Everyone Is Comparing The Circle To This Terrifying Episode Of Black Mirror

Last night saw the launch of Channel 4's new social media reality show, The Circle, and people can't stop comparing it to Black Mirror's Nosedive episode.

The Circle follows a group of contestants who all move into separate apartments within the same building as they compete in the ultimate popularity contest.

But, the catch is that the contests never actually meet in person - they simply communicate through a simulated social media platform which allows them to build whatever persona they like.

Players must try and win the affections of their competitors and avoid getting 'blocked' to be in with the chance of winning £50,000. If a player does get blocked, then the other players will discover whether that person was really who they said they were, or whether they were getting catfished all along.

At the end of the first episode, all the players were asked to rate each other out of five based on their interactions, which left many viewers comparing it to Black Mirror's Nosedive episode, in which people's social status is determined by how people rate them after every interaction.

In the launch episode, presented by Radio 1's Alice Levine and Maya Jama, we saw a man called Alex use his girlfriend's pictures to create the profile of his persona 'Kate' and gay contestant Freddie pretend to be a straight guy to win over his competitors affections.

One contestant, Jennifer, an advertising executive from Newcastle, has already caused controversy by pretending to be a 34-year-old junior doctor who specialises in cancer.

Explaining her decision to the camera, she said: "I am fiercely competitive I will do anything. In The Circle I'm going to be a doctor who specialises in oncology - a cancer doctor.

"People might think that's morally questionable but I picked it because it's a universally trusted profession.

"I hate this - this is going to get me lambasted. At the end of the day, this is a popularity contest - it's not real, so what's the problem? It's a game."

The Circle continues tonight at 10pm on Channel 4.

Topics: black mirror, The Circle, TV News, TV Entertainment

Emma Rosemurgey

Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Junior Journalist at Tyla. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining the team in 2017. Contact her on [email protected]

@emmarosemurgey