WARNING: Contains spoilers.
Have you heard about Netflix's new reality show called The Circle? I have — over and over and over again. And I don't like to be out of the loop, so I decided to give it a watch and share my thoughts along the way with all of you fine people.
Here's how Netflix describes the series:
The show starts with the host explaining the game you're about to watch. Here's the rundown:
The first contestant we meet is a very upbeat, witty dude with a beautiful-ass name, Chris. He seems like a really genuine, fun individual!
Next up is Joey. He speaks with an outdoor voice and seems like he may've missed his calling on Jersey Shore.
Within two minutes, Joey called himself "fuckin' awesome," screamed "yeah buddy" like 22 times, and compared himself to a young Robert De Niro. Legendary? Exhausting? A little bit of both?
Next up is a 25-year-old model named Alana. She seems bubbly and nice.
We meet a silly guy named Seaburn who is going to be playing under a fake profile as a gal named Rebecca. An interesting choice since he seems like he has an outgoing personality and could hold his own as himself?
We see the first four contestants setting up their respective profiles, choosing between a variety of photos of themselves, entering a relationship status, and putting whatever fun little blurb in the "Tell us about yourself..." section.
We begin meeting the other contestants. First up is Shubham, who is immediately my favorite. Just seems like a really cool, solid dude. He didn't scream "yeah buddy" — not even once.
OK, I've got to say, WHOEVER EDITS THIS SHOW IS PHENOMENAL. Seriously, they hit you with all of the fancy, funky visuals. There's constantly something popping up or moving, and my two-second attention span appreciates the engagement. Give the editors all of the raises.
Next is Samantha. She seems pretty dope and says she might utilize flirtation as a means of winning the game, which could be quality TV.
We meet Antonio. He's a professional basketball player. He's in a relationship, but says he's also going to utilize flirting in this game because his girlfriend approved.
We meet Karyn, another person who seems very sweet and cool. BUT, Karyn isn't going to play as herself...
...she's catfishing as somebody named Mercedeze.
Once everyone has created their profiles, they get a notification that they're going to be ranking their favorite profiles and the most popular people will be given ~special powers~.
They start looking at each other's profiles to get to ranking. Alana draws some "mehs" from the other competitors, for everything from being a full-time model to opening with the phrase, "Tacos all day every day."
Antonio is a fan of Shubham, as am I. Unfortunately for Shubham, Samantha thinks he might be a catfish.
Everyone is pretty nice about each other's respective profiles — except for Joey, who has this weirdly hostile response to Antonio's profile for some unknown reason:
Next, all eight contestants get to interact for the first time in a group chat. It's just your basic icebreaker conversation. Nothing too noteworthy happens, but it's interesting to watch people put a lot of thought into what they say, just as one does when they communicate over text or email or any other impersonal method IRL.
Alana starts a group chat with just the women and she labels the group, "Skinny Queens." Samantha sees this and is like:
We see some of them interacting over chat in private conversations. Shubham and Rebecca even talk about forming an alliance together!
The next day, there's a little icebreaker game where they get to vote on things like if it's OK to pee in the shower, if money can buy happiness, and if it's fine to message someone a naked pic.
Joey slides into Alana's DMs. He takes his shirt off to do this, for some reason.
FINALLY, the result of the ratings are going to be revealed. I'm clearly very into this show, because I was fully entertained and totally forgot that this very important aspect of the competition had yet to be shared.
They did my boy Shubham dirty! He's rated last (rude), and Karyn (who is playing as Mercedez) is next to last.
The two most popular contestants are Samantha and Antonio. They're now going to be the "Influencers," which forces them to decide which player will be "blocked," aka eliminated from the game.
Samantha and Antonio go to private rooms and discuss who to block. They agree to protect each other moving forward, then they reveal their decision...
Alana is voted out because they don't believe she's who she says she is. I WAS NOT expecting that, but as long as Shubham is good, I have no complaints.
PLOT TWIST: They're all told that Alana is going to meet one player in person before she bounces. And that's it, you don't find out who she meets until the next episode.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
