'The Circle' Season 6 is missing a key ingredient so far: Blockings! (2024)

I’m pausing notifications and chucking my phone across the room because The Circle is finally back on Netflix and I need zero distractions. The only ALERTS I want are the ones coming from the TV, okay? And they better come fast and furious, because I’ve waited almost a year and a half for a new season of this show. Give me twists, give me catfish, give me unwieldy hashtags and ridiculously named alliances —and most of all, give me blockings.

The first four episodes of The Circle Season 6 have plenty of all of that — except for one: the blockings! SPOILER ALERT —For the first time in The Circle’s history, no one went home in the first week’s episodes. I’m all about the #CircleFam and #GoodVibesOnly and #BudsOverBlocks or whatever, but I gotta admit that I was a little bummed that no one got the chop in Week 1. In fact, The Circle added players to the game before blocking a single one. One of those players is an old PC tower that’s been run through an art department and plopped on a coffee table in an empty apartment, but still —we’re leaving Week 1 with more humans than we started with!

Let me be clear: it’s not like I like watching the players —how does “Olivia” put it? —destroy someone’s entire day by putting them on block.

And it does suck to see players go home on Episode 1. Let them unpack and unwind a bit before evicting them, y’know? So for that reason, it’s nice that all of the Season 6 starting lineup gets a minimum of four episodes to find their footing and get to strategizing. Just because it’s good for the players doesn’t mean it’s good for the show.

There are many emotions involved in seeing a player go home on a competition show, some positive and some negative. You’re stoked when your faves are spared and shed a tear when they’re told to pack it up. That’s why regular eliminations are important in a competition show, because they pull viewers in and add stakes to the game. And in an unpredictable game like The Circle, they keep you guessing as to who’s getting blocked next.

The Circle is unique, though, in that eliminations don’t just elicit a cheer or jeer like they do on Top Chef or Drag Race or Survivor. On The Circle, eliminations lead to a moment that is quintessentially Circle-y and quite possibly the reason the entire show exists: the face-to-face meeting!

No other reality show has a moment like this built into its concept. This is a moment wherein players get to confront the people who betrayed them…

… bond with the players they trusted…

… and — of course — find out if someone is actually who they say they are!

Hell, sometimes a player gets a face-to-face-to-face with the Spice Girls.

On top of all that no other show gives eliminated contestants a chance to completely wreck other players’ games on their way out.

And because The Circle tends to keep attractive young adults cooped up all alone for a week, sometimes these meetings get awkwardly spicy!

These are the moments that make The Circle The Circle. While Season 6 is off to a super fun start, I am a bummed that we didn’t get any moments like these in the first week. More blockings mean more iconic moments!

There is, however, another way to look at Season 6 having a smaller cast and the lack of blockings in the first week. Fewer players means more screen time for the 10 we have (+AI bot Max). That means we’ll get to know them better, thus making the slightly fewer blockings we get this season even more emotionally impactful. It’s a slightly different mindset from the first few seasons, but this seems to be one of the only real format tweaks that the show has made for its transition to a new city and showrunner. So we didn’t get any awkward romantic tension or catfish reveals in Week 1. There’s still plenty of The Circle Season 6 left to watch —and I cannot wait for this cast to find out that hot nurse “Olivia” is an IRL Cabbage Patch Adult (his words!) named Brandon.