By Shira Kramer, Managing Editor
Over the past several years, Netflix has produced many reality television shows, but while most of these shows seem to revolve around romance, The Circle, which returned to Netflix with its sixth season, is a social media themed show. To keep things exciting, Netflix decided to release the episodes week by week. Viewers of the show waited intently for new episodes during the release period, ultimately enjoying the season finale, released on Wednesday, October 2.
The Circle features average people who take time out of their lives to come to an apartment building to play a game. While the contestants all live in adjacent apartments, they never meet in person until they either exit the game or the series finale arrives. Instead, they communicate through texting and mini games that producers of The Circle create for them. Because participants don’t have in-person contact with one another, they must decide whether to enter the show as themselves or as a catfish, a player who enters the game impersonating someone else.
At the end of each episode, the participants must rate each other. In general, the two players with the highest ratings become influencers who mutually choose to block one player, excluding them from The Circle. During the last episode, the player with the highest rating wins 100,000 dollars.
Every day, producers set up mini games to allow the players to get to know each other. These games include Never Have I Ever and the show’s version of Pictionary. When the participants have down time, they can create group chats and private messages with each other in order to find allies. It is important to have allies in this game so that when players are asked to rate each other, they feel confident that their allies will rank them high. Additionally, players must create alliances with each other in order to block the players that they don’t like. When a player is blocked, they are disqualified from the game and leave the show.
Over the past six seasons, both genuine players and catfish have won. Many have explained their decision to enter The Circle as a catfish because of insecurities or societal norms that they wanted to avoid. Participants who decide to catfish also often enter The Circle as a different gender. Additionally, almost all players decide to set their profiles to “single” regardless of their relationship statuses in real life, which allows for more potential alliances.
There are even romances within the game. While most couples understand that the romance is just for the sake of the game, one of this season’s couples wanted to continue dating outside of the game. When they ended up meeting in real life, they realized that they felt genuinely about each other and looked forward to their future together.
Every season, The Circle advances their technology. In season five, The Circle introduced an AI player who was a robot and in season six, the final players were able to video chat with their families.
While The Circle is incredibly entertaining to watch, it seems like a psychological thriller for the normal people who play it. Players are expected to trust each other even though there is no way to know if the other players are telling the truth. How can you trust a person who you can’t even see in real life?
Interestingly, these players all have normal jobs. They aren’t famous or recognized by the world on social media, but instead are just random people from around the country. One season even featured a participant who worked with AI robots by profession and even he couldn’t spot an AI player. Evidently, AI can easily trick humans, even someone who works with AI all day, into thinking that it is one of them.
Overall, The Circle is a great show for viewers who enjoy drama but don’t necessarily want to watch a full dating show. This show is filled with twists and turns that no one can expect – not even the participants.
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