They communicate solely using their profiles on a specially-designed social media app that gives them the ability to portray themselves in any way they choose.

Then, the day after a blocking, a video message is shown to the remaining players to reveal if they were real or fake.

[9] The five players not announced prior to the show's premiere were revealed as they introduced themselves on-screen during an episode.

[8][10] (Ages stated are at start of contest) Alana Duval previously competed on The Face Season 2.

He also appeared on four episodes of General Hospital, Dick Dickster, and Girls5eva and will also star in Young Lion of the West, along with writer and producer credits on the project.

Joey and Sammie Cimarelli starred on Netflix’s Reality Games and were 2 of the 4 players representing team "The Circle".

[citation needed] On December 29, 2019, The New York Times published an article describing the background and inside of the show.

Chris and Shubham had to immediately make their way to the Hangout, where they had to decide which of the remaining players to block.

He also sent along a giant teddy bear after The Circle prompted him to include a gift as part of the date.

[29][30] After the first season was Channel 4's "youngest profiling" show in six years, according to the British TV industry magazine Broadcast, talks began of international versions.

Brandon Reigg, Netflix's Vice Principal of Unscripted Content, stated, "We think the show's combination of modern social media interaction and competition will captivate Netflix members around the world, in multiple languages, and we're delighted to partner with Studio Lambert and Motion to produce these three new local versions.

[32] In an interview with Variety, Tim Harcourt, one of the executive producers for Studio Lambert, stated that The Circle format and premise allowed the casting team to search for all different kinds of people.

Harcourt stated that the production team would decide who would be the right fit depending on who just left the game, acknowledging that with thirteen contestants, not all who were possible players end up on the show at all.

[34] Attempts to obscure the filming location to appear to be in the United States were apparent, including overhead shots of the cities of Chicago and Milwaukee throughout the show, as well as aerial shots of the United Kingdom reversed so the cars appear to be driving on the right side of the road.

The contestants' apartments were brightly-lit in part to allow the cameras to record them, but also to disorientate the players' perception of time; Sasso stated that they often had no idea what day or time of day it was, and he had taken to wearing sunglasses inside to cut off the glare from the lights which had been mistaken as a fashion statement by fans of the show.

[37] On December 10, 2019, a trailer for the American version was released, revealing the premiere date to be January 1, 2020, and the prize amount to be $100,000.

"[8] On December 30, 2019, in order to get more people interested in The Circle, Netflix released a thirty-minute cut of the hour-long first episode of the season on its YouTube channel for free.

[8] On January 8, 2020, via Twitter and Instagram, The Circle announced that voting had opened for the Fan Favorite award.

The winner of the Fan Favorite vote was revealed to be Sammie Cimarelli[39][40] on The Circle's Instagram on January 17.

Because of the positive reviews and large number of viewers, Netflix renewed The Circle for a second and third season on March 24, 2020.

Megh Wright from Vulture proclaimed that The Circle is a "fascinating series" that gives a "brutally honest reflection of the fractured way we attempt to connect to each other today.

"[45] Kate Knibbs from Wired declared it the "best TV show about the internet" that "actually takes its audience places, dramatizing the experience of online social interactions in all their fizz and slipperiness.

According to Etan Smallman of The New York Times, this type of diversity is what makes The Circle so unique among other reality TV shows.

[8] Meanwhile, Isaac Feldberg from Fortune told readers to skip The Circle because of "the aggressively irritating manner in which the series has been put together.

She comments on how common it is to "develop entire relationships through solely digital interactions," and that is what The Circle is trying to explore.

[48] Nev Schulman, host and executive producer of Catfish: The TV Show criticized The Circle in an interview with People.

He also expressed disappointment at the use of the word "catfish"; he cites the definition to be "a complicated person who, for any number of reasons and personal struggles, has found themselves creating a profile of varying veracity or truths to explore, and interact, and discover themselves", whereas on The Circle, players use it to simply call someone a liar.

[49] Aja Romano of Vox praised The Circle for embracing inauthenticity as a part of social media and human nature as a whole.

Romano states that the cast developed character arcs, and the production team could get away with making a narrative structure.