“Welcome to The Circle”

Hosted by Maya Jama and Alice Levine, The Circle, on Channel 4, new to the world of reality telly, shows the nation eight players interacting with each other through a voice-activated messenger device. We’ve seen them chat, flirt, and bully their way through the week to get that bit closer to the finish line – and 50k. What could go wrong?

In the beginning, we had; Mitchell, who had his eye on Aiden, Genelle, with the hidden secret, and Dan, with his pet turtle, Fiji. Also, Kate, trying to keep her identity as real as possible, Jennifer, who barely spoke, Sian, who loved the drama, and the same with Freddie, tbh. Now, we have psychic Ryan, equestrian Mairead, and Scotty with the tats added into the equation. These identities walked into their new home, not knowing what to expect AT ALL. One day they’re having a slumber party for one, and the next day discussing Nigel Farage and Brexit – by discussing, I mean shouting at their TV screen. Tbh, when isn’t Freddie shouting ‘no no noooooooo’. The weird thing that I can’t get my head around is you’re on your own for a scarily long time, and we’ve seen how much of a shock it is when you meet someone you’ve been talking to 24/7 for the first time. You know them, but then again, you don’t.

When you get blocked, you get to visit one player before you’re sent home. You may want to confront a player who caused you to be the least popular. Yay Hannah! She took this opportunity to literally scream and have a go at Scotty: ‘You are the reason I’ve got to go.’ Go on girl. Or, you might want to meet that close friend you’ve been getting to know, but then you actually see the Catfish behind the screen, like Aiden did. We were all waiting for that reaction.

Isn’t it just a new Big Brother? Not quite.

In a way, this gameshow is just a demonstration of how teenagers and young people are now. Less people are meeting people for the first time in person, now it’s about likes, being easy to get hold of online, and even meeting people on social media.

To win, you have to be the most popular, but, that doesn’t mean you have to be you. In this game, you choose your own identity, which could be anyone. Some are planning on winging it til they make it, some have a game plan to get to the end, but when they are faced with challenges and ratings, it’s hard to tell who’s going to be in the firing line.

Roll on series 2.