The Circle - who’s watching?

[Standrewsschool]

The first three are wannabes.

Hunter - trying to revive his career.

Andy yuk yuk

@BillyIsMyBunny

It’s interesting how we can all be watching the same show but get such different views towards the players. I actually quite like Manrika, she is definitely playing the game but she is also very open about it and I respect that she immediately owned up to Tally when she definitely didn’t have to in that moment.

I think for the younger players who probably don’t have a lot in terms of money/ security yet it’s understandable that they will be somewhat ruthless in trying to win £100,000. And really all of the other players are essentially strangers, being disloyal or pretending to like someone when you don’t isn’t necessarily mean when it’s to a person you have no real connection with and when you know there’s a roughly 50/50 chance they’re not even who they say they are. I find the game-playing much harder to forgive in the older players such as Hunter and Andy, I guess it feels like integrity should be something that comes with age and that they are in better positions in life and not in as much need for the cash so have less excuse for playing a ruthless game or deliberately trying to ruin the game for others.

My main problem with Manrika is that she is aware of the cameras (I imagine they all are) and anything that comes out of her mouth off-chat, is entirely for our benefit.

She said time and again she wouldn't be swayed by a man and would always choose her girls - then got swayed by Felix and did the dirty on her buddy. She only came clean to Tally because she knew Tally would see what had happened. In that scenario it was best for Manrika to tell Tally first, damage limitation at its finest!

Then the ruthless love-bombing of the new players and Gemma whilst telling us how much she dislikes Gemma. I would respect her if she wasn't so aware of us viewer's and stopped trying so hard to prove to us that she's really a great geezer gal and has integrity....this game is the antithesis of integrity

@BillyIsMyBunny

Yes I was also hoping for an end to Andy. I think Gemma, who voted Andy #1, will go this week and to be honest I think that would have been the case regardless of who was the influencer out of Andy, Felix and Dot. Hopefully at the next ratings once Femi and Pippa are able to vote and be voted things will be shaken up a bit; I imagine being near the bottom will have kicked Vithun’s game plan back into gear and he has been quite calculating in the past, as we get nearer the end I expect to see a bit more tactical voting so that might start kicking in now. Hopefully that will mean we see someone different at the top and have less chance of a final made up only of OGs.

Ah you typed exactly what I was thinking. So: what @BillyIsMyBunny said

@TellingBone

Didn't realise there was a thread!

I think Andy is ruthless and a great game-player. He probably is a nice guy IRL but here he's being very strategic.

In the blocks he's influenced so far, each time the player that was the biggest threat of the two to Andy has gone. I fully expect that he'll keep 'Gemma' and get rid of Dot, noting Dot's recent popularity.

Manrika's playing a great game too.

I think Gemma is a gonner because Manrika is knives out and Andy won't have much choice, knowing what he knows. Plus he thinks Gemma will block him at the first opportunity.

Manrika IS playing a good game. I just find her jarring.

Another here stabbing at the wrong X to get rid of that awful worrying discomforting Hunter image. An innocent early browse went very wrong there. That needed a warning. X

Just watching it now and this "shit sandwich" game is annoying me. #BeKind? OK I know we all like a bit of drama and tension on a show, but they're totally manufacturing conflict now so they argue and it just looks petty and immature of thr producers.

Gemma doesn't do half of the awful things that Manrika accuses her of, but she does do them herself!!

Yes '💩 sandwiches 🥪' didn't sit well with me either, imagine people you know and like doing that on SM, could do some damage (!)

The weird thing about the shit sandwich is they were very selective about which reaction chat they showed.

Yy I noticed they didn't show everyone's. What fuckery is this?

@jay55 yes!! And what chats they showed.

I actually think Gemma might me safe because they don't see her as a threat. They know she's the least popular and doesn't have many alliances and actually has their back. Now is good time to get rid of a popular player like Dot...or maybe that's wishful thinking on my part cos I much prefer the OG players. All the newbies except maybe Felix are dull.

@GreenHairThingy It will be interesting to see the decision making process between Andy and Manrika. She's probably the only one who has any chance of thwarting his modus operandi of blocking any potential popularity rivals.

Manrika seems very determined to block the player she has in mind to the extent I think she will really fight for it. She wanted Felix or Dot to be influencer with her over Andy which makes me think she’s not wanting to block either of them and I can’t see why she would go for Vithun which means her plan must be to get rid of Gemma. I think it would be difficult for Andy to persuade Manrika to keep Gemma and considering all of his doubts about her I don’t think he would be invested enough in her to try and keep her.

I also think after blocking two genuine players in a row Andy will be thinking he needs to block a catfish now to try and show that he makes a good influencer, especially to the two new players; blocking Dot/ Felix or another popular player will look like an obvious game plan right now and I think he will want to avoid that at a time when the balance of power will potentially shift because of the new players. Andy’s game plan seems to be to come across as a fair player and to make others feel like they’ll be in safe hands with him at the top and Gemma would be the safest choice right now in terms of keeping himself at the top.

Other than Syed, I don't see Andy saying no to any Manrika suggestions for the blocking. And other than Felix I'm not sure who Manrika would say no to.
I don't see them blocking Vithun as he is an ally and is no threat in the ranking. But who knows.

I don't understand why Manrika dislikes Gemma so much. OK she thinks she's a catfish but she thinks other people are catfishes too. It does make her come across as a mean girl bully stereotype. The others are less petty. She plays to the camera but seems to have a blind spot where Gemma is concerned about how she comes across to the public, particularly after blocking Tally. She comes across as not liking other women

@2Rebecca that's what I get from Manrika, that she's the beautiful mean girl from school. I truly think she sees Gemma as a threat. Even knowing they're a catfish.

I also wonder if that's why Felix/Natalya is able to play her so well. I reckon they both have some similar life experiences (both being quite stunning, so used to men falling at their feet). I think Natalya could also veer into Mean Girl territory, the whole "integrity" bollocks she spouted showed that IMO.

We don’t understand the Vithun love as he seems to be nasty and mean, frankly.

I don’t understand how no one is having proper conversations, asking people about their jobs or their experience of lockdown and Covid, hopes for the future etc. All the chats seem so superficial and I don’t understand why!

Pippa and Femi have been good additions and I’d like to see Pippa following up some of her suspicions.

I think there are a lot of conversations we don’t see and that the conversations we do see are heavily edited. It was clear during the shit sandwich game that they were choosing which h conversations to air and that there was plenty we didn’t see. I am sure players must be having proper chats but they are just not being aired.

This year in particular it seems like the show is intent on being full of twists and drama so I think it is choosing to air the conversations around catfish hunting/ forming alliances etc over the more general conversations. Most of the games and twists have been engineered to stir up bad feeling and negativity, for example by having users be anonymous or forcing players to criticise other players.

I also think this is the first series which was filmed months in advance rather than just a day or two ahead so I guess that knowing how the entire game will play out the producers have been able to have the show edited with specific narratives in mind. They know in advance which characters are going to be influencers or in the bottom and which alliances will be broken etc so they can focus more on the players and conversations leading up to blockings even several episodes ahead. I think that this is why the show feels less fulfilling than past series’, because all of the conversations which allow us to get to know players and give the show some heart have essentially been stripped away in favour of twists, conversations and games which hint at or directly cause drama.

I like Manrika. Yes she’s playing a game but she’s very watchable.

I Can’t remember now but did she become anti Gemma when she thought Gemma was making a play forFelix?

Im a bit worried about Vithun. Is he engaging with any of them? Andy commented about him going quiet.
And he just sits on his sofa - plotting like an evil genius or insecure- I can’t decide.

Vithun talked about being badly bullied in an early episode so I think he does struggle a bit. Having said that, I get the impression that he's just over it and can't really be bothered anymore.

Am on the final episode of series 1 and the number of times people are, "playing it straight" is bothering me. It's not a phrase I have ever heard anyone say and yet at least two players have used it in The Circle. Wondering whether they've been encouraged to for extra twists and ratings. Makes me feel really icky.

[quote BillyIsMyBunny]@OysterMonkey - just spent far too long pressing the x in the top left of your photo trying to hide the bulge before realising the x was part of the screenshot and there was another on the right![/quote]
Ah if only you were in an office with your manager appearing beside you frantically clicking that x

Why does the fact they’re playing it straight make you feel icky, @bitheby?

@Rummikub

I like Manrika. Yes she’s playing a game but she’s very watchable.

I Can’t remember now but did she become anti Gemma when she thought Gemma was making a play forFelix?

Im a bit worried about Vithun. Is he engaging with any of them? Andy commented about him going quiet.
And he just sits on his sofa - plotting like an evil genius or insecure- I can’t decide.

She was gunning for Gemma before Felix arrived (something about being alpha female role), but Gemma was definitely the reason she threw her stamp on to Felix early.

@SummerSun21

Why does the fact they’re playing it straight make you feel icky, *@bitheby*?

It has the feel of a producer thinking they're being edgy when they're actually being homophobic.

It's because it has a catchy name and it's been overtly said twice. None of the people playing a different age, sex or race have had a catchy 'let's see if we can circumvent the inherent prejudice in society' title for it.

@TitsInAbsentia
That makes sense

I still like her
And I did dislike Gemma from the start- not sure why- just something yukky about him.