Sammie Cimarelli never expected all the attention and adulation she has gotten after her appearance on The Circle. Not only did she come in third in the hottest new reality show of 2020; she also won fan favorite, a significant accolade considering the stellar cast that she was up against.

This week, Sammie dished to Screen Rant about what she thought she was getting into when she signed up for The Circle, when she plans to throw down in Miami with her cast - hint, very soon - and what her experience on the show taught her about herself.

Screen Rant: Sammie! How has life been since The Circle premiered? 

Sammie Cimarelli: It's been really crazy, honestly. It was kind of tough at first, trying to juggle work and school and then getting all the recognition from the show, but it's kind of calmed down a little bit and now it's just adjusting and figuring out what I want to do next. I am still in school, so I definitely want to finish my master's program first. But I also want to do other things to prepare for when I'm done with my master's, to dig deeper into fashion and makeup.

Did you expect this many people to be talking about The Circle?

To be honest, I didn't even think - not that I thought it was going to fail. I didn't think it was going to flop. I had a lot of trust in Netflix and the show in general - but I never even imagined in a million years that it would bring me the platform that I have now and the opportunities that I have now. The things that are being presented to me. It's absolutely mind-blowing. After the show filmed, during the month that we had to keep it quiet and not talk about it, I didn't think about or prepare myself for what was really going to happen when the show ends.

Related: The Circle's Chris Sapphire Is As Real As it Gets

You didn't win the game, but you did win fan favorite. What was that like?

It was such a surreal moment because I had already seen so much recognition and my platform had grown by hundreds of thousands of people. And so, part of me was like, OK, I'm sure people are voting, but you never really know. Other cast members were getting the same amount of recognition as I was. So I was scared. When [host] Michelle [Buteau] said it, I kinda froze for a second and didn't even know how to react. I was so happy, but I was so unemotional at the same exact time.

You definitely deserved it, but almost anyone could have won that award. It was such a strong cast.

I didn't have any expectations going into the show...Watching the show afterwards and watching it be out and seen really how diverse it was, not just the way that we looked, but the way that we lived our lives. Our stories. The way we were raised, where we come from, just our different life paths. I think they did a really good job at casting.

Did you ever think about presenting yourself as someone else?

I've never thought about being a catfish. I didn't even know going into the game that that was an option because I had never seen the MTV version, so I had never thought about it. But, I don't know, I would be an older woman if I was going to catfish.

You had your suspicions that Rebecca was a catfish, but you didn't ultimately call her out for it. Why not?

Throughout the whole entire time, there were other conversations that had gone on where there were suspicions of Rebecca. And then, Shubham had been an influencer multiple times and that was his biggest ally besides Joey. So, me coming in after his biggest ally, that would have been a terrible move on my end.

Throughout the game, and especially at the end, there wasn't much strategy involved in the ratings. Why do you think that was the case?

When we were in the game, Shubham was very genuine. Joey was very genuine. Everybody seemed very genuine. Again, you don't really know, but coming out of the show and seeing how genuine everyone really is in real life, the way we were on The Circle is the way we were in real life. It wasn't an act. It wasn't fake, so it doesn't surprise me that every single one of us went off who we built a connection with, who we genuinely felt deserved it. And that makes me happy that we all did that collectively. I don't think one of us talked about using strategy...These people had my back and I wouldn't have felt right not putting them where they belonged.

Had you all made a strategic move at the last ratings, Ed might be walking away the winner.

Yeah, I would've been so mad.

Related: Why [SPOILER] Deserved to Win

Tell me more about that final dinner.

It was a really cool moment because I had wanted that moment since day one. I had been wanting to meet them so bad and finally getting to meet them is like I was meeting them for the first time all over again. It's something that I've never honestly experienced before. I don't even have any words for it. I was just extremely, extremely happy.

Have you gotten together with your cast since the show ended?

The majority of cast members are coming to Miami the first week of February, so everyone should go look out for that.

Did you think about being on any reality shows before The Circle? Have you thought of doing any since?

I've never thought about being on a reality television show to be completely honest with you. When I was filming the show, I never thought that it was a reality television show. I never knew the category of show that it fell into. I called it a game show. Like, I told my family, I'm going on a game show. I had no idea I ever wanted to be on one. I felt like this was a reality television show, but not a real one; like a show where it's physically competitive, but part of me is like, I don't want people to see the worst in me. I feel like those shows bring out the worst in people and The Circle has brought out the best in me, so I don't think I would want to go against that.

If you could change one thing about The Circle going into season two, what would it be?

Let the cast members keep the stuff that they get. We weren't allowed to keep our jackets. We weren't allowed to keep anything, nothing. We weren't allowed to light candles. They need to change that. As for the show itself, I like the way that they did the show. I wouldn't change it.

What is the biggest lesson that you learned about yourself from your time on The Circle?

I learned not to speak everything that comes to my head. I need to process my thoughts and my emotions on an every-minute basis...Not just say everything and blurt out everything that comes into my head. I have to compartmentalize the most important thing that I'm trying to get across and get it across.

Next: The Circle: How Netflix Can Make Improvements in Season 2

This interview has been edited for clarity.