| Series Number: | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Network: | Channel 4 | ||||||||||||
| Module1: |
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| Num Episodes: | 18 |
The first series of The Circle began on 18 September 2018 on Channel 4,[1] and concluded after 21 days with a live final on 8 October 2018.[2] This series was hosted by Alice Levine and Maya Jama on both the launch and the final, and was narrated by Sophie Willan. Ahead of the series it was announced that players would be competing against each other to become the most popular, but would never actually meet. Instead they would communicate through a specially designed app and be able to portray themselves in any way they choose.[3] The series launched with a total of 1,607,000 including +1 catch-up services.[4] It concluded with 1,125,000.
On 8 October 2018, the series was won by Alex Hobern, who had played the game claiming to be a 25-year-old woman called Kate, using photos of his real-life girlfriend Millie. Alex also won the "viewers champion" for an additional £25,000, claiming £75,000 in total. Freddie Bentley was the series runner-up.[5]
Following this series, it was announced that Alice and Maya would not be returning for the second, with Emma Willis taking over the role as presenter instead.
The contestants taking part in the series were revealed on 18 September 2018.[6] However throughout the series more players joined The Circle.
| --- Please do not change the width this allows the table to scale within page margins based on display. ---> | Name | Age | Hometown | Playing as | Entered | Exited | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jennifer Freeman | 40 | Newcastle | Herself, but a doctor and younger (34) | Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Blocked | |
| Mitchell Palmer | 22 | Norfolk | Himself | Episode 1 | Episode 4 | Blocked | |
| Sinead Edwards | 22 | South Wales | "Christopher", a 65-year-old retired antiques dealer | Episode 3 | Episode 6 | Blocked | |
| Aiden Bradbury | 19 | Wakefield | Herself | Episode 1 | Episode 6 | Blocked | |
| Genelle Perkins | 31 | London | Herself, but not revealing that she's a mother with her daughter | Episode 1 | Walked | ||
| Hannah Rosie Steadman | 27 | London | Herself | Episode 7 | Blocked | ||
| Ryan Gooding | 28 | Ipswich | Himself | Episode 5 | Blocked | ||
| Mairead Martin | 57 | Cheshire | Herself, but younger (32), and using another woman's photos | Blocked | |||
| Precious Muir | 34 | London | Herself, but younger (25) | Blocked | |||
| Scotty Forrester | 36 | London | Himself, but younger (31) | Episode 7 | Blocked | ||
| Harry Southern | 22 | South Shields | Himself | Blocked | |||
| Dan Mosaku | 28 | London | Himself | Episode 1 | |||
| Sian Owen | 20 | London | A “Plain Jane” version of herself | Episode 1 | Third place | ||
| Freddie Bentley | 20 | Essex | Himself, but straight and older (24) | Episode 1 | Runner-up | ||
| Alex Hobern | 26 | London | "Kate", a 25-year-old woman | Episode 1 | Winner |
For the first series, the contestants rated one another out of five throughout. At the end of each ratings their average scores were revealed from highest to lowest to the players. The two highest rated players became "influencers", while the remaining players were at risk of being "blocked" by the influencers.
| The contestant was blocked. | ||
| The contestant was an influencer. | ||
| The contestant was immune from being rated and blocked. |
| Episode 2 | Episode 4 | Episode 6 | Episode 10 | Episode 12 | Episode 13 | Episode 15 | Episode 16 | Episode 17 | Episode 18 Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alex "Kate" | 3.28 | 3.41 | 2.86 | 2.71 | 2.50 | 2.71 | 3.50 | Not published | 2.50 | 3.00 | Winner | |
| Freddie | 2.71 | 2.43 | 3.14 | 2.86 | 2.83 | 3.14 | 3.33 | Not published | 3.00 | 2.67 | Runner-up (Episode 18) | |
| Sian | 3.00 | 3.14 | 2.43 | 3.00 | 3.17 | 3.29 | 4.00 | Not published | 4.25 | 2.33 | Third place (Episode 18) | |
| Dan | 3.14 | 2.86 | 3.71 | 2.86 | 2.83 | 3.43 | 3.83 | Not published | 2.75 | 2.00 | (Episode 18) | |
| Harry | Not in The Circle | Exempt | 2.33 | Not published | 1.50 | Blocked (Episode 17) | ||||||
| Scotty | Not in The Circle | 2.71 | 3.17 | 2.86 | 3.50 | Not published | Blocked (Episode 16) | |||||
| Precious | Not in The Circle | Exempt | 2.00 | Blocked (Episode 15) | ||||||||
| Mairead | Not in The Circle | Exempt | 2.57 | Blocked (Episode 13) | ||||||||
| Ryan | Not in The Circle | Exempt | 2.57 | 2.50 | Blocked (Episode 12) | |||||||
| Hannah | Not in The Circle | 2.29 | Blocked (Episode 10) | |||||||||
| Genelle | 3.00 | 2.71 | 3.14 | Walked (Episode 10) | ||||||||
| Aiden | 2.86 | 2.57 | 2.57 | Blocked (Episode 6) | ||||||||
| Sinead "Christopher" | Not in | Exempt | 2.00 | Blocked (Episode 6) | ||||||||
| Mitchell | 2.43 | 2.86 | Blocked (Episode 4) | |||||||||
| Jennifer | 2.28 | Blocked (Episode 2) | ||||||||||
| Notes | none | 1 | 2 | none | 3 | 4 | none | |||||
| Influencers | Alex, Dan | Alex, Sian | Dan, Freddie, Genelle | none | Scotty, Sian | Dan, Sian | none | Sian | none | |||
| Walked | none | Genelle | none | |||||||||
| Blocked | Jennifer Influencers' choice to block | Mitchell Influencers' choice to block | Sinead "Christopher" Influencers' choice to block | Hannah Lowest rated player | Ryan Influencers' choice to block | Mairead Influencers' choice to block | Precious 3 of 5 votes to block | Scotty Super-influencer's choice to block | Harry Lowest rated player | Dan rated player | Sian Third highest | |
| Aiden Influencer's choice to block | Freddie | Alex "Kate" Highest rated player | ||||||||||