the circle instas© Photo: Channel 4

The Circle: see the contestants' Instagram accounts

The Channel 4 reality show returns this week

TV & Film Writer
March 16, 2021

It has over a year since Channel 4 reality show The Circle was last on our screens, and if you're anything like us, you've been desperately awaiting its return.

MORE: The one major change to this series of The Circle

Dubbed Big Brother-meets-Catfish, the show, hosted by Emma Willis, sees contestants compete to win £100,000 by proving themselves to be the most popular. The catch? They never interact face to face but instead communicate through a specially-designed social media app called The Circle. 

So who's taking part? Meet the contestants and catfishes below…

Andy

Father-of-two Andy, 34, will be entering The Circle as himself but admits he's never sent a DM in his life. He says: "I’ll be unashamedly me. I’m biased but I think I’m a pretty decent bloke and I hope that comes across."

Billy

Billy, 19, is the youngest contestant entering the game and will also be playing as himself. The sports marketing manager from Essex is confident he has what it takes to be an influencer and make it to the final. "I'm in sales so I know how to make a conversation go my way," he says. "I know how to get on top… if there is a conversation going on I know I will always be planning how I want it to go and I'll always have control."

Hashu

YouTuber Hashu, 28, hopes to pull on the other contestants' heartstrings by playing as his elderly uncle Syed. "He's a sweet old man who just doesn't have the best English grammar, so everyone helps him and guides him a little bit," he says. "Then he'll catch everyone with their guard down."

James

Former Gladiators star James, 47, hopes to catfish his way to the cash prize by playing as NHS nurse Gemma for a very touching reason. "I'd give half the money to the nurses in York hospital, just because I want to give something back," he says, adding that he would split the other half "with the players who get to the final".

Manrika

Manrika, 24, hopes to impress viewers by being authentically herself. The recruitment consultant from Birmingham says: "The way that I live isn't the expectation of what an Indian girl should be. So, I'm going on to show that you can still live your life, have that social media lifestyle and also be a respectable girl."

Jamie and Millie

Father-daughter duo Jamie and Millie from Hampshire are hoping they can catfish their way to the top spot by playing as a middle-aged letting agent named Penny. Explaining how they came up with the character, Millie says: "We thought it'd be quite funny to have an ideal stepmum for me or an ideal partner for my dad … It has been fun to create this perfect woman – someone who has the qualities that Dad might want in a partner and I would want in a stepmum. She's kind of like a bit of both of us."

Tally

Another player hoping to win over the other contestants by playing as herself is 23-year-old receptionist Tally who says she wants to "strip everything back and be perceived as my normal quirky self" rather than the "posey, edited" version you see online.

Vithun

Vithun is a 23-year-old accountant from London and will also be playing as himself, although he did admit he considered catfishing as a white man because "from the research I've done on British reality TV shows, white men have been the most popular demographic".

Yolanda

Yolanda, 30, from London will be playing as her husband Chris. "With Chris's face and my personality, I'm going to absolutely smash it out of the park," she says, but adds she'd rather the other players didn't ask about his landscaping job. "I already know Chris's personality like the back of my hand, so I'm confident in all areas, apart from his job."

Series 3 of The Circle starts tonight at 9:15pm on Channel 4 and All 4

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