The Circle - who’s watching?

[Standrewsschool]

The first three are wannabes.

Hunter - trying to revive his career.

@MrsToothyBitch
Re the flats. I guess if they’ve invested the money in a purposely designed block of flats for the show, it makes sense to use it for all the series.
What makes me laugh about the US one is the flashes of the Manhattan skyline, when we know it’s situated in Salford! I assume for the Brazil one they’re flashing up Copacabana Beach 😂😂

I found the re-use of Salford mind-bogglingly confusing!

I imagine it's not so much the building but the software infrastructure installed in the building? No idea if difficult / expensive to duplicate, but it does make sense to keep using it.

I've obviously only seen the US alternative version, (where the Americans appeared to be 'Americans who lived in England'). Perhaps the Brazilian offering also made use of U.K. based Brazilians?

@Tianatiers

The trouble with averaged out ratings is it would be unfair on the people who join later. I think they need to not tell the players when they're making the final ratings to stop them being tactical.

Averaged out ratings wouldn’t be unfair so long as they used the mean score and not the total; if you were rated 10 times it would be the average across the 10 ratings but if only rated 6 times it would be the average of those 6 ratings. I guess there might be complications though on the fact that the number of players being ranked changes each time. My memory of series 1 is that the ratings were done different and that they rated each other out of 5 stars, I think they could even given multiple players the same score? Then they would get a numerical score like 3.2 or 4.8 based on the average rating so going back to a method like that would maybe work better in terms of having an average final score.

[quote OysterMonkey]@MrsToothyBitch
Re the flats. I guess if they’ve invested the money in a purposely designed block of flats for the show, it makes sense to use it for all the series.
What makes me laugh about the US one is the flashes of the Manhattan skyline, when we know it’s situated in Salford! I assume for the Brazil one they’re flashing up Copacabana Beach 😂😂[/quote]
I don’t think the flats were purpose built and The Circle only own some of the flats. The rest are residential and it’s possible to rent/ buy them and life in them. You then get access to the gym/ rooftop etc as well although I’m not sure how that works when they’re filming The Circle, I’m not sure if it’s in the contract that there will be times they’re unavailable or if there is some kind of other arrangement.

I wish my house was as soundproofed as the Salford flats seem to be. They all screech and scream...and no one hears anything!!

@BillyIsMyBunny I assumed they owned or had a long lease on some of the flats rather than the whole building. I also wonder how the hang-out/gym/hot tub access works in terms of the residents using them goes. Makes sense to reuse the building - the circle set up must've cost ££££.

@OysterMonkey - that's what got me. I recognised the building but the area shots looked American. I think I just thought the marvels of modern design and us all being more connected etc meant it looked uncannily like the UK building. When Billy explained it was Salford, I was surprised the area looked like that because I'd thought it was in America- trickery! The American one has a different vibe, I think. It's really interesting to see how they navigate the process.

That’s really interesting @BillyIsMyBunny.
Looks like all the flats have now been sold.
So I wonder if that means ‘The Circle’ production company own some, assuming they intend to continue using the building.
I have to say if I were a resident I’d be pretty pissed off if I couldn’t use the gym / roof terrace whenever I wanted, unless of course, I were getting a financial payment for my inconvenience..... (and for the shrieking!)

Have to say the flats look a lot less impressive when they’re not kitted out in The Circle style:
www.zoopla.co.uk/to-rent/details/57926332/?search_identifier=d80cfd08b5b2706bda4cdcf001dc6a42
www.zoopla.co.uk/to-rent/details/57926332/?search_identifier=a3bfc6e0c2ebe535ecdd3fb7663d4618

You can see the rooftop terrace in the second link but no sign of the jacuzzi and seating that they enjoy on The Circle so I wonder if that is only added for filming. The rooftop looks quite large so maybe The Circle only use a small part of it and the residents have access to the rest. The rental listings refer to private gyms, plural, so I guess they might only be using one or only certain rooms making it less disruptive to residents. I would be curious to know more though; Salford isn’t too far from me but not sure whether I could justify paying so much more in rent and the extra 30 min commute to work for one of the flats!

One is the articles I read said they spend up to £4K decorating each flat!!

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@HaroldandGeorge

I wish my house was as soundproofed as the Salford flats seem to be. They all screech and scream...and no one hears anything!!

This! I can tell when the guy three floors up on the other side of the estate is watching footy, no idea how any of them couldn't have heard not-Dot yelling at exactly the same time they found out who was blocked.

I think Tally will visit Andy to make him feel bad. I hope so

I barely remember Vithun is there.
Manrika the shrieker loves herself way too much (she also loves an insta filter).
I think Andy is trying to be Mr Nice guy and stay under the radar and get the votes at the end.
Not-Dot needs to be next to go, he's going to get SO cocky now I think.

Felix/Natalya....jesus H....I just stalked her insta...I want to be her.....

Syed for the win, bringing the most laughter for me.

Dot/Scott puts on the most awful proper old lady telephone voice

I’m really annoyed it’s been bumped for the F1 tonight.

I probably would have watched it tomorrow anyway, but meh.

I think she will visit Manrika

I think Tally will visit Manrika because a) the initial sisterhood and b) Manrika broke the sisterhood. In the shots of them all sat waiting at the end of the last episode, we also saw Manrika jump- as if the door clicked open/someone appeared. I hope Tally gives her a bit of a bollocking, tbh!

If not Manrika, she could visit more or less anyone but probably not Vithun, they didn't seem to connect. If she's using the opportunity positively, Gemma and Syed are her two allies and she seems to suspect they might both be catfish and be curious as well as maybe wanting a happy end note.

She's quite direct so if she's cross I think she'll have either gone to see Andy because he blocked her or Felix for a show down because of Manrika and her picture suspicions! She's less likely to go and see Dot, I think. They got on ok but weren't that friendly and I think anger at the blocking will have superseded anger at the portrait- which she suspected Felix for anyway before talking to Syed, and possibly still thinks is Felix. That portrait did not serve the artist in a positive light!

Averaged out ratings wouldn't be unfair so long they used the mean score and not the total

I think this system would work aside from the fact that it would be plausible for viewers to figure out who will and won't win in the end since they show all the ratings on screen. They would probably have to stop revealing how they all rate to avoid that which would be a shame. This is why I lean towards public vote being the best way!

@aSofaNearYou

Averaged out ratings wouldn't be unfair so long they used the mean score and not the total

I think this system would work aside from the fact that it would be plausible for viewers to figure out who will and won't win in the end since they show all the ratings on screen. They would probably have to stop revealing how they all rate to avoid that which would be a shame. This is why I lean towards public vote being the best way!

They don’t always show all of the ratings, for example when Billy & Tally were the bottom two we didn’t find out the ratings of anybody else. I think in other series’ there were also times they didn’t show all of the ratings, for example only revealing who scored #1 when they became a super influencer. As long as there were a couple of occurrences across the series where the full ratings weren’t shown and so long the final ratings weren’t shown in full (which they usually aren’t anyway) it would be possible to stop viewers knowing for sure who the winner would be. That said I do also support a public vote but my preference would be a 50/50 split weighting between viewers and players votes or two prizes worth 50% each; if it was 100% down to the public then interactions within the circle would cease to hold as much importance and it would just become about who can play up to the cameras the best which I think would be equally frustrating to the current format.

Sorry, I mean when Dot & Tally were bottom two!

That said I do also support a public vote but my preference would be a 50/50 split weighting between viewers and players votes or two prizes worth 50% each; if it was 100% down to the public then interactions within the circle would cease to hold as much importance and it would just become about who can play up to the cameras the best which I think would be equally frustrating to the current format.

Totally agree with that.

I've been watching series 1 on catch up and OMG they are so much worse. I can't believe it got a second series! Freddie is the most irritating, immature and unpleasant person. They all keep falling out with each other. Makes me realise how good the dynamics in series 2 really were.

I think Tally will see Gemma!

I’m assuming there isn’t a public vote this year as it’s pre-recorded?

I’ve just seen two new players going in tonight on circle Instagram!

If Tally goes to see Manrika (best have the volume down if she does!) then I wonder if Manrika will have the guts to admit to Tally that she rated her 6th and didn’t have her back at all. It’s going to come out sooner or later.

Perfect timing for new players, with alliances broken and influence lost. Hope they are interesting.