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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
Made it to the end now - was a great first series and I'm a bit baffled I didn't watch it last year. The casting is as brilliant as the second, though some of the latecomers are obviously eviction fodder to protect the originals. Sian though should have owned her move more as though it wasn't mentioned she clearly made a move towards the end which ensured the final 4 was originals - had she gone with the obvious choice I don't think they would be.

Production wise there was a bit too much changing of how they blocked people, all announced after the ratings were done. That is something I think they improved on in the second series thanks to having a live show to announce such "twists". Also glad the changed it from 5 star ratings to a ranking system for the second series - not sure if it was confirmed subsequently but basically Dan chose the winner by being the only one not to rate tactically and give everyone 1/2 stars. They really should have stipulated that in the early rounds they to give each score (1-5) to at least one person, then for the final I think they should have said they had to award at least 7 stars to the three other finalists (so could score 5,1,1 or 3,2,2 for example).

Obviously we saw very little of the presenters in series 1 but I'm without doubt that either Alice or Maya should have been retained. Probably wasn't the need for both of them, but they worked well enough together for the final and IMO offered something different to Emma Willis, who though a safe pair of hands I just don't think they should have gone for someone so linked with Big Brother.
 
Been working my way through series 1 slowly but surely - a great watch, and really not much different in format to the second season with the casting just as strong. Someone said earlier Freddie gets less annoying as the season goes on - that is kind of true, and he has a couple of moments of self awareness which make him more likeable. I'm about 4 episodes from the end now and if I didn't know the outcome it certainly wouldn't be the outcome I'd be predicting.

I recently re-watched a portion of series 1 as with my housemate I got her hooked on series 2... She actually liked Freddie and found his forwardness and brutal honesty to be quite funny. She also watched knowing Alex/Kate was the winner and was left with a similar conclusion. The way

Made it to the end now - was a great first series and I'm a bit baffled I didn't watch it last year. The casting is as brilliant as the second, though some of the latecomers are obviously eviction fodder to protect the originals. Sian though should have owned her move more as though it wasn't mentioned she clearly made a move towards the end which ensured the final 4 was originals - had she gone with the obvious choice I don't think they would be.

Production wise there was a bit too much changing of how they blocked people, all announced after the ratings were done. That is something I think they improved on in the second series thanks to having a live show to announce such "twists". Also glad the changed it from 5 star ratings to a ranking system for the second series - not sure if it was confirmed subsequently but basically Dan chose the winner by being the only one not to rate tactically and give everyone 1/2 stars. They really should have stipulated that in the early rounds they to give each score (1-5) to at least one person, then for the final I think they should have said they had to award at least 7 stars to the three other finalists (so could score 5,1,1 or 3,2,2 for example).

Obviously we saw very little of the presenters in series 1 but I'm without doubt that either Alice or Maya should have been retained. Probably wasn't the need for both of them, but they worked well enough together for the final and IMO offered something different to Emma Willis, who though a safe pair of hands I just don't think they should have gone for someone so linked with Big Brother.

The majority of the changes in series 2 were for the better... In a 5 star rating system it would have been much harder to mandate players rate at least 5 people in order and then give random ratings to the remaining 2 players.

I also agree that the original presenting team should have been given a second chance. Or at least one of them... At the end of the day the Friday show was my least favourite of the week. It had nothing to do with Emma herself and more to do with the amount of time her segments took up. The majority of that content is much more suited to a 30 minute companion show rather so that it doesn’t detract from the main storyline.

One observation from series 1 to series 2 was the fact that series 1 felt like it had more chats especially in a group setting. Also they seemed to have dropped the status updates after the first week for seemingly no reason.
 
Yes, the full group chats seem to virtually disappear midway through series 2 and I agree they seemed to fill the first series with more chats than the second.
 
As they didn't bother doing interviews until the final the first series didn't even need presenters for most of it. The audience reaction was strangely that the presenters were still very important as they thought they would be the face of the show. I liked that we got interviews this time round though I don't need Emma Willis to drop that she knows in advance who goes like that makes her important.

Reality tv to me is about the contestants, that's what made last years, I think the cast was better and more likeable. Precious was the one obvious dud (it felt scripted), Harry was put in too late like Jan this year. But otherwise quite a few interesting happenings. Sian offered more than Georgina. This year's felt more geared around Tim and Sammie and than anything else, with health issues as another storyline that was planned in advance. Last year had Freddie and Kate. But also Ryan v Freddie. Dan and Kate. Sian and Freddie. Mairead and Dan. Christopher was an interesting attempt, better than the boring attempt at Josh. I also liked Aiden, even her brief showmance because of the naivity. There was more development. Even some of the new ones had an actual impact, Scottie v Hannah for example.

Ella and Woody weren't really involved in much of a storyline, some felt too secure or (like Paddy, Josh, Jan) were just there for a brief while for little purpose. And Jack and Beth needed some convoluted twist to become more relevant. Putting in a celeb was almost like they were admitting the cast wasn't that great. Probably even more manipulation this year.
 
No, I'm not convinced the format works with it.
I guess at the end of the day the goal is to be the most popular player not to find the catfish.

I rewatched Alex’s behind the scenes questions video the other day and he raised an interesting point. Good strategy is convincing the catfish to like you and rate you well rather than getting rid of them.

That said I doubt celebs are smart enough to figure that out. Also unless they’re playing as a fellow celebrity they know well it will also be a struggle. There’s no way players could play as anyone other than a fellow celebrity figure as it would be too obvious who isn’t being honest.
 
There are two or three pairs playing as individuals - I guess some will play as one of the pair and others as other celebs, but although it worked well as a twist with Jack and Beth I think the solitude is an important part of the concept.
 
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