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If someone’s caught Netflix’s The Circle, they’ll know a big part of the reality competition show’s social media experiment involves players living alone in an apartment. Yes, they can periodically leave to go to the building’s gym or rooftop, but they don’t come into physical contact with the other contestants.
There’s no leaving their home away from home unless they’re eliminated or make it through the entire experience. So, how long are contestants on The Circle for?
We got that answer from one of the series’ executive producers, Tim Harcourt. Variety published an interview with Harcourt in 2020, and in it, he explained that The Circle’s American version’s first season was filmed within a 15-day window. So, presumably, a player could spend a maximum of 15 days on The Circle.
Season 1’s winner Vinnie Sasso spoke with The Hollywood Reporter after securing the $100,000 grand prize. He was asked how long he spent on The Circle, and Sasso admitted that he had no idea, which was the product of a game mechanic.
“Everyone’s asked me how long we were actually in the apartments for,” Sasso said. “I don’t know. When you sign up they tell you, ‘We don’t tell you the day. We don’t tell you the time.’ That’s part of the mental thing of the game of kind of losing your s***, and trying to keep it together.”
“I always make the joke I felt like Morgan Freeman in [The Shawshank Redemption], just trying to get out, be free, meet my friend Andy Dufresne at the beach,” he finished.
Also, it’s important to note that not every player is on The Circle the entire time. Sasso is a great example of a contestant who stuck around from pillar to post — he was an episode 1 player, and he avoided being blocked until the finale and ultimately snagged the trophy. But, just like other reality competition shows, once someone is eliminated, they’re typically done with filming.
However, another layer to The Circle is that new players are added to the mix throughout the season. Once a catfish or truthful player is banned from the group chat, they leave their apartment. Then, another contestant (or contestants) replaces them, keeping a fresh cycle of old and new faces on the Netflix series. So, a winner could’ve spent a couple of weeks on The Circle, while another one was only subjected to physical isolation for a few days.
Regardless, compared to Big Brother 25’s 100-day competition, spending time on The Circle is more like a vacation than a multi-month commitment to win a life-changing sum of cash.