“The Circle” Season 7’s top contestants delivered their final votes in the Netflix competition show’s season finale Wednesday.
It was an action-packed season, with the game’s new “disruptor mode” causing chaos — and finalist Madelyn putting herself in the record books as one of the series’ biggest villains yet. She left her competition stunned when they discovered how frequently she fully fabricated lies to take out other players and protect herself.
But while she made it to the top five — alongside “Gianna,” Kevin, “Rachel” and “Tierra” — she failed to take home the top prize. The winners: twin brother Jersey catfishes Nicky and Jojo Scarlotta, disguised within the game as Jojo’s girlfriend Gianna.
In a rarity for the series, the pair managed to protect their secret catfish identities from suspicion throughout the game, with few suspecting anything might be up as they kept their extreme Staten Island bro energy at bay to play the game as a woman. The top two of Gianna and Kevin ended up being quite logical, as the pair were influencers on the show three times. No one else this season landed the influencer role more than once.
As the final ratings were shared, Antonio — aka Tierra, who’s actually his real-life best friend — came in fifth. Antonio joined the game as one of the contestants who came in later in the season, and while he made few enemies, he also failed to stand out or execute a strong strategy.
In fourth was Deb — aka the 26-year-old “Rachel,” a catfish built on photos of a family friend, with Deb’s own younger personality fueling the character.
The game’s most underhanded manipulator, perhaps the biggest outright liar in “Circle” history, was Madelyn. While she managed to keep her subterfuge largely hidden until the end, she didn’t win over enough of her competition to her side. Her tactics may have taken her to the top five, but it only was good enough for third place.
As the final two were announced, second place went to another of the season’s biggest manipulators and one of the pair of remaining non-catfishes, Kevin. Although, maybe he gets a half catfish point, as he lied about his job to make himself sound better — claiming to be a lifeguard, he was actually a wine salesman. But he feared that revealing that would make him come off as a sleazy salesman… which, he admitted in the finale, is kind of accurate.
Among other notable moments in the finale were the eliminated contestants joining the top five as they looked back at their time in the game, with Darian absolutely floored when he discovered why his ally Kevin betrayed him. It turned out that he was a victim of Madelyn making up a lie about Darian trying to get Kevin eliminated, with Darian shaking his head and seeming to have lost faith in humanity as he continued to stare down Madelyn in disbelief.
But things aren’t all disappointment for Darian, as he landed what may be the best prize of all: one of the sweetest “Circle” love connections the show has seen. After he and fellow non-catfish Jadejha flirted over chat, she started to playfully refer to him as her Circle Husband. When he was eliminated, he used his choice of one fellow player to visit to go see Jadehja and, after some more flirting, ended their meetup with a rare “Circle” makeout session. The two still seemed to be quite into one another as they reunited in the finale episode, with plans discussed to connect outside the show as well.
“The Circle” is available to stream now on netflix.
