The Circle

The Circle (sometimes called The Circle US to differentiate from other international versions) is an American reality competition series, produced by Studio Lambert and Motion Content Group, that first aired on Netflix in January 2020. It is based on a British TV series of the same name. Alongside the American version of The Circle, Netflix also launched different versions in France and Brazil, as part of a partnership between Netflix and All3Media. The series bills itself as a game based around social media, with the concept that "anyone can be anyone in The Circle." It has been compared to Big Brother and Catfish in format, as well as Black Mirror episode "Nosedive" with the concept of ratings. Within the show, contestants are isolated with their own apartments, and can only communicate to the other contestants via "The Circle", ostensibly a computer program that transcribes their messages into text as if in a social media app. Contestants are thus able to present completely different identities to the others to hopefully win them over. Every so often, the group of contestants are asked to rate their fellow contestants, with the top vote-getters becoming the "Influencers" of the Circle, giving them the power to "block" one contestant from the circle, eliminating them from the game. The first season began airing on January 1, 2020, after Netflix released an exclusive cut of the first episode on YouTube on December 30, 2019. The first season concluded its run on January 15, 2020 and was hosted by Michelle Buteau. Joey Sasso won the first season of The Circle and the US$100,000 prize that came along with it. Shubham Goel was the runner-up. Sammie Cimarelli won the Fan Favorite award and US$10,000. Netflix renewed The Circle for a second and third season on March 24, 2020. The second season began airing on April 14, 2021, and concluded on May 5, 2021, crowning DeLeesa St. Agathe the second American winner, playing as her husband Trevor. The third season began airing on September 8, 2021, and is set to conclude on September 29, 2021. Netflix renewed The Circle for a fourth and fifth season on August 9, 2021. [Source: Wikipedia]