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The first series of The Circle began on 18 September 2018 on Channel 4, and concluded after 21 days with a live final on 8 October 2018. 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. The series launched with a total of 1,607,000 including +1 catch-up services. 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.

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.

Players

The contestants taking part in the series were revealed on 18 September 2018. However throughout the series more players joined The Circle.

Results and elimination

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.

	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 (Episode 18)
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	Fourth place (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 The Circle	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 Lowest rated player	Sian Third highest rated player
			Aiden Influencer's choice to block							Freddie Second highest rated player	Alex "Kate" Highest rated player

Notes

• ^Note 1 : In Episode 6, as Freddie and Genelle tied on their ratings, they both joined Dan as influencers. The first ever double blocking was also held on the same day.
• ^Note 2 : In Episode 10, although they were new players, Hannah and Scotty were eligible to be rated and ultimately blocked from the game. Genelle also received a rating, however it was not revealed as she chose to leave The Circle before the ratings were announced. Her ratings for the other players were still counted. Also, for the first time, there were no influencers; instead, the player with the lowest rating was automatically blocked from the game.
• ^Note 3 : In Episode 15, as the bottom two players, Precious and Harry were at risk of being blocked. The other five players had to publicly cast their vote for which of the two to block from The Circle. Sian, Dan, Freddie voted for Precious. Scotty voted for Harry. "Kate"/Alex did not cast a vote, as a majority decision had already been reached.
• ^Note 4 : In Episode 16, the top player was a secret super-influencer. The ratings were not revealed to the players nor the audience.

References

1. "Meet The Circle contestants - the deceptive social media-inspired reality show". 18 September 2018.
2. "The Circle's finale date isn't far away". Capital.
3. Donaldson, Laura (3 October 2018). "The Circle on Channel 4: What is The Circle and when is it on?". OK! Magazine.
4. "BARB – Weekly Top 30 Programmes: ITV2 Total". Retrieved 28 December 2012.
5. "Who won The Circle 2018 and what is the prize for the show?". Heart.
6. "Meet The Circle contestants - the deceptive social media-inspired reality show". The Metro. 18 September 2018.

• Channel 4 reality television shows
• 2018 British television seasons
• The Circle (franchise)