Yanira D. Kivi 
For now The circle Season 1 debuted on Netflix in January 2020, it was clear Netflix had come up with something special.
Big Brother meets Catfish in this animated social experiment disguised as a reality show, which brings together a group of gamers under one roof to compete for $100,000. While the players live in the same building, their only way to communicate is through a social media app known as The Circle, giving contestants the option to play as themselves or as someone entirely of their own creation. .
The goal? Win over your teammates in order to climb to the top of the leaderboard and keep their game alive long enough to make it to the final night. It’s about building personal connections using only virtual interactions, a difficult task when everyone isn’t who they say adding just the right amount of suspicion and mistrust between players.
As Netflix Life this week celebrates “The Besties” – an awards show where we highlight Netflix’s best, worst and craziest moments over the past year – it’s time to celebrate the best show reality show of 2021: The circle!
The Circle is Netflix’s best reality show
It’s no secret that over the past few years, Netflix has done an amazing job of expanding its catalog of original programming, which has led to the introduction of some truly amazing reality TV shows. 2021 has been a particularly stunning year for reality TV fans as Netflix has rolled out new seasons of several new and recurring favorites, but the real crème de la crème is undoubtedly The circle.
After its breakout first season, Netflix was quick to renew the series for two more seasons which Netflix would eventually drop in spring and fall 2021 – giving fans twice the fun with a spring cycle and of autumn.
With each new season, Netflix introduced viewers to incredible new casts of contestants filled with big personalities who quickly won us over and made their respective seasons even more fun. Competitors such as Chloe Veitch, DeLeesa Unique, Courtney Revolution, Mitchell Eason, Kai Ghost, Matthew Mappadia and Nick “Daddy Nick” Uhlenhuth stand out as notable favorites thanks to their incredible gameplay and the energy they brought to the Game.
Although the series has been smart so far in keeping the same general format, the creative team has continued to push the show forward in fun and exciting new directions in Seasons 2 and 3 through the introduction of new twists. , game-changing powers, and plenty of new catfish to keep players on their toes.
Netflix has also become a little more strategic with the way it releases episodes. Sure, the weekly release format was first introduced in Season 1, but the cliffhangers got even more intense in 2021 with episodes that left us on the edges of our seats and counting the days until that each new batch of episodes arrives the following week.
The circle has become date TV, which is a rare feat for a Netflix show largely due to how the streamer typically airs all episodes at once. There was such excitement every Wednesday to be able to connect with other fans to see which players would be blocked next and who could fight their way to the top of the leaderboard to gain power as an influencer next.
Seeing players become more strategic in their gameplay has only made things more interesting as we have started to see players rank others lower than they would like just to give themselves and their allies, a better chance of getting an influencer title. Although I must confess, this strategy left me disappointed in Season 3 when the most deserving player fell to fifth place in the final standings despite playing the best game of the season – a game that saved his allies countless times and deserved to be rewarded with that $100,000.
Leaving my soapbox, I feel like I’ve only helped further prove my point about why The circle was the best Netflix show of 2021.
The circle allows you to go all-in and invest easily in your competitors. Part of the fun of tuning in each week is seeing if your favorites will stick around and root against the contestants who threaten their future in the game. Talk to any fan of the show and they’ll be sure they can easily throw a ranking of their favorite players that they probably started following on social media after the game just because they loved watching them on the show. .
2021 will be a tough act for the show to follow, but as we look to this year, we are certain The circle will only grow and grow as new fans continue to fall in love with the series!
The circle is streaming now on Netflix.
