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There have always been “Reality” staples in our television lexicon since television was born. From “Jeopardy” to “Survivor” we have always been fascinated with real life people competing for cash and prizes. Its funny how we accept Reality competitions but not necessarily accepting of people focused Reality shows like “The Kardashians” or The Real Housewives franchises, etc. Yet, these entertainment shows are rooted in our everyday lives.
Source: Netflix Youtube Channel
I am a big fan of cooking shows and competition shows. The latest show that I have been fascinated by is “The Circle.” The Circle, the US version, is hosted by the incredibly talented Michelle Buteau and it is a competition show where the players either play as themselves or someone else. It is a combination of Catfish and Big Brother but with a social media twist. In this show, it is a social experiment where people can do and say anything to win the prize of 100,000.
The big twist is that the contestants use profile pictures, and it may be of themselves or someone else, no one knows until the finale. Like with all the other competition shows alliances and deals are formed and broken. It's fascinating to watch. The competitors all have great personalities and back stories that make you root for them and eventually choose who the villain of the show is but that can change episode to episode.
The contestants rank each other based on the relationships that were formed during what we assume is a week and choose the top 2 people who will be the Influencers and they are the ones to decide who is voted off. The Circle, which is a social media app throws in surprises like choosing someone to be the Joker or a special Influencer, these twists can change the game. It's not all social media posts, the contestants all must play games that the circle gives them which may dictate if they are a stay safe for the week or earn a special treat.
The finale is the final five people who have gone through all the false information and alliances to persevere to the end. The contestants rank each other for the last time before it is revealed to see which of them are real and which one of them are Catfish. They then join the host and all the past contestants who were voted out and discuss what happened during the game and then the winner is revealed.
What I enjoy about this show is that it is an out of the box competition show where the contestants cannot leave their hotel room and from that small space still work hard on the competitions and their social media game. This show is so good that every elimination is felt as well as the wins. If you have Netflix this is the show to binge watch.
The 2nd season of the circle is currently streaming on Netflix!
What good competition shows are you watching? Let’s talk about it!