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The Circle: Channel 4 fails to renew reality TV show after three series

Reality TV show will not return for fourth series

Isobel Lewis
Friday 07 May 2021 12:40 BST
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The Circle: season 2 trailer

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The Circle will not be returning for a fourth series on Channel 4, it has been announced.

The reality TV show first aired in 2018 and has run for three series on the UK broadcaster, with the most recent episodes coming to an end in April.

However on Friday (7 May), Channel 4 announced to RadioTimes.com that The Circle was not being renewed.

The Circle has been a huge hit for young audiences and has grown successively over three seasons on Channel 4, consistently outperforming slot averages,” a statement read, describing the show as “innovative”.

“In much the same way as when we originally commissioned The Circle, Channel 4 has a responsibility to continually look at how we reinvent and create space for new ideas, and so we have decided not to commission the show for a fourth season. We’d like to thank Studio Lambert, Motion and all those involved for The Circle’s huge success over the last three series.”

The reality TV series follows a group of contestants living in self-contained flats in the same building in Salford.

They can only communicate through The Circle, an internal social media platform, with players having the opportunity to take part as themselves or play as a catfish by using another person’s photos.

The player voted most popular by their other players at the end of the series wins £100,000. Series three was won by Natalya Platonova, who played the game pretending to be a man called Felix.

The show has also spawned a popular US version on Netflix, which concluded its second season this week.

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