‘The Circle’ Season 4 Oral History: Good Vibes, Chaotic Alliances, and One Demonic Portrait

The Circle is a competition show powered by communication — and yet none of the players can say a single word to each other. If they could, rumors could be clarified, beefs could be squashed, and tea could be spilled. Instead, the players in the Circle have to rely on text and emojis, reading between every line and making every one of their lines count. And if you’re curious to see what kind of ripple effects one wrong line read can have, just ask any number of Season 4’s blocked players.

This season has been full of chaotic alliances and iconic deceptions. And, in true Circle fashion, sending one wrong message to the wrong player could cost you $150,000. But unlike other reality shows where casts get to hash out their feelings in person as the drama unfolds, the Circle cast has to sit in their own POV for the duration of the game — and then they only see what we see on screen. That’s why The Circle deserves an oral history — because not only are we learning about the ins and outs of this wild season, so are the players.

With the Season 4 finale coming at us fast, let’s take a long, long, long look back at the twelve episodes that got us to this moment. And who better to guide us than all 11 players from Season 4 — well, every player who isn’t a global pop music superstar: Parker Abbott, Eversen Bevelle, Alex Brizard, Josh “Bru” Brubaker, Rachel Evans, John Franklin, Frank Grimsley, Crissa Jackson, Alyssa Ljubicich, Trevor St. Agathe, Yu Ling Wu.

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Every player has to have a strategy — and sometimes that strategy has to change.

Frank: I’ve always had the social work-esque vibe. My friends always ask me for advice, even in middle school. And I grew up in Alabama, so I’ve always had that Southern charm.

Yu Ling: I wanted to go into the game being a little bit more lowkey, but with my profile and how I typically come across, those two things contradicted themselves. I had to open up a little bit more and take a different approach.

John (“Carol”): My persona has been the dad of my friend group. [I’ve] always had people coming to me for things, being the shoulder to cry on. When you ask somebody, “How you doing?” and you don’t necessarily know them [and you’re] 24 years old, it comes across a little disingenuous. So I was like, “Oh, here’s mom. That’s the character.”

Alyssa: I wanted to make sure that I kept up on every single detail that every single person said. I was the crazy notes lady. Have you seen A Beautiful Mind? That was me.

Crissa: I think I played my strategy pretty well. I think it might have been too well, to the point where I became a threat. To this day, I think that I was eliminated because I was a threat.

Bru: I came in with a notion of, like, this will be almost easy. I connect with people on a daily basis on the radio. And then social media, I banked on having 4 million people follow along on my journey every day. That’ll translate so well.

Parker (“Paul”): I went in as my dad because I felt like people would trust that kind of figure instead of me. Clearly it didn’t go great! I didn’t do my homework. I was thinking more as myself rather than understanding I was a catfish.

Right away, Frank gives John a hashtag that will stick with him throughout the game: #MommaCarol.

John: It was for sure a blessing. I was like, “They’re buying it!” I loved it because it felt like we were building the #MommaCarol brand. I never felt like, “This is gonna be the worst thing that ever happened to me.” It was like, “We got the first hashtag attached to a name!” It’s like The Artist Formerly Known As Prince. You gotta keep going.

Frank: I didn’t know [#MommaCarol] was gonna go far, but I just be saying stuff out my mouth and people like it.

In the first Circle chat, a simple question about the title of everyone’s fake memoir posed a real problem for Parker/Paul.

John: I mean, she didn’t know what a memoir was.

Parker: I wasn’t thinking. I was just like, “Oh what’s a memoir?” I was going to ignore the question but that doesn’t go in [the Circle], so I definitely messed that moment up.

John: I don’t care what man you are, World War II history becomes a favorite for most men over the age of 50. I was like, “How does he not know what a memoir is? That doesn’t make sense.” When we talked one on one, I wasn’t talking to my dad or a dad. I was like, “This is for sure either of the daughters that he mentioned.”

Parker: I went from super happy and positive to like, “Oh, that’s not great.” The second day going in, I knew I had to step up my game. It wasn’t a shown but I did put myself out there more and tried to show more personality. But at that point people knew like, “This is a catfish, clearly.”

Parker: I wanted to start a boys’ chat. I thought that would get me ahead a little bit and I felt like me Frank and Bru a good conversation. I’m very trusting so I thought after that, like, I’m good. I’m set.

The results of the first ratings come in: Parker’s at the bottom and Frank’s at the top.

Frank: I felt so good but I was like, “Fuck, I did not mean to do this!” My only strategy going into this game was I do not want to be influencer first. It’s hard for them to get back to the top, people are gunning for them. I was like, “I’m gonna dial down my personality just a little bit.” But I forgot that my personality is so damn big.

As the #1 player, Frank gets to choose a new player to enter the game. Unbeknownst to him, whichever profile he picks, they will be played by Mel B and Emma of the Spice Girls.

Frank: I have this hot guy, then I had this cute guy. Hot guy’s probably gonna go and start talking to one of the girls and not even think about me anymore. Cute guy, he’s a storyteller, he works with kids — we can connect on something, even if he still has girls that he’s all about. I thought Jared would have my back.

Frank: The amount of stress I was under, I think I cried because I was like, “Why am I going to be the person that has to tell someone that they can or can’t come in the game? That’s not fair.” And they was like, “Okay, Frank, you gotta pick somebody. Hurry the fuck up.” Then to turn around and it was the damn Spice Girls? I’m like, one, that’s iconic. Two, y’all let me stress about that shit and it didn’t even matter!

Alyssa: I was in the gym and [Jared’s] profile came up and I’m looking at it and I’m like, “This is 100% a girl in a relationship.” A children’s author was a job that you would give yourself if you wanted people to like you. And this is supposed to be a 27-year-old man and he’s saying he wants to travel the world with the love of his life? That doesn’t exist yet. I’ve dated plenty of 27-year-old men. That’s not how they talk.

The players all decorate cakes for the Cake Me As I Am challenge, and Crissa’s gets the most likes. This helps cement her as an early frontrunner.

Crissa: I feel pretty proud. I have no artistic ability — at least that’s what I feel like. My wife and my daughter are super artistic. They blow me out of the water in every pumpkin carving, drawing, any type of artistic games that we play. Like, I’m trash. When I won this, I was like, “I can brag. I can go home and be like, I’m the artistic one in the family. You see my trophy?”

Now that the players know each other a little more, alliances start to form — but every alliance offered has to be considered.

Alyssa: Big alliances felt like they were bound to fail. There’s no way that all six of us will be here till the end. I tried not to officially accept those alliances. When it was me, Yu Ling, and Bru, it was small and I liked that Bru took the initiative to make that group specifically. I don’t know if he had any sort of strategy behind doing that.

Bru: When I started that, I was like, “Perfect. These two are my age.” I was trying to find things that we all had in common.

Alyssa: Yu Ling cracked me up. I loved her. I thought everything she said was hysterical. And then Bru just seemed relatively harmless but loyal.

Yu Ling: It’s like your friends on the first day of school, like the first two people who would sit next to me at lunch when I was all alone. That’s pretty much what it felt like to have Bru and Alyssa in the [#TheHappyThrouple]. I didn’t think that it was going to take a turn and become a throuple, but I was happy to participate in any way that I could. I know that Bru was most likely projectile vomiting, sobbing.

Bru: The girls took over and I was in the fetal position, trying to figure out what was going to happen next. Yu Ling and Alyssa are such firecrackers but you don’t have that context when you’re talking to the Circle. I’m like, “These girls are gonna eat me alive!” I’m the worst with flirting and even though they were playful about it, I’m like, “Oh, my god.” But as we talked more and more, we really built that genuine friendship and connection.

Another alliance formed, this time between Circle “siblings” Frank and Crissa.

Frank: Immediately I realized that she was in the LGBTQ+ community and I was like, “Okay, ally. I’m sure we will be friends outside of this.” We’re right now, visibly, probably the only two in the community in this game, so of course we’re gonna vibe. Her energy was right, her pictures looked fun. I knew nothing about her being TikTok famous.

Crissa: Frank was my day one since day one. Something about the way he spoke — he was already family, you know? So I was like, I gotta take him all the way. I had that bond that sometimes you create just by looking at somebody.

As the top two players in the first round of ratings, Frank and Carol must decide who to block. This conversation will have ramifications felt throughout the season (we’ll get to them).

Frank: In the first [blocking], I think it is more about what do other people think? Because I don’t know none of y’all for real. We all just met, so I can’t say somebody’s a super big target or a super big threat.

John: At that point I wasn’t sold on Bru. I think I said something like, “If we save Bru, I want to save Yu Ling.” I think we made it a mutual thing.

Frank and John decide to block Parker, the catfish also known as Paul.

John: Have you ever felt your balls go so deep inside your body that you don’t know what to say? You’re so terrified of anybody walking in. You’re like, “I don’t want them to give up who I am.” She walks in and I was like, “All right, here we go.”

Parker: I was really nervous going in. I was definitely shocked. I definitely thought he was very cute.

John: We were just talking and we got along like a house on fire. Talking to Parker was like we had been friends for years. It turned out great. It went from me being terrified of getting my spot blown up to being like, “Do i have a date?”

Parker: He’s literally one of my best friends now. We realized it wasn’t a romantic connection, that it was more like a friendship connection. Now we’re just like brother and sister. But in that moment, I was like, “Oh, there’s a little something there.”

With one catfish out of the game, players start to wonder who else might be hiding behind a false profile.

Crissa: I should have gone with my gut with Carol. Carol got me! I felt like Carol was definitely a catfish from the get because Carol was trying to play momma, like momma this momma that, so much right? I was just like, oh man, Carol you’re trying really, really hard.

Frank: I guess that [hashtag] kind of was her downfall, like, the marketing. But I thought it was cute for the time.

Crissa: And then we had this one-on-one talk and I was like, “Okay Carol, you might really be a girl.”

Alyssa: I knew [Carol] was a catfish from day one because she said — or John said that he baked bread and had set out fresh flowers [in his apartment]. And I was like, “We’re in the same building. You don’t have fresh flowers. No way.” It turns out he actually did, but in my mind I was like “No way. That just can’t be.” So I just assumed he was a catfish from the start.

Bru: Carol was that comfort person I think we all look for that in the Circle. I’m a momma’s boy, straight up, so to have someone like Carol in the Circle, I just naturally gravitated [to her]. Obviously she’s a catfish. Everyone knows that. I went based off of the character of the person. I really felt like the words rang true from Carol, and that’s why I trusted her so much.

John: There are people in the world that are compatible to be friends from the jump. I’ve known [Bru] on TikTok and talking it was like, “I’m not gonna say I know who he is, but I’m so glad he is who he is and I know he’s actually going to be a trustworthy dude.” We’re playing this game together and we’re dying on this ship or we’re riding it to the end.

Two new players enter the game: Rachel and Alex, a.k.a. Nathan.

Rachel: I would never describe myself as cutthroat, but I would describe myself as on the spectrum. I say exactly what I’m thinking at all times. I did say that I was going to be cutthroat and then as soon as I got in there I was like, does anybody like me? Does anybody want to be my friend?

Alex (“Nathan”): My younger brother is in college. Nathan is his roommate and so that notebook you see me slapping against my head, I had pages and pages of notes, some unnecessary looking back. I thought of a lot of more fratty, douchey things that I could say just to spice up my lingo.

After a ’90s-themed party, the players learn that two of the Spice Girls are in their midst.

Yu Ling: I had a good 15 minutes where I couldn’t say a single word. I’m such a fan of the Spice Girls’ music. I know those songs by heart. So the minute they came on my screen, I was like, “Are you joking? You’re lying to me.” I can’t tell you how much that meant. That was maybe the highlight of the entire game.

The players must figure out which profile is being piloted by Mel B and Emma, or there will be consequences. If the Spice Girls go undetected, the prize money will increase from $100,000 to $150,000. If they are caught, the prize money stays the same. The other players don’t know this.

Frank: I started thinking about how I actually brought [Jared] in. How would I really have that much power to actually tell somebody that they can’t come in the game? I started thinking [the Spice Girls] were gonna come in under whichever profile I picked.

Alyssa: Once we knew the Spice Girls [were playing as one of the profiles], there were even things like the syntax of the way that people speak. British English and American English are different, and there were nuances in the way that [Jared] phrased things. And I was like, “This is it. That has to be them.”

Rachel: What drew me to Jared is that he’s a children’s book author. Like, what a sweet human. I pretty immediately after that group chat knew that they were the Spice Girls, I just needed him not to be. I was like, “You’re the only person I’ve spoken to. You’re the only person who’s offered me friendship.” I desperately needed him to be real or at least not be the Spice Girls. I didn’t care if he was a catfish.

This hunt for the Spice Girls posed a unique problem for Alex and his presumed alliance with his move-in buddy Rachel.

Alex: When I first moved in, I was like, “Rachel is someone I’m going to bond with.” Then we get thrown the curveball of the Spice Girls announcing “catch us if you can” and my mind instantly goes to, like, they have to be a new player, right? I didn’t know Jared was a new player. So in my mind, this vote was going to be a landslide between Rachel and I, and I was very worried that everyone was going to assume I was a catfish. So my mind latched on to Rachel and it was really hard to get off of it.

Rachel: I’m a very forgiving person, but I was like, “Oh, well, there’s that.” He pretty immediately was like, “I don’t trust that bitch!” It was an interesting choice. By the way, Alex is one of the sweetest people in the entire world.

The Spice Girls find a scapegoat in Alyssa, who unknowingly put #SmallAndSpicy in her profile.

Alyssa: I wrote that weeks before. I’m a person who likes to prepare. I couldn’t believe it. I had no idea they were throwing me under every single wheel of every single bus available at that time.

During a game of Spice Girls trivia, self-professed superfan Rachel misses a question about the music video for the single “Viva Forever” — a single that, should be noted, was a #1 hit in the UK but was never released in the US.

Rachel: I was six. I wasn’t even allowed to watch music videos. I posted the picture of me at the Spice Girls concert on Instagram to be like, “I was there.” I love them genuinely with my entire heart. They were my first role model models and getting that question wrong… My friends have texted me being like, “I haven’t seen you that sad since your lizard died.”

The Spice Girls evade detection and add $50,000 to the prize money. Now the icons get to visit one player.

Alyssa: It didn’t even occur to me that they would come to visit me. My producer was like, “Hey, maybe you want to, I don’t know, tidy up a little bit” and I was like, “Yeah, sure. B-roll, no problem. Got you.” And she was like, “No, no, maybe, I don’t know” — and I was like, “Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Okay.”

Bru: Those flash cleanings were the worst, when you had to clean so fast and you’re just like, “Oh, someone’s coming!” It’s just insane.

Alyssa: Then I hear this [knocking sound] at the door and all of the blood drained out of my body. After that it was incredible. They really fill the room. Mel is just such a huge personality and then Emma is just sweet and like delightful. And Scary Spice is a little scary spice sometimes. She’s intense.

Yu Ling: I disinfected my armpits when I knew they were going to come see somebody. Literally sprayed alcohol down my throat, like, I was ready for them. I was ready for them to baptize me. It was my religion. So when it didn’t happen? I was personally offended.

Rachel: When [Mel B and Emma] leave, I remember feeling fear, like, “Oh my god, I have not developed a relationship with anybody else except for the Spice Girls.” I don’t know in what world I would complain about that, but this one was appropriate.

The game moves on and John, catfishing as his mother Carol, strikes up a chat with Alyssa, an assistant to a sex therapist. The sex chat is even more awkward than John thought it would be.

John: When I’m talking to Alyssa I was like, “I want to be friends. My whole thing is strong women, strong careers — let’s talk about your career. Let’s do it. We’re talking about it.” I regret it.

Alyssa: I gave her 50-something-woman advice. What else could I do? It was also just a conversation with her and myself, so who am I gonna call you out in front of Ironically, the woman that I was working for at the time had a lot of clients who were in that age bracket, so I was like, “Oh, this is my bread and butter. I got you. No problem. We’re gonna vulva hug today.”

John: I remember clutching a pillow, being in the fetal position, being like, “I just faked talking about being in a 30-year marriage.” Listen, my parents are going strong. I don’t know what the fuck is going on in the bedroom and I don’t care. In the game, you’re like, “A woman like my mother in a 30-year marriage could ask and would benefit from the advice of Alyssa.” I’m all for the education, but I would like to receive it as John and not my mother.

During a roast challenge with Nikki Glaser, Rachel brings the heat — and she’s pretty much the only one.

Rachel: Everybody else was like, “Rachel, you’re so goofy. Carol — mom.” Nobody was roasting anybody. And then I come up and I’m like, “Listen up, Carol: I know you’re fake. We all know you’re fake.”

John: Nobody had to that point said out loud in a Circle chat or anything, “Carol could be a catfish.”

Rachel: I kept trying to reiterate like, “I think [Carol’s a] kind, good person. I also think they’re lying to me.” I had seen that [the other players] were so kind in their roasts, I was like, “Oh, well bye.” I remember thinking like, should I pack? I should pack. Luckily there were people who were feeling that keeping it to themselves.

Frank: When Rachel sliced up Momma Carol in that roast, I can tell she didn’t give a fuck, and she spoke her mind. I love people like that. So I was like, “I like her.” Afterwards she was like, “No, I was like infatuated with you.” And I was like, “Really?!”

After another round of ratings, Yu Ling and Alyssa become influencers and must decide who to block.

Yu Ling: Momma Carol saved me the first ratings, and she had said that which is why I had this loyalty to Carol. I was like, “Nothing touches Carol. That’s my girl.” So when I found out that I wasn’t the only person she had said that to, you start to realize maybe she’s playing the game here.

John did tell Alyssa and Yu Ling that he saved both of them during the first influencers’ chat. Did that happen? Rewind:

John: I remember going into [the first blocking] being like, “I need to keep the girls together.” They show the initial message to Frank, where I say “I like Yu Ling” and Frank teeter totters. I remember being like, “Move on, and I’ll come back to it.” I remember telling Yu Ling, “Yeah, I saved you” and that felt true. Alyssa was the first one on the board. But the Yu Ling thing, I think, is factually accurate.

Frank: I told John, I was like, “You was real messy for that, baby.” I thought it was a really good strategy for him though. [John] did have a part in them staying in the game. What he said wasn’t a lie, it’s just not the whole picture.

Yu Ling: That’s where I said, “I don’t want to be [in an alliance with] somebody who gets caught up in the game because anyone can get tossed aside if you are no longer of use to them.” So I had to jump ship the minute I felt like [Carol was] super strategic.

The influencers’ chat turns to Crissa, however, who Alyssa feels is a threat. However, Crissa just formed a tentative alliance with Frank and Yu Ling!

Crissa: I wanted to talk to Yu Ling the whole time! Her and Frank were like, I just looked at the pictures and I was like, that’s my one that’s my two and I’m going to ride with them for the rest of the game. Then that next [blocking], I was just like, “Wow.” I felt it was coming. For some reason, I just felt like this might be my time to go.

Yu Ling: I went into that blocking thinking I’m gonna save Crissa. It was literally down to Crissa and Frank, who I didn’t even get to speak to until that day. It was so hard because you’ve already made some connections, you can’t throw those people away. But you’re also like, “I really feel so strongly about this person.”

Alyssa: The only reason that I thought [Crissa] was a threat in the beginning was because she was an athlete, and she was immediately so well-liked. She’s obviously going to be competitive and people love her. I love her.

Crissa: I already had a thing about Alyssa; I felt like we really didn’t connect as well and that she was the one that was coming after me. I didn’t know for what reason, maybe it was because we didn’t have a bond, but I felt like she was threatened by maybe my popularity in the game.

Alyssa: I wanted to have individual chats with her. I asked every single day for days to chat with her and our chat schedules didn’t line up. So I have literally no idea who her alliances are, how she felt about me — she was a huge blind spot. I had no idea what to do with her in the game.

And then Crissa gets the block.

Yu Ling: You try to fight for anybody, but you only work with what you have in that moment. Unfortunately it came down to Crissa. But the cherry on top was when they said, “Yu Ling, you have to deliver the news to Crissa.” I was incontinent, like, all bodily fluids just out.

Crissa: I was angry. I was upset. I was bummed out. Maybe Yu Ling was talking to other people and she created these bonds with them first, and it was just a second too late where I created that bond with Yu Ling. And it wasn’t strong enough for her to hold me, and that sucked.

Yu Ling: First of all, flawless skin, gorgeous, incredible, smells great, flawless human being. Delivering that news hurt so bad because I could feel how disappointed she was. I was like, “I can’t believe I failed you.”

Crissa: I still rooted for her. It was Frank and Yu Ling, regardless if Yu Ling fought for me or not. I can’t fault her for that, because I don’t know what that is like to be in that situation. I was just like, “Look, I still want you or Frank to win, so do your best, grind hard, play smart, and this is what I think.”

Yu Ling: I had a full on emotional breakdown the next day.

Also the next day, Frank has a chat with Yu Ling — his friend who just blocked his friend.

Frank: My number one alliance had went home. I had to lock it up with somebody. But I didn’t want it to take away from my experience that I had had with Yu Ling, and where I wanted our experience in the game to go. I used my social worker hat, saying like, “You will probably think that I’m coming to curse you out but I’m gonna give you some grace. Just know that I expect you to have my back. Let’s get through this game,” was my mindset, as well, like, you owe me, bitch!

A player leaves and two more take their place. This time those players are Eversen and catfish profile Imani, a.k.a Trevor — a.k.a. Season 2 winner DeLeesa’s husband.

Eversen: My strategy going in was to go in every room as I always do: find out the people who are there and make them love me.

Trevor (“Imani”): Every season is so different because the cast is different, the twists and turns are different. [DeLeesa] gave me incredible tips about how to be a woman. I told myself early on it’d be really crucial, since I’m playing a woman, to have a really good relationship with the other women in the game. Women can be very cutthroat [on The Circle], as we’ve seen in the past. I don’t want that to happen.

Eversen and Trevor throw simultaneous parties — and the other players can only attend one. Trevor’s toga party was jumping, but Eversen’s under the sea party had two attendees.

Eversen: Toga parties are like classic frat parties. We got Revenge of the Nerds, we got Animal House — everyone wants to go to a toga party. So I knew by that definition alone, people are going to want to go there first. I knew toga party was gonna win. I was gonna entertain them wether there were two people or two million.

As newbies, Trevor and Eversen have to be told about all the twists they missed.

Trevor: I must have read that [message about the prize money] seven times. I’m getting older and my vision is not what it was, but I was like, “That’s 150K!” And I found out in the same conversation that the Spice Girls were in the game. And it was like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa — !” Mind blown. You definitely feel a little bit more pressure at that point. I felt it going in because I was like, “Man, I talked all that talk to DeLeesa and now I’ve got to come in here and perform.”

A game in the guise of a data breach / cyber attack allows players to anonymously browse one other player’s photo albums and share one photo along with an anonymous question. John anonymously shares a photo of Frank wearing a turtleneck and, instead of taking Frank’s reply as a callback to a previous photo of Bru in a turtleneck, some players see Frank’s reply as an accusation.

Frank: I was trying to be funny and show that I really didn’t take this serious! And watching it back, i’m like, “Fuck. That’s not what came across.” Bru had on a turtleneck in one of his pictures and I was just keeping it cute and funny. I didn’t really think about the fact that it was gonna come off to him like I’m thinking that it’s him.

Alex shared a picture of Alyssa on vacation and paired it with a false allegation that Alyssa had privately claimed she’d never been to Europe.

Alex: Part of my strategy going into the game was to be underestimated and unassuming, but I knew when anonymous mode was turned on, I needed to draw blood. Alyssa was the name I drew. In my mind, this benefited me because Alyssa and I had similar allies and if she’s gone, I move up potentially in those same allies’ rankings.

Alyssa: That picture in particular had an actual story to it. If [Alex] had picked one that was just a selfie in someone’s backyard, that would have been much harder. But I literally could see my ex-boyfriend in the mirror of the sunglasses. I see him, his name is Michael, he’s now dating my gay best friend. They live in Florida in a condo together. So I had a story to offer and it seemed to work.

Alex: I thought it was a great response. I was worried my effect was completely neutralized by [Alyssa’s] response because I can’t see how everyone else is reacting.

The tables get turned when Bru anonymously shares a photo of young Nathan holding golf clubs and anonymously asks the catfish how many shots under par is an eagle. Alex scrambles. 

Alex: I go to my notes. I have several pages on golf. I have brands, I have my favorite professional golfers, I have tournaments I watch, I have courses near my house — didn’t have the terminology of what a birdie and an eagle was, so I felt pretty silly. So I need to go with my best guess and hope that the majority of the people don’t know the answer either.

Alex guesses and answers “two” — and he’s right.

Bru: He’s so lucky. How much would have changed if he just got the wrong answer? He got it right by the grace of God and I couldn’t believe it. That got rid of every [doubt] in my head. And to find out after that he was freaking out and just got it right is unreal. Unbelievable.

Alex: I thought I got it wrong until Bru a little later confirms. I was like, “I messed up my whole game. I got that wrong. I think I flipped [birdie and eagle].” If he hadn’t told me, I may have gone the whole game like thinking everyone knows I’m a catfish, which would have changed everything.

Meanwhile, new players Eversen and Trevor — or Imani —bond the way move-in buddies usually do… with a bit more flirting.

Trevor: [Eversen] was basically served on a platter to me. I knew that there was no one else that he had spoken to in the game, right? I don’t have to worry about another female talking to him. And when I looked at his profile, there’s so many similarities.

Eversen: We still chat all the time. We bonded right off the bat. We had that alliance, just the fact that we came in together. That was an unspoken agreement and it seemed to work out in our favor.

Trevor: [Flirting] was something that we didn’t discuss when [DeLeesa] went in [for Season 2]. She was confident, like, “I can easily flirt like a man.” So when my turn came, she was very much like, “Go ahead, you’re on your own with that one.” So I just pull from experience. I was like, “What would DeLeesa say?”

Around this time, estranged move-in buddies Alex and Rachel finally chat.

Alex: I was really glad I reached out to Rachel because I explained myself and then we did form a bond.

Rachel: Even after he came to me and was like, “I’m so sorry,” I knew it was in my best interest to say, “That’s fine.” I was pretty closely tied with Yu Ling and Frank, and I knew that Yu Ling and Nathan had a relationship. So I was like, it’s in all of our best interests for me to be cool with this.

In the second part of the cyber attack, players are tasked with passing “anti-virus software” on to one other player, thus saving them from being blocked. Trevor and Eversen get to pick first, and they must make their decision together.

Trevor: I like to think that I spearheaded that decision. I felt I was really pushy, because I knew in my heart that saving Frank was the right thing to do.

Eversen: [Imani] had also connected with Frank — well, Trevor. Frank went to his party. I was like, “It sounds like they had a really good connection.” I wanted my connection to Imani to be strong as well

Trevor: From our initial interaction, I was like, “I love [Frank’s] energy. He strikes me as a really good person.” Not to say that other people didn’t, but he stood out to me as somebody that I would want as an ally in the game. Frank felt like someone that I, outside of the show, would have a friendship. When I looked down that list, I was like, Frank’s the guy. And Eversen seemed to just go with it. He didn’t put up any resistance and he hesitation he said, “Alright, I’m down for saving Frank.”

Frank: I felt really good about [Eversen and Trevor], and I think them saving me publicly made me want to have their back. I knew that they would be loyal, because they chose me first.

Frank saves Yu Ling, then Yu Ling saves Rachel — and not her throuple buddy Alyssa.

Bru: It’s that, like, what’s the word? Domino effect, where the decision Yu Ling makes makes me think maybe that [Throuple] alliance wasn’t strong at all, it was just all a ploy, and I’m just the meat in this throuple who didn’t have any value. That’s just the mental warfare that goes on in what the Circle throws at you.

Alex: [Reaching out to Rachel] actually yielded almost instant results, because she ended up choosing [to save] me and it was just off that one convo.

Rachel: I am a woman of my word and it was a really stressful decision in that data breach moment. But I knew that if I showed him that I was serious, then he would do the same for me. Was he my first priority after that? No.

Rachel saves Nathan and Nathan saves Bru. Now Bru must save either Alyssa or John, a.k.a. Carol.

Yu Ling: As it kept on going and Alyssa didn’t get picked, I was like, “I’m gonna get tossed into the fire.” It was such a mess. it did not pan out the way that I attempted it to pan out. In my hopes I was like, “It’ll go fine because Bru will stick with the Throuple and who cares about Carol?” You forget that you’re playing your own game. They don’t have the information that you have.

Bru: I’m getting flashbacks, like PTSD, of that night because it was so painful. I was genuinely sad. I thought, “This is a game. I’m never going to be moved emotionally.” I think I cried. I was so sad when it came down to my two number ones.

John: I knew he was close to Alyssa because we had talked about that, but I didn’t know how close. You’re never thinking you’re going home in that situation. You’re like, “There’s a chance, there’s a chance.”

Bru saves John.

Alyssa: I just wish his decision was faster because by the time I was blocked, it was like three in the morning. And from the time that it was Bru’s turn to when I eventually got the decision, it was 45 minutes. So I sat in front of my TV for 45 minutes. I had to pee for 45 minutes, and I sat there because I was waiting for the decision. And it was miserable. I was really sad because I thought like my game was strong enough to take me to the end. It was such a wild scenario that that’s how that all went down. I could not accept it or believe it, but it also was 3 a.m. and I was exhausted. So my reaction was a combination of a lot of feelings.

Now Alyssa must choose who to visit on her way out.

Alyssa: I was like, “I can’t go see [Yu Ling] because I don’t want to leave on that note,” because I really loved her. So funny enough it was actually between Bru and Carol, and I almost went to see Carol instead because I was like, “I have to know.” Then I ended up going to see Bru. I was worried I was going to be a little bit mean towards Bru because I was so angry. But I’m glad that I went to go see Bru because seeing him be so sincere, like, “I am so sorry.” I was like, “It’s really fine.”

Following the data breach, Frank continues to make more natural alliances by opening up to his fellow players.

Trevor: What I think makes Frank and my relationship so interesting is the fact that we can have that conversation and it’d be authentic. I was able to give Frank parts of me, of Trevor, and not have to compromise Imani at all.

Frank: I have to paint the whole picture for people. I’m that positive because I never know when my last day is on Earth. I’ve had people leave here and they didn’t know it was going to be their last day. So I had to show [the players] that I’m this way because I’ve been through all of these things. I have a big story, I’m a big boy, and I wanted to take the moment when I was on a national television show people like, “Hey, I’ve been through all this and look at me. I’m in your living room right now. Your life doesn’t stop at your losses.”

Elsewhere, another kind of connection was being formed.

Alex: I’m getting ready for bed and out of nowhere — like I didn’t even think that a conversation was possible to happen — Yu Ling pops up. For my game, I didn’t talk any strategy or game with Yu Ling. I want her to think I’m very into her, like Nathan needs her. So her coming to me was really good but things got a little hot and heavy and steamy there.

Yu Ling: I’m a pretty bold girl. I own my sexuality, love to flirt. I knew that I was playing a flirting game. I didn’t have it in my head that Nathan was a catfish necessarily, but like, this is not too serious. Like, come on. We’re both flirting with each other. It should be spicy.

Alex: She sent me a photo and I had to send a photo of Nathan back. It’s funny looking back and watching it now but in the moment you’re like, “Oh my god, everyone’s gonna watch this, what are they gonna think?”

After another round of voting and saving, Eversen and John are left face-to-face and up for elimination.

Eversen: That whole day was a whirlwind of emotion. We had just saved someone the night before, that morning I got to host the Circle cruise, and then I’m already about to get blocked. My mind was blown. And then they tell us we get to meet each other.

John: Eversen and I talked earlier that day and he was convinced I was who I said I was. He said something like, “My mom has the same shirt.” And I was like, “Yeah, TJ Maxx is fucking cool.” I didn’t know where my mom got that shirt. I go into this and [Eversen is] already upset because he’s up for elimination. Now he’s like, “Who is this 24-year-old dude?”

Eversen: I thought Carol was legit! I legit thought Imani, I thought Nathan — I thought they were who they said they were.

John: [Eversen and I] ended up getting along great and we’re talking and we realized that we just became friends and one of us is leaving. Like, you’re going home tonight. I knew it was gonna be me.

Eversen: I looked at John and I thought, “If you’ve been here this long and you’re here with me, I just came in, you’re gonna be going home. You did your time, now it’s time for me to shine.”

Yu Ling and Frank choose to block John, ending #MommaCarol’s run.

John: So much has gone on up to that point and I just looked at Eversen and I was like, “Hey, man, I hope you run it because you’re a great guy. You’re really nice. I’ll give you everything I know.” It was very intense to stand there for that long and just try to get through it.

In Portrait Mode, players are tasked with anonymously painting another player in the game.

Yu Ling: They totally started off nice. I drew the cutest little portrait for Bru because I was like, “Bru needs so much love. I’m gonna draw him as a strawberry rhubarb and it’s gonna be so sweet, gonna be kumbaya.” We get Rachel spilling the tea, like okay yeah, she told the truth.

Rachel: I grew up on like 4chan so I love to be roasted. What I love about it most is knowing that that is the rudest that Bru could possibly be. That is the peak of his unkindness.

Yu Ling: They called Nathan a catfish and I was like, “Wait, what?”

Trevor: In my first conversation with Nathan in the the toga party chat, he said a few things that I was like, “You don’t strike me as a 22-year-old man.” I started thinking about 22-year-old Trevor and we would not connect. I was convinced there was a 45-year-old man behind that screen.

Alex: I wish I could be mad about this but it’s so accurate that I’m impressed. I’m definitely more of 45-50-year-old man at heart. And then it clicked. I was like, “I own that shirt! I have it. It’s in my bag.” I was like, “This is too spooky. Has this person been in my apartment? What’s going on?”

Trevor: The funny thing is I have a shirt like that, too, which was the inspiration.

Yu Ling: And then someone calls Frank a snake and I’m like, “Oh, my god, rude.”

Frank: I was infuriated. I was disgusted. I don’t like how people take the anonymous games and use that to throw daggers. And it wasn’t cute shade. Me? A snake? You’re saying things that are so far from the truth and you’re having an impact on my connections with two new people. You’re really trying to taint not my image, but who I really am as a person. I did not like that. I literally had to take a break.

Yu Ling: And then my portrait. I was like, “A serial killer did this. A serial killer did this.” Absolutely not. That thing has haunted me to this day.

Trevor: I felt so bad for her because she didn’t deserve it. I’m pretty sure other people felt that way too, like, it caught everyone off guard.

Frank: I was like, “Wow, y’all bitches are sad.”

Bru: I was shocked. Someone’s sick in the head to do that.

Yu Ling: Literally, I had the worst one. Let’s be real. Objectively speaking. That was the worst one.

Eversen: I’m not a good painter. I was trying to do the eyeshadow and I had the wrong brush and I was like, “Oh god, this is too big. I’ll just draw the corn.” I was trying to get the right aspects of the portrait and then they’re like, “Time’s up!” I’m like, “Oh god, this looks horrible!” I didn’t even try to paint it that bad! I was like, “This looks like a stalker painted this.” [I included] the things I wanted to, like #FakeFlirt because I wanted Nathan to watch out.

Alex: There’s no way Yu Ling doesn’t think #FakeFlirt is me, and so that was bad. Eversen’s painting was demonic and I did not want to be associated with that in any way, shape, or form. I was in survival mode. I thought my portrait [for Frank] was great. I was on a high and then it was boom, boom — two paintings back to back. That’s a big blow to the ego.

Yu Ling: When Nathan’s portrait came up, it wasn’t just like, “Oh, he’s a catfish.” It was, “He’s way older.” If I was sending these scantily clad photos to someone’s grandfather, I am ruined. That caused the spiral. And right after is when I got my portrait that said #FakeFlirt, and that’s when I started to not feel very secure in my Nathan alliance. Who would draw that evil portrait of me? The only person I have in my head is Nathan.

Alex: I started connecting the trio of Frank, Yu Ling, and Rachel and I was like, “Dang — Yu Ling and Rachel are two of my top allies, but they are closer with Frank.” So I’m now just in cockroach mode and I need to survive to the finale. Frank has a really good case to save Imani and Eversen, because they gave him safety in the data breach. Frank, Rachel, and Yu Ling are not going to get rid of each other. That unfortunately leaves me and Bru. He may be my bromance right now, but it’s survival time.

Sensing that it’s either him or Bru, Alex uses a piece of intel from the very first blocking to throw Bru under the bus. Alex tells Frank that Bru is saying that Frank broke an alliance when he blocked Paul way back at the beginning of the season. Frank is taken aback.

Frank: I think I believed him. I definitely knew that he magnified it.

Alex: That’s true. It was probably a little exaggerated to fan the flames. But it was something that Bru and I talked about.

Bru: [Alex] writes down everything and it shows how fragile every message is. And [my comment about Paul’s blocking] was an attempt to not even throw shade [at Frank]. It was just trying to build a connection [with Nathan], like, “Hey, here’s what you missed. Early on, Frank did send Paul home.” [Alex] twisted it around to say like, “Bru’s out here spreading this stuff” and it worked for him. But yeah, it was a stab in the back for sure.

Frank: If Bru felt that way, I wish that me and him would have had that conversation because I felt like we had just had such a vulnerable conversation. Both [Bru and Alex] coming to talk to me at the point in the game, I was like, “It’s too late now. I can’t build trust with you and the game is winding down. I feel like you’re only talking to me now because you see me as a powerful player. And although I appreciate the conversation, there’s nothing you all can do to supersede the connections I already have.”

Alex’s plan works and Bru, as the last-rated player, is immediately blocked. Bru chooses to go visit his buddy “Nathan.” Instead he meets Alex.

Bru: It was unexpected, to say the least. I think he did a great job playing a dumb person. With Nathan, I just really believed it was him. But the nail in the coffin was knowing that he was the mastermind behind a plan to stay in the game, which is my demise.

Alex: My initial reaction is definitely to lie to him because I’ve been a catfish for so long. I don’t want him to be mad at me. I like the guy, even though I had just thrown him under the bus completely, fully, unfortunately, gruesomely. He was still a great guy, and so I didn’t want him to feel hurt by what I did. So him coming in and him being in such good spirits. I said, “I can’t leave this on this note.” So I was like, “I gotta be honest with him and tell him what happened here. He deserves to know what went down.”

Bru: He definitely deserved to be there. After seeing his walls I’m like, “Well, I’m glad you’re doing this instead of being a serial killer because this is like that type of stuff.” It was really cool though. He played the game the way you really should. I think walking into [Alex’s apartment], after you get all the funny stuff out like “how could you do this?” and meeting them and the shock, you just look through all his work and you’re like, “Okay, people are here to play.” And that’s probably where I slipped up. I was going off of emotion in my mind and my heart. I think that’s what I let guide me in all these situations. And this guy was textbook, like, knew The Circle in and out and was playing with every move and every message to win.

But will it be enough to get Alex into the finale? The players have voted for a Circle Super Influencer who gets to block one player anonymously — and the player is Frank. Who will he choose? You’ll find out when the Circle Season 4 finale premieres on Wednesday, May 25 on Netflix.