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The Circle - Series 2

Would would you prefer on Aussie TV next year?

  • The Circle Australia

    Votes: 8 42.1%
  • Big Brother Australia

    Votes: 11 57.9%

  • Total voters
    19
This at least is an antidote to the very weak choice of Woody with the previous elimination. That was actually handed to him on a plate, and with detective edit he got, but he took a way out that he thought would just keep him popular.
You dismiss the possibility that he just doesn't have it in him to be strategic and prefers to play it the way he genuinely is. You would rather reward game play and deception.
 
You dismiss the possibility that he just doesn't have it in him to be strategic and prefers to play it the way he genuinely is. You would rather reward game play and deception.

He's from a rich family (and with famous parents), so may not be worried about the money. Plus he's in a safe spot, he won a public vote as well which he could tell others about but is keeping quiet? I think all of them have tried to make alliances anyway, but you can't expect those not part of your alliance to just roll over. Part of his recent strategy has probably been to play up this detective role, but later catfish put into this show are always weak, so finding them out is like taking candy from a baby really. All of them are a mix of being themselves and playing things up to gain favour.
 
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Tim is a snake for sure, didn't take long for him to snake his way around his word in the episode just ended. My problem as well is he talks like he has never played the game, similar to Woody actually. Ella is probably more honest.
 
Yet to watch the latest episode but I am living for COT! I am beyond bored with Tim, Ella and Woody and will find a win by either of them quite anticlimactic after the last couple weeks.

I am all for what James is attempting to do at the moment, and if he can pull this off I will go as far as saying he's been one of my all-time favourite reality TV contestants. His game-playing, especially as a catfish, has been spot on this season and it's likely he's going to make it to the end now regardless.

Either way, COT is making for some great entertainment - something that isn't just lighthearted banter and comedy, which imo is all we ever get between Tim, Ella and Woody. I was even a little sad to see Jack and Beth go, because at least their presence added some flare to the show.

So interested to see how the latest elimination goes...
 
Are players allowed to openly discuss how they're going to rate each other? Because if two players on "one side" both rate the other players on their side in the same positions for 1st and 2nd, the way the math works out it would significantly increase the chances of those two being the influencers.

If not, there's still a 50% chance it will happen by fluke anyway.
 
Can't stand Sammie/James at all now, what a nasty piece of work.
I don't think so, at all. Being a strategic game player is all s/he is doing, which is precisely what they all should be doing imo. I don't see it as nasty, I see it as clever and tactical.

The downfall, however, was letting Tim call the shots in that elimination round yet again. I'm disappointed with how it went, purely because I think it was a very dangerous move on James' behalf to have let eliminating Ella slip through his fingers like that. As proven, it is now only going to strengthen Tim's moves going forward and, especially after the "Isn't it funny..." game, they're pretty much all realising that there's now a divide between players.

The end result can honestly go either way and, to be honest, with only two days to go I'm feeling a little worried for James and COT.
 
I wonder how the COT will feel when they discover their "leader" is actually a bloke!

It shouldn't matter that much really, it's about having an alliance and people you get along with. That's why the obsession on the other side about catfish is so silly, it's like they are just playing up to what they think the audience want rather than playing the game among the whole cast.

Sammie's only other choice was to beg to be taken to the end as an original, that's what largely happened last year. But in this case Ella has more of a foothold, particularly with Woody, and Tim won't upset him (he even seemed to think he could consult him during the influencer chat, I wonder if the producers were flouting their own rules there).

I don't think they can discuss specific ratings. Alex from last year said that.

There is still a great deal of ambiguity over what happens if there isn't an agreement over who is eliminated, I don't think this is right for the game. The producers can just make up what the rule is to suit whatever result they want.

They have been playing a storyline out as well with all the music and the narrator's biased remarks. It seems a strange thing to do in a reality show which isn't even prefilmed. Many of the audience of course will follow that as it's telling them who to support and may make them think the result is obvious in advance.. I prefer more real reality shows anyway, pantomimes just mean you aren't supposed to think. It also just reinforces the anti-gameplay mentality, which those like Tim and Woody exploit (though hypocritically as they are playing a game).
 
The Circle of Trust has made this game interesting and all it's participants far more interesting as a result, and far more respectable IMO. People who moan about them "gameplaying" etc. are basically morons - it's a game show FFS.


However, "Sammie" especially has made a couple of key mistakes. Firstly they left it too late and didn't give themselves enough time to do the groundwork - he should have been working on Tim (and more than from the #GrandpaTim angle) earlier to get his thoughts on Ella across.

Secondly he completely screwed up the influencer chat by just going in too hard and seemingly too out of character. If he'd gone in on Woody for upsetting him during the game and said to Tim what he'd set to us as viewers at the time (even though I think it was a complete overreaction) then Sammie would have come across as a far more emotional than strategic player, and that is what Tim seemingly responds to better. Then having put Woody's name in the frame but seemingly agreed with Tim to save him he could have gone for the attack on Ella, but again he should have played it emotionally rather than strategically. One of them said Tim was naive in the game last night - the only thing naive about Tim is people thinking he is naive. The way he broke it to Woody was brilliant - saying everything while saying nothing. I think Sammie's chances of being an influencer again are slim.

The Circle of Trust need to pile their votes on to Woody - he is surely the easiest of those three to manipulate. If you're truly being strategic rank Tim last - even if that means Ella becoming an influencer she is probably rational enough to see the threat Tim is and I think would be open to blocking him.


P.S. Don't tackle work emails whilst watching The Circle. So very nearly ended an email to a client "Love you hun xx" whilst getting a bit too engrossed in the messaging last night.
 
So much I want to say about the penultimate episode, but so much I'll hold back on as I really don't want to spoil it for any of you. Let's just say it was interesting, and that's before one of the players sat in a freezer.
 
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Definitely heated up over the last couple of episodes.

Loyalty, that's what I get out of this. And to start this alliance so late and yet still trust. Would have preferred Woody to go but Tim saved him. Tim has got his way most of the time, so it needed a twist here. Sammie still an underdog, if he can't win I'd be ok with Georgina because she did stand her ground when needed at the end. I don't want Tim winning as he's not really been totally honest about the game to me, he wouldn't own the deviousness. Woody has just been too boring. Paddy winning would be hilarious. But reality shows aren't just about who wins anyway. With Sammie - being a catfish is tough, and I think it was tougher in this series than the last, people were more questioning.
 
The comments are Twitter are funny. People are outraged that there is gameplaying on a game show. 😂

This is far more interesting than everyone licking ass like we always saw at the end of Big Brother.
 
I hope with the final meeting tonight they actually put Sammie in first rather than last so everyone who arrives (well, up until the final person) has to figure out exactly who James is. If they leave him till the end it would be rather predictable - put him in first and they'll get 4 reations rather than 1.

I definately want Georgina to win, but apart from Paddy wouldn't begrudge any of the others. Sammie might have more respect for her game if she'd been a bit more ruthless throughout, but absolutely made the right move in the last week. And even though I'm very much in the gameplay club I don't begrudge seeing essentially kind decent people rewarded. Tim or Woody will win the public vote element for sure I'd have thought, but I don't think they'll win the players vote.
 
I was thinking about the order. Could start with Georgina - then Sammie - then Tim - then Woody - then Paddy.

People were talking about Georgina like she was some paragon of virtue after the quiet piano music some days back. I don't feel I know these people fully, so rewarding people on being decent based on a few hours edited footage in a very unusual environment doesn't really work for me. Woody's parents have plenty of followers and his mother's on the radio so most expect he'll get the phone vote. Tim was very ruthless this series but managed keep up a front that he wasn't playing the game. Personally I don't want Tim to win either prize, he's been good value but disingenuous, showing his politician tendencies. Calling someone a monster just because they dare challenge him seems quite weak, he really thought he had the whole game under control.
 
So for someone like myself that didn't watch the show last year, how does the finale even work? How do they determine the winner? Is it just rating each other or does something else come into play?
 
There are two prizes - one voted on for the players in the final ratings (this year £70k, up from £50k last year). A second is voted for by the viewers - not sure if it's a straight vote for a winner or if we also rank the players, and that is £30k, up from £25k last year.

The main feature though is a face to face last supper when everyone finally meets the people behind the profiles. It was memorable last year and should be again this year thanks to a spot of catfishing (where does that phrase come from BTW?)

I really didn't see much of the first series - just a couple of eps and the final, so will be watching it over the next couple of weeks.
 
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The result is by rating each other, they'll probably bring them in one by one 'live' into the studio. I think they did the interviews first and then announced the results at the end. The public vote (just a straight vote for fan favourite basically) revealed last right after the main winner is announced.

Of course before all this is arguably the bigger moment, and what was the big moment of last year. Nothing to do with who wins, just them finally meeting each other and discovering who they all are. In this case only one is really not what they said, so the other meetings aren't that interesting arguably.
 
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