The Circle 2021 has arrived on Channel 4 – meet the cast of contestants on the show.
In The Circle, players live in separate flats in an apartment block and communicate with each other through a voice activated social media platform called The Circle.
Able to be whoever they want the goal is to named the most popular contestant by their fellow players.
Players voted the least popular in regular ratings will find themselves blocked from The Circle and eliminated from the competition.
Competitors may choose to play honestly or decide to hide certain things or even take on a catfish persona in order to deceive their rival players.
Up to £100k is on offer for the winner, so the stakes are high. In the game where anyone can be anyone, who will win The Circle?
The Circle airs Sunday to Friday nights on Channel 4 at 10PM.
Meet the current contestants playing The Circle below…
The Circle 2021 contestants
Andy Smith
From: Solihull
Age: 34
Job: Company Director
Playing as: Himself
Instagram username: @andysmith_twobeans
Twitter username: @TwoBeansAndy
Says Andy: “I’ll be unashamedly me. I’m biased but I think I’m a pretty decent bloke and I hope that comes across. If I have to call someone out on being a catfish, I’ll be able to find a way to articulate myself while still being liked. I’m not desperate to be universally loved but it’s a preference over being universally disliked! I’ll try and convert some catfish and get them on my side, I want them to change their profile picture and announce they’re a catfish to everyone!”
Billy Dawson
From: Romford, Essex
Age: 19
Job: Sports Marketing Manager
Playing as: Himself
Instagram username: @billdawson01
He says: “Obviously you’ve got to be friends with everyone to be the most popular so that’s my main tactic. I think I’ve got the gift of the gab so I’m just going to try be mates with anyone and everyone.
“I’m also not worried about chucking someone out who’s a bit of a threat or stir the pot a bit.”
Hashu Mohammed
From: Birmingham
Age: 28
Job: YouTuber and Content Creator
Playing as: His Uncle Syed
Instagram username: @SMASHBengali
Twitter username: @smashbengali
TikTok username: @SMASHBengali
He says of his game plan: “Firstly, to be someone that’s older so that I can be respected and maybe even get some sympathy and pull on people’s heartstrings. He’s a sweet old man who just doesn’t have the best English grammar, so everyone helps him and guides him a little bit. Then he’ll catch everyone with their guard down.
“I’m going to be making people laugh all the time without even meaning to. I’m going to make out like he’s not intentionally trying to be funny just by random stuff that he might say. Also, being someone that brings in some wisdom and life experience. I want to be there to pick people up at times because I’m sure the process will get difficult for some people and I want to be a support mechanism for them.”
James Crossley
From: London
Age: 47
Job: Strength and Conditioning Coach
Playing as: NHS Nurse Gemma
Instagram username: @mrjamescrossley
Twitter username: @MrJamesCrossley
James reveals: “What I want to do is find a link with each player as they come in. I would look to find some sort of mutual ground to become friends. I’ll just take it one step at a time and maybe do some group chats with the girls. It would be good to get them on side because from watching it, I feel that if you get a group going that has a bond, then they tend to vote for each other. It’s in the latter shows where more of the strategy of voting seems to come into it.”
Jamie and Millie Dutton-Forshaw (father and daughter)
From: Hampshire
Age: Jamie is 57 and Millie is 20
Job: Millie is a student and Jamie is a relationship therapist
Playing as: Penny, a 49-year-old letting agent from London
Instagram usernames: @millieduttonforshaw | @jamieduttonforshaw
TikTok username: @mduttonforshaw
Reveals Jamie: “The catfish we’ve created together, Penny, is a very likeable, slightly sassy, come from the school of hard knocks 49-year-old. She’s a great listener. She’s had a slightly tough life in certain ways. She’d have liked to have had children but didn’t have them. She’s very empathetic and attentive.
“Our strategy is that Penny will be very difficult not to like, and also funny. I think we’re just going to take it slowly getting to know people. We want to be in it for the long haul and I think we’d be a bit naive if we came up with a clear strategy other than to ingratiate Penny with the other players to start with and go from there.”
Manrika Khaira
From: Birmingham
Age: 24
Job: Recruitment Consultant and Content Creator
Playing as: Herself
Instagram username: @manrikakhaira
Twitter username: @manrikakhaira
TikTok username: @manrikakhaira
She says: “It’s going to be good to get to know everybody and make notes of what everyone’s doing. I have a bit of a radar, I know within the first couple of minutes whether or not I’m going to like somebody, and that’s over a text conversation. They always say don’t judge a book by its cover, but I do and it’s probably not the best way to live, but every time I’ve not had a reason for disliking somebody, they’ve eventually done something wrong.
“I’m also going to be very watchful about the way people talk about other people. Because if you’re talking about somebody else, you’re probably saying the same about me. I’d like people to feel like they can confide and trust me, that would give me a massive advantage. Not to say that I’m going to exploit that trust, but I can use it to my advantage to get to where I need to be.
Tally Brattle
From: Worthing
Age: 23
Job: Doctor’s surgery receptionist
Playing as: Herself
Instagram username: @tallybrattle
Twitter username: @BrattleTally
She says: “The basics is to befriend everyone and be super chatty. You have to not only be a girl’s girl, but a boy’s girl as well. I’m playing it single so flirting could be a huge game plan.”
Vithun Illankovan
From: London
Age: 23
Job: Accountant
Playing as: Himself
Instagram username: @vithunillankovan
Twitter username: @VitIllankovan
He says: “My strategy is so different to what we’ve seen before. The premise is to base my decisions on facts rather than feelings. It’s purely based on statistical elements rather than emotions and my job has helped me in that regard.”
Yolanda
From: London
Age: 30
Job: Dating Agency Founder
Playing as: Her Husband Chris
Instagram username: @yoli290
She says: “I love talking. I love to chat. I am a people person and I am popular in real life, so I hope I will be equally popular on a game show just with a different face, which I think is even more attractive than my own. With Chris’s face and my personality, I’m going to absolutely smash it out of the park!”
Scott Paige
From: Manchester
Age: 30
Job: Actor
Playing as: His 85-year-old nan, Dorothy
Instagram username: @scottpaigey
Twitter username: _ScottPaige
TikTok username: @scottpaige
Scott says: “I want to be The Circle nan. I want to be that person that everyone goes to for advice. I’m going to use her age as my secret weapon really, because when you’re in that environment you do miss your family. I know if I was going in there as myself and I saw an elderly woman who looks like my nan, I’d be drawn to her and want to keep her in because who doesn’t love a nan? Everybody loves a nan.”
Natalya Platonova
From: Reigate
Age: 30
Job: Military Policewoman
Playing as: Felix, a 29-year-old paratrooper
Instagram username: @natalyaplat1
Natalya says: “In my day-to-day life I’ve had a lot of experience figuring people out from working in the military, I’m constantly on high alert. I’m a really quick judge of character. I’ve created the perfect man. He’s every childhood boy’s dream, he’s an action hero, he’s good looking, I think he’s got it all. He’s got the females on side because he’s going to be charming and sweet and he’s got my softness behind his character. ”
Pippa
Age: 26
From: Manchester
Job: Paralegal in commercial litigation
Playing as: Herself
Instagram username: @pippakisses
Twitter username: @pippakisses
Pippa says: “I’m going in The Circle to prove that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. I’m often misjudged by my appearance and the way I look. People assume that I lack intelligence. When me and my friends get chatting with people about what we do for work, when it comes to me people assume it’s something based on aesthetics.
“I’m always explaining that actually, I have master’s degree in law; I’ve studied law for seven years. There’s more to me than meets the eye.”
Joey
Age: 26
From: London
Job: Entrepreneur
Playing as: a Nigerian immigrant version of himself called Femi
Instagram username: @joeythegeneral
Twitter username: joeythegeneral
TikTok username: @joeythegeneral
Says Joey: “Even though there’s a part of the story that’s different to who I am, I’m still going to have the same attitude.
“I’m still going to be the fun, easy-going, talkative individual that I am. The person who likes to build relationships, who likes to give and offer advice to people as well. I think my main strategy is building relationships along the way.”
Shabaz
Age: 28
From: Blackburn
Job: Teacher
Playing as: a 23-year-old chemistry teacher Alice
Instagram username: @shabazsays
Twitter username: @shabazsays
TikTok username: @shabazsays
Says Shabaz: “I thought [The Circle] was such an interesting concept. The minute I saw it, I knew I’d want to play this girl. I’ve been on social media for so long and this girl has always sort of been my competition. She’s the type of person that everybody hangs on her every word; everybody buys her merch; she gets millions of views.
“I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to live in this type of person’s shoes and see what it’s like having the world treat me completely differently.”
The Circle 2021 airs Sunday-Fridays on Channel 4. You can watch episodes online via the All 4 player.
More on: The Circle
