The Circle - who’s watching?

[Standrewsschool]

The first three are wannabes.

Hunter - trying to revive his career.

I’ve answered my own question... it was filmed in September!

[quote TakeYourFinalPosition]@bonfireheart Manrika is probably the most famous of them all - she’s got circa 320k followers on TikTok, I believe.

This series feels a bit strained already. I’m not sure if it’s the change in format to make it more Covid friendly; or the twists, which have made it a bit more Big Brother?

The chats seem short and stunted, and I just don’t love any of the people.[/quote]
What extra measures have they took because of covid? I thought it was already quite covid secure 😅

I just don’t love any of the people.
This.

Glad the Tally-war is over! I have gone off Manrika though, she just wasn't shown very well last night. I think my favourite girl is fake Gemma atm, the #geezerbird thing just isn't me. I have warmed to Vithun, having seen how vulnerable he really is - he seemed too smug and calculating before- but it also makes me wonder if he should be there in the first place. He seems too fragile and he's all alone in there on national tv.

I am not loving the newbies and I think they're both such obvious catfish! I didn't
warm to the guy playing Dorothy and his character is already getting them suspicious. The "I used to work for the MoD" line especially sticks out to me as fake. I know it's true of the real Dot but it is sooo convenient- security and official secrets etc mean it is easy to make people think you can't talk- retired civil servant would be a better opener. Might be because I AM a MoD Civil Servant though! It will be interesting to see how he plays that without looking too contrived if anyone asks further, especially if Felix/Natalya decides to chat about it because she's actually catfishing pretty close to home as a Para, talks the talk for real and has a good cover for it, too.

I think Natalya is less likely to be caught out imitating a bloke (I work with soldiers, it does rub off) but the fact Felix is a Paratrooper might actually make the guy a bit too much. I know the mate she's imitating actually is a Para but it's quite high profile as a regiment compared to just being in the REME or something and I'd be a bit suspicious of him being too good to be true. It would be hard to catch her out on her military knowledge but that profile IRL on OLD would have me wary he was a conman, much as I love a man in uniform.

I really thought the two Tally’s meeting was going to be explosive, but OG Tally took it all surprisingly well and Yolanda was gracious in defeat. I’m glad that’s over as it was not nice seeing the real Tally getting so worked up about it all!

I agree with pp above, there is nobody I really love but I’ll keep watching and hoping it gets more interesting!

At the moment Andy is my favourite as he seems like a good all round bloke. I’d really like a girl to win but I’m not keen on either of the genuine girls. I don’t like all the geezerbird stuff and Tally is way too hyper and taking it all a bit too seriously. I quite like Gemma, but I know that’s not a popular opinion on here, plus she’s a catfish! I hope Vithen does well as he’s nice but at the moment I don’t feel he’s adding much to the show. I like Syed but I think he’ll be caught out soon. They might keep him in though even if he is caught out just to have a bit of personality around! I like Billy but he’s not up to much. And the two new catfish, well, I’ll give them a chance to make an impression as they’ve only been in there 5 mins.

I wish there were more genuine, likeable, interesting and fun people in there. It’s all just a bit bland at the moment and if I hadn’t enjoyed the previous series so much I don’t think I’d be bothering. Maybe that’s the problem though, I enjoyed the previous series a bit too much and this isn’t measuring up so far!

I enjoyed last night, though it's clear a good deal of the TwoTally meeting was edited out.

It's true there are (or appear to be) far fewer genuinely interesting personalities in this series. And Manrika was hamming it up vomitously yesterday. Loud voices and innuendo don't constitute character.

I fell asleep wondering if any of the octogenarians I know would be up for this. Suspect it would come down to whether one wanted to be on TV or not - I don't see that technological knowledge need be a bar, as the Circle platform is voice activated.

I was also expecting a Tally-ho down show down; I was relieved it went ok! Both were gracious. I hope we see more of Billy soon, he seems really sweet and funny and a bit underused in the last couple of episodes. He and Andy are both really nice.

Fake or not Gemma just seems the nicest girl at the moment- she's the person I'd be most like and who I'd be trying to ally with if I was in there. She is my age but Tally and Manrika are both younger with different interests and clicked more easily. I think Manrika has taken a dislike to Gemma- some arch comments. James could try & make Gemma interact with the girls as a group in general more, too- I don't think they'll reach out to her otherwise.

Catfish or not, James is being reasonably friendly and inoffensive and kept Gemma's flirting with Felix quite tame. Manrika was really full on!

I have never watched the Circle before the celebrity version earlier this year and now this one. I absolutely love it! (Old Big Brother fab here!😉)
I have read a few comments on this thread about people not enjoying it as much as previous serious. Can I ask what’s different? I’m intrigued!

Fan *
Series **

@Mixedupmuddle I guess what’s essentially different is the mix of contestants and how aware they are of the game and how to play it, due to having seen it played out before. The first series was a lot less polished and it was brand new so nobody really knew what to expect and the contestants seemed more like your everyday people. The second series was more polished and there were more gimmicks and twists creeping in, but in my opinion they struck gold with a mix of very likeable and interesting contestants.

I only started with The Celeb circle, then binged series 2. (Didn’t bother with series 1 as they kept saying on the intro to the celeb one who’d won series 1).
And I totally get what you mean @Tianatiers re them striking gold with the series 2 contestants. So far this lot just don’t have the same je ne sais quoi.
I also get what PPs have said about it becoming more ‘Big Brotherfied’ with twists etc .... which does detract from the show itself.

I binged the whole of series 2 over the weekend. Then had a look at Tim on Instagram and he said he was headhunted for the show. So I wonder how many of them do apply and how many get recruited by Channel 4.

I like Vithun in this series. My favourites were Woody, Ella and Tim last time.

@bitheby that's the same with Gogglebox, you can't apply to be on gogglebox, they find the people themselves.

That’s really interesting. Re Tim, and the Gogglebox participants.

No live shows is a Covid measure and a huge relief. I hated the live shows. So screechy and cringey.

Hi, I'm a bit late to the party but here's my twopennyworth

I could not warm to the 'Penny' couple at all; Penny was one dimensional and not believable.

I suppose there must be adults who still refer to their parents and "mummy and daddy" and are very touchy-feely but it looked weird (to me).

The Tally clone business was stressful to watch, I didn't like seeing Tally's distress at being cloned and Yolanda was wrong not to have admitted the truth to her when they first had a private chat. Game or no game, it was wrong.

My mum is 84 and there is not a chance in hell she would even watch this programme let alone consider applying to go on. I don't think 'Nan' will be lasting long.

I agree that Natalya would have been great playing as herself, but I think she will do well in The Circle.

The 10pm schedule is really too late for me, so I tend to watch it on catch up the next day. Wish it was on at 9.

Watching yesterday's first impression of Scott is dickhead

Natalya/felix seems sound

I wonder whether the producers have a say in who each catfish is... "so we have vithun and syed, both young Asian males, hmm let's ask one to be an old man to spread out the demographics.. there's no older women let's encourage one of them to do that..."
I also think it's interesting that when contestants leave they all go to see different. What if last year everyone wanted to go see Tim?

And I really want to know whether production team encourage the whole "hunt down the catfish"?

@MarchXX agree, 10pm is too late to hear all that screeching lol. I actually watched episode 4 in the background today whilst organising a work event lol.

@bitheby

No live shows is a Covid measure and a huge relief. I hated the live shows. So screechy and cringey.

I’m in complete agreement with this. When I was binging series 2 I detested the screechy, clapping-every-5-minutes live shows. Very glad that won’t be happening. Totally irritating.

Also I only know Emma Willis from the midwife programme and she seemed such a Ladette in the live shows. I kept cringing at her down with the kids accent.

I've just started watching the US version and I think it's a real shame that of the two series I've watched with lesbians in, they've both chosen to play a straight girl. That's so bloody depressing.

Still watching from last night and can see what people mean about being catfish focused and im warming up to Vithun after his VT but agree I think he may be a bit vulnerable to be on here but I like him and Andy but don't like Andy bringing up his bowel so much. Natalya seems sound bit weird seeing hers and "Gemma" 's flirting.

Favs at the moment are Vithun, Andy, Natalya, and I forget "Gemma" real name, Hashu(?) If he were playing as himself

Tally and Manrika 👎

Natalya is gorgeous and intelligent so she gets my vote! I'm surprisingly quite liking 'Gemma'. The new bloke is going to be a bit OTT I think. I hope he calms down.