Series two has officially returned to our screens. For fans of series one, the wait is finally over as eight new players enter "The Circle". The social media game show returned with a live launch show hosted by Emma Willis along with some new twists and turns to shock the players, as well as viewers at home.
The most surprising new twist to this series was the ranking of players, which saw each new member of "The Circle" ranking their fellow players before they had the chance to say "Circle, open chat." The players were tasked with ranking each of the players from one to seven, with one being the one they liked most and seven being whoever they liked the least.
Their votes were based solely on each other's profile pictures and their bios, an interesting new twist to the show, which in series one gave each player a chance to get to know everyone before they voted each other on a scale of one to five. The first vote saw Georgia and Brooke come in joint seventh, Woody and Jay come in joint fifth and Emelle and Sy come in joint third.
Tim to win
It was no shock to the viewers at home when immediate fan favourite 58-year-old Tim came in second, only beaten by 'Cheeky Scouser' James who has chosen to play the game as a 26-year-old, single mother named Sammie. The pair proved that animals and babies are key in becoming immediately liked online and became the first 'Influencers' of series two.
Choosing to play as himself, Tim also decided to bring along one of his cats to join him during his time in "The Circle". He then chose to use the cat he'd left at home to be a part of his first profile picture and along with his jolly face won over his fellow players as well.
Tim's lack of understanding of "The Circle"'s technology led to a few humorous moments that may be hard to beat this series, with Tim telling the voice-activated system 'Close, close I never want to see that photo again.' His reaction made him immediately relatable to the viewers back home who may have experienced the feeling of seeing a photograph of themselves they'd rather not exist.
His infectious laughter and confusion over the youthful language of his fellow players are a valued part of Tim's character and are likely to keep him in long-term while being viewed as more of an Uncle figure to the younger players rather than a threat.
Richard or Judy
A player that will not be participating long-term in the social media game show is a TV presenter and one half of popular 'This Morning' duo, Richard Madeley.
Fans of the show also got to interact for the first time this series as they voted for who Richard would be playing during his short stint in the programme.
Viewers were given a choice to vote via the app for either 23-year-old hunk Richard, or 27-year-old model Judy. While the irony of the characters names is not lost on the viewing public, it will be interesting to see if any of the other players pick up on this. It has been revealed that Richard will not spend any longer than a week in "The Circle", but during his time he will be "Shaking things up a bit." The results of the public vote will be revealed in tonight's episode.
