He was able to put us through the full run of emotions, being manipulative and tactical, riling us all up in one moment, before having some really heartfelt moments and bringing on the emotion hard.

I prefer this version of catfishing to Alex’s – who played as “Kate” in series one – because Alex deliberately made Kate a person with a less distinguished personality, there were plenty of jokes about Kate being a “fence-sitter” and it was entirely by design. James playing Sammie, on the other hand, went fully into this character he had created and did a damn good job of it too. Watching James chat with other people was always fascinating to watch because it always came across like he had full confidence in what he was doing, it was the complete opposite of Katie playing Jay, he never had any hesitation or doubts in what he was going to say to people and it made things all the more interesting when he decided to turn the heat up.

Yes, it was cheesy. Yes, the spark that caused it was incredibly petty but by God, if I wasn’t enthralled by the goings-on with “The Circle Revolution”. Perhaps my favourite segment of the whole series was James and Tim going head to head in that penultimate blocking. It was so unbelievably tense as these two incredibly dominant personalities pushed up against each other extremely hard to try and topple the other.

Like him if you can; Hate him if you must; But don’t for a second try to tell me he wasn’t entertaining.

Georgina, Age 21/22: Playing herself – My opinion on Georgina went back and forth so much over the course of the series and I’m honestly still not sure if I liked her or not.

Early on she was wonderful, she was never timid and always made sure that her voice stood out amongst everyone else’s and the connections she made with people like Brooke and Tim meant she’d always be able to bring the most amount of fun from everyone around her at all times. Then Brooke got blocked. Naturally, she was quite ticked-off by this as they were extremely close and I think from that point onwards, she became notably less cheery. It felt for a little while like she was just floating around aimlessly, putting negative spins on everything everyone said until the Circle of Trust came about and seemingly filled her with a whole new burst of energy.

Going into the finals, I was just about expecting her to win over everyone else and when push comes to shove, I don’t think the game would’ve been the same without her. She didn’t have a gimmick, she wasn’t “quirky”, she was just a regular woman and in a Circle full of somewhat over the top personalities, it meant she added a lot to the viewing experience.

Viewers’ Champion – Tim, Age 58: Playing Himself

Tim’s the kind of person that we think all old men are like when we’re young. He’s got a big beard, a warm smile, a thick Southern-English accent and the most eccentric attitude it’s possible for a person to have. Every word that comes out of that man’s mouth puts such a smile on my face thanks to the sheer joy that he pours into every sentence.

Not only that, but he was easily the sharpest mind in terms of working out what’s going on with everyone else in The Circle. Nothing ever slipped past him and the moment he had a string, he’d tug on it hard to see if anything came tumbling down with it. Watching his mind whir as he interrogated so many of the people he suspected to be catfish was so interesting as he always knew the right way to come at them, like exposing Katie by asking for building advice (since “Jay” was supposed to be a builder) or constantly pushing James to talk about Sammie’s fiction son Charlie, especially as James was trying to distance himself from that side of the character.

He filled a role in The Circle that I don’t think anyone else ever could, the energy he had was truly one of a kind and although I didn’t vote for him (I voted for Woody), he is incredibly deserving of being crowned the Viewers’ Champion.

Winner – Paddy, Age 31: Playing Himself

Going into the finals, I didn’t think Paddy was going to win and I didn’t really want Paddy to win, but now he has won and I’ve seen the breakdown of the final rankings, I think he’s a very deserving winner.

Paddy always had a touch of everything to him throughout the whole show. He could bring the happiness just as hard as anyone else in there (especially when he was lusting after Jack), then he’d be able to bring the emotion, having some really sweet conversations with Georgina, Sammie and the whole group at one point. My favourite side to Paddy though is when he decides he wants to throw a punch because boy does he go all in. When he fired that shot at Josh, heavily implying they were a catfish while not even in anonymous mode I almost whooped right out of my seat. Not only that, but when Sammie presented the idea of the “The Revolution” to him, there wasn’t even a hint of hesitation before he decided he wanted in.

I get why people might not be happy with Paddy winning given that he only joined halfway through the series, but the fact of the matter is, he got in there, made friends with the right people, wasn’t afraid to show his true colours (mostly pink) and made real bonds with everyone left in there. You don’t get rated 1st,1st,2nd & 2nd “by accident” as Twitter seems to be saying.

Paddy had a personality just as strong as anyone else in The Circle and made sure to let it shine through at every opportunity, his presence had a great effect on the other players and he added a lot to the show because of that, I couldn’t think of a more perfect description of a deserving winner.

And that’s my thoughts on The Circle 2019! Thank you very much for taking the time to read this and let me know what you thought of this year’s show either in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo! Make sure you come back this weekend where I’ll be running down my favourite championship designs in WWE!