Have you ever wanted to make money just by sitting on the couch and using social media? Well, on The Circle, you can! The Circle (US version) is a competition reality show that premiered at the beginning of the year on Netflix, where players compete to see who can become the most popular and take home the hundred thousand dollar prize.
With any good reality competition, everyone is constantly kept on their toes as the roller coaster of a journey brings about twists and turns. It's hard to tell who gets more caught off guard by the surprises in the game - the players or the viewers! Here are ten things from the first season of The Circle that shocked us all:
Meeting One Player Before Departure
In the first episode, the audience and the players learn a lot about the social media platform, Circle, as well as how the show/competition works. They figure out that Circle is voice-activated, they learn that they will be rating players throughout the game, and they discover that influencers have the power to vote off or "block" one player. The first two players to become influencers are Sammie and Antonio, and they choose to block Alana. Players soon learn that Alana gets to meet one player before she leaves, and this fact surprises many players, including Sammie, who Alana chooses to meet.
Shubahm As Influencer
One of the best character developments of the series was definitely Shubham, who went from the underdog, who hated social media and knew nothing about it, to top dog, becoming an influencer a whopping four times in a row.
Shooby continuously ranked highly as he won first or second place in the ratings, and he was repeatedly surprised and excited to find himself at the top. The others were always proud of him, and he grew to become proud of himself as well. We knew you could do it, Shooby!
Saving Two Players
In episode 7, "Picking Teams," Joey is thrilled to become an influencer. He heads up to the hangout with Shubham and is so excited to see the sweet setup with food and drinks. Just when the boys are about to discuss who to block, everyone gets an alert announcing that they will not actually be having the blocking conversation. Instead, Shubham and Joey can each save two of the five at-risk players, leaving one player left to go home. Joey's excitement soon fades as he realizes that the decision making will not be going the way they are used to.
Sean's Reveal
Sean is a gorgeous plus-sized girl who came into the competition using her skinny friend's pictures instead of her own. She started to feel uncomfortable that while she was being truly genuine in who she was as a person, she was not being honest about what she looked like. She pulled a few players into a private chat to show them her true self, and after she was met with love and support, she decided to change her profile picture to her real images. We love a confident girl!
Double Block
After Bill gets the lowest rating score and gets blocked in episode 9, the players get another alert saying that the blocking is not over. Seaburn speaks the truth when he says, "There's always a twist!"
He and Shubham have to head to the hangout to pick a second person to block, and the rest of the players are stunned. Bill comments to his mother, "We came on a good night; we're seeing some action!" Maybe that's true, Bill, but those who had gotten to know the eliminated players were sad to see them go.
Alex's Reveal
Karyn, aka Mercedes, was the first catfish to go home, and a lot of people suspected beforehand that she wasn't being honest about who she was. Because of this, her reveal didn't come as much of a surprise to the other players. Alex, on the other hand, played a hunk called Adam, and he had everybody fooled. Nobody saw it coming when his elimination video was played at the end of episode 9, cluing everyone in on the truth to his identity. Well, almost nobody. Ed and his mom had their suspicions!
Super Influencer
In episode 10, "Declare Your Rival," ratings get completed as usual. However, as The Circle always includes, there is a twist added this time around, and the rating results are not published. Instead, the most popular player becomes a super influencer, and gets to block one player. Joey finds out that he is the super influencer, but nobody else knows. Instead of announcing who he plans to block, Joey has to go to the person's apartment who he wants to eliminate. Needless to say, he's not happy about this job!
Instant Block
Normally, influencers are decided by ratings, and then they have the power the block any other player that they would like. Twice, however, the influencers had no input on who was to get blocked. In episode 9, "Instant Block," players found out before the ratings were revealed that the lowest-rated person would be going home.
In episode 11, during the final ratings, the players rank each other to decide the winner of The Circle. Not long after the ratings get locked in, the lowest-rated player was instantly blocked.
Seaburn's Reveal
There were several players with secrets this season, and a few were not who they said they were. They got their chances to reveal themselves one by one after they were eliminated via a video message that they left for the remaining players. The best reveal, by far, was that of Seaburn, aka Rebecca. His reveal was done in person when the final five got together for a dinner. Not one person suspected Seaburn to be anybody other than Rebecca, and his game brother Shooby was the most shocked to meet his "sister" in person.
Joey's Win
We loved seeing everyone get together to catch up in the finale, and it was great to see some old faces return to say hi. When it was time to count down the final five, we all were holding our breaths. They started with fifth place and slowly worked their way to the last two contestants standing, Shubham and Joey. Shooby played a great game and won over everyone's hearts. Joey showed his loyalty and made some awesome alliances. In the end, only one player can win, and Joey took it home. Nobody was as surprised as he was!