The circle - final week

[jay55]

New thread, if we can stay awake to find out what happens...

I feel for Manrika, she can't really speak out about what Natalya did, with the targeted relationship catfishing, without people accusing her of having sour grapes for not winning.

@LaganinaBubble

I screamed out loud with joy when Natalya won, u think it was as big a shock to her as to everyone else. I was a nervous wreck waiting for Natalya to enter the party - was seriously worried about how Manrika world react!

At the end when they were all saying who they rated where, Manrika was the only one to say it only I'd rated Felix lower I'd have won. I think more than anything she is raging that she basically handed Felix the win. She voted tactically at the end and completely underestimated Felix’s popularity, she assumed Andy or Syed would be her only real rivals.

She didn’t under estimate felixs popularity she only won because pippa and femi voted tactically and put her at the top to try to knock syed manrika and Andy down. Natalya didn’t win because she was the most popular, Natalya won because Tom tried to knock the others down.

But that's exactly what Manrika was doing to other players. She persistently went after Gemma until she got rid, then after Andy trying to poison his relationships, she only backed off Andy a little once she lost allies and needed to rethink her strategy.

Manrika was very quick to draw new players in and position them in relation to her, quickly establishing them as her circle "uncle", circle "bro", circle "boyfriend". In doing so she was ensuring their loyalty, you'd have to be a right bastard to vote against your circle "niece", "sis" or "girflriend". And sending a message to the other players that she's well connected. When Felix started flirting with her she pounced on it, it was part of her game plan as well, and said as much. Then it went too far but realistically how could've Felix backed out of it without incurring her vengeance? They both played tactically and then were trapped in it.

This is not real life where a girl was used by a scammer on the internet, it's a competition where players enter supposedly on equal footing and have the power to stop each other from winning the prize.

If Manrika had voted completely tactically she would have put Tom at the top and Andy or Syed at the bottom. She voted 1:Felix, 2:Andy, 3:Syed, 4:Tom. I think it was hard for all of the OGs to rank each other 1-3 as they all had relationships but the voting wasn’t as tactical as in S2 where players were putting players they had no relationship with at #1 because they thought everyone else would put them low.

I don't know if Manrika fell for Felix but she def wanted him to be real - girl falls for handsome soldier on reality show, she probably had their social media influencer journey planned out, newspaper interviews TV and a wedding in hello!

Manrika wouldn't have won if she'd rated Felix lower. Manrika couldn't put herself top so wouldn't have got too number one places. If she'd voted Andy top he'd have had the same points and 2 first places so would have won, ditto Syed. To win she'd have had to give top place to Tom

Someone worked out all the different voting combinations on twitter and basically it all hinges on who Tom voted first. The OG all voting each other 1-3 (Well except Syed who voted Felix 4!)

I do feel sorry for Manrika but not enough to be sorry felix won.

I assume they didn’t have food at the dinner party because there was a strong chance Manrika might throw some! Petulant narcissist.

I wanted Andy to win but in the end am Ok with a clever catfish winning, given the game they are on. You could see Natalya found it hard to do it at times but she’s sensible enough to understand that was what was expected of her.

I agree, I thought this was the least tactical final voting so far.

@bonfireheart

I don't know if Manrika fell for Felix but she def wanted him to be real - girl falls for handsome soldier on reality show, she probably had their social media influencer journey planned out, newspaper interviews TV and a wedding in hello!

Oh no! This is probably the saddest thing I'll read on MN all day.

Just listened to the final podcast episode and interview with Felix made me like her even more.

Joey and Pippa said on Instagram live last night that they voted Felix top because after they got voted off, he was the kindest about them while they were lurking watching the chat.

The reality is though that if Manrika had not voted Felix 1st but had put either Syed or Andy first then they would have won too on draw/number of firsts basis.

I didn't mind who won out of Andy, Syed or Natalya as I think they were all nice people. I have to say Syed's crush on Manrika (since seeing her picture on day 1) had become more tedious by the end. It was clear (as he said) at the dinner that girls like Manrika don't look at him as her body language made it pretty obvious she was not interested at all .

Ah gutted fir Syed but pleased it wasn’t Manrika. I think she did well to recover from Felix being Natalia though.

Manrika must have just felt utterly humiliated. So hard to have to process that with an audience.

I'm so confused at all the comments saying how happy they are that Felix won. Natalya was more manipulative than Manrika.

And the voting system is ridiculous. There's no way that a player can "deservedly" win (regardless of your definition of deserving), when it's the competitors who are voting 🤦🏼‍♀️

Natalya's final votes were the only ones that I felt were in the correct order of loyalty. All the others had an anomaly.

Better a loyal catfish for the win than someone who threw her bestie under the bus. The Tally and triple threat backstabbing doesn't give Manrika room to complain about Felix in my book.

Well played Natalya!

Tbh I do think that Natalya had doubts but I really really believe that the producers had a hand in encouraging her and probably pushed her to do a lot of it whilst editing her doubts out.

I noticed that they had a screen in the dining room which announced which player was coming next. They've not done that before. I would have loved for Natalya to walk in without Manrika and Syed being told Felix is coming.

And in regards to Natalya apart from the Manrika storyline she was lovely to everyone else, she stayed loyal to Dot, Manrika and Andy like she said she would and didn't vote tactically.

Triple threat was definite gameplaying by Manrika but I am confused by everybody saying she got rid of Tally. Yes, she voted Tally low but Tally had previously had good positions. I don’t think Manrika could have predicted Tally would be at the bottom, others must have voted Tally low as well. And on top of that Manrika couldn’t have predicted that only the bottom two would have been up for elimination or that a single influencer would make the decision. If it had been a normal blocking then Tally being so low on the ratings wouldn’t have had the same importance or it’s likely Manrika would have been influencer and could have saved her. It was Andy who actually ended up blocking Tally so I don’t really see how that’s solely on Manrika - several other players must have voted her low.

It's not that Manrika 'got rid' of Tally but more that if she valued her she wouldn't risk her being bottom. She put her in last place, not half way down!

As soon as someone's popularity falls in the ratings it's harder for them to recover and she must have known it was risky. If Tally had rated her bottom what do you think her reaction would be?

She would have done the same to Andy too but had to do a quick u-turn when that plan went astray with Femi and Pippa being blocked.

Well she said she knew it was risky but it was clear she didn’t think tally would be at the bottom.

I think that Natalya made it all the way through, right from the start, due to manrika. Manrika consistently voted her at the top, and the other players suspected catfish and would habe got rid if it wasn’t for manrika and the relationship.

Manrika played a good game, an unpleasant one at times, but she had her head turned by “felix” from the start and it cost her. If she’d kept her wits about her and not completely fallen for it, there’s a good chance she would have won.

She also went to Andy and told him she was concerned Tally was turning against her under Gemma's influence. Then when Tally was in danger she voted for Andy to become an influencer knowing he didn't have a bond with Tally and also had the information she gave him. Previously when Andy and Manrika were influencers and discussing which player to block, he let her know he won't push for Tally because she was Manrika's mate. By telling him she was slipping out of her circle of trust and publicly voting for him to decide Tally's fate she effectively told him "she's fair game now".

I don't think it was premeditated, more opportunistic - I do believe she genuinely didn't expect Tally to be ranked so low or up for blocking. But she definitely didn't try very hard at all to keep Tally in the game. She probably thought it would weaken Gemma's influence and Gemma was very much her target back then.

Manrika didn’t want Tally being influencer as thought she’d get rid of Felix.

Agree that if Manrika had been cautious about Felix she would’ve won.

I’d love an aftermath show. Did Manrika apologise to Tally for not believing her about Felix?

Did Hashu gain any confidence around attractive women? I was astounded at how he was around manrika on the sofa with Emma- almost meek.