The Circle (American TV series) season 6

The sixth season of the American reality competition streaming series The Circle premiered on Netflix on April 17, 2024. Michelle Buteau returned as host. Players compete without ever actually meeting in person; they communicate through a simulated social media interface, portraying themselves in any way they choose.

Format
The players move into the same apartment building. However, the contestants do not meet face-to-face during the course of the competition, as they each live in their own individual apartment. They communicate solely using their profiles on a specially designed social media app that gives them the ability to portray themselves in any way they choose. Players can thus opt to present themselves as a completely different personality to the other players, a tactic otherwise known as catfishing.

Throughout the series, the contestants "rate" one another from first to last place. At the end of the ratings, their average ratings are revealed to one another from lowest to highest. Normally, the two highest-rated players become "Influencers", while the remaining players will be at risk of being "blocked" by the Influencers. However, occasionally there may be a twist to the blocking process – varying from the lowest rating players being instantly blocked, the identity of the Influencers being a secret, or multiple players being blocked at one time. Blocked players are eliminated from the game, but are given the opportunity to meet one player still in the game in-person. Then, the day after a blocking, a video message is shown to the remaining players to reveal if they were real or fake.

During the finale, the contestants rate each other one final time, where the highest rated player wins the game and US$100000.

Development and release
In October 2021, it was reported that after filming of the fifth season had been completed, the block of apartments used to film most seasons of the entire The Circle franchise were being dismantled and converted back into regular housing. In September 2023, it was reported that a new apartment block had been setup for filming in Atlanta, Georgia, and filming of an unannounced sixth season was underway. In November 2023, Netflix officially announced that The Circle had been renewed for a sixth and seventh season, both of which had already been filmed. The sixth season premiered on April 17, 2024.

Michelle Buteau, who hosted the first five seasons, returned for the sixth.

AI player
This seasons introduced a new twist, an AI player. The AI used was not brand-new but created from open-source AI trained on past episodes of The Circle. The AI then created its own profile choosing Max, a 26 year old veterinarian intern. When asked to explain the decisions behind the profile, Max explained he chose to be 26 as then he can "leverage life experience and maturity while still playing youthful and having position flexibility." When choosing a profile picture, Max chose one with his dog, Pippa, as "studies show photos with dogs receive 38% more likes on social media." He even came up with the name Pippa. Max struggled with confrontation and when asked to help determine if Paul was the AI, quickly left the chat. The AI system itself has a built in "moral code" that stops him from expressing negative or mean thoughts. Another struggle of Max's - flirting. What Max did grasp, and even the producers were surprised by, was his use of hashtags and understanding the nuances and references behind them.

Players
The contestants were announced on April 16, 2024.

Results and elimination

 * Color key
 * The contestant was blocked.
 * The contestant was an influencer.
 * The contestant was immune from being blocked.
 * The player was at risk of being blocked following a twist


 * Notes
 * Instead of the influencers blocking one player, they each had the power to pick between two players to join the game. Brandon picked Quori-Tyler and Lauren picked Max.
 * The players were tasked with rating who they thought was most to least human in the game. Myles was voted most human, and had to block the player he thought was the least human in episode 4. It was revealed in episode 5 that he chose to block Steffi, which ultimately revealed Max as the A.I. Bot and he left the game.
 * The players were paired up as 'Ride or Dies' after taking a compatibility test. The 'Ride or Dies' were as follows: Autumn & Lauren, Brandon ("Olivia") & Myles, Caress ("Paul”) & Kyle, and Jordan & Quori-Tyler. The player with the lowest rating, would be blocked from the circle, along with their Ride or Die. One of Caress or Kyle was rated as the lowest player, and was at risk of being blocked from the circle
 * After being "blocked" from the circle, Caress ("Paul") & Kyle had a choice to make. If one of them sacrifices themselves, the other would stay in the game. If both choose to sacrifice themselves or stay in the game, they're both blocked. Caress decided to sacrifice herself, while Kyle decided to stay. Thus, Caress ("Paul") was blocked from The Circle.
 * Whoever was voted as this round's influencer would also have their 'Ride or Die' become a secret influencer as well. Quori-Tyler became the influencer, and Jordan joined her as the secret influencer as a result of being her 'Ride or Die.'
 * The players' ratings were not revealed, instead the highest rated player would become a superinfluencer. Brandon ("Olivia") placed the highest.
 * The players made their final ratings.