'The Circle' Season 5: Subham betrays Billie-Jean to save Jennifer as Brett and Xanthi get third chance
MANCHESTER, UK: If witnessing every season of 'The Circle' has taught contestants anything, it's that they must create alliances. This week, a new player with an old face entered the game, allowing previously booted participants a third chance.
Forming alliances was less common in Season 1 when players had yet to watch the show. However, after Season 2 was out and everyone knew the score, the gameplay became much more heated. If you wanted to make it to the finish, you needed to join a crew like The Cardashians in Season 2 or The Band in Season 3. There wasn't much in Season 4 if you wanted to make it to the end. Then there's Season 5!
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Don't get us wrong: this season has been immensely entertaining, and every player has quickly become one of my #CircleBesties. But when it comes to alliances, this season has been utter #CircleChaos. There's the traditional way an alliance works, in which a group of players — ideally three — all agree to rate each other first and second, guaranteeing that one or two members become influencers. Consider how #TheCardashians — Courtney, Chloe, and Lee/"River" — played the game in Season 2. Chloe was usually always ranked first, Lee was the Super Secret Influencer, Courtney was an influencer, they all made it to the finale, and so on. They didn't win, but they came close.
We're not yet at the conclusion of Season 5, but no alliance has come close to dominating this game. Fans of Netflix's 'The Circle' Season 5 are already smitten with the new cast. And the diverse gang got much better this week as Shubham Goel joined 'The Circle'. Shubham originally featured on 'The Circle' during season one, as fans are aware. He was one of the first players, and despite finishing last in the inaugural rankings, Shooby's fame skyrocketed.
Shubham was surprised to find that he had to pose as a beautiful lady named Sasha when he entered the game in Season 5. While initially disappointed and saying that his "flirt game was not at the top," Shooby resolved to go all in with his new job, planning to trick his fellow participants into voting for him to be the influencer. Subham clearly caught a whiff of Marvin and a few other folks on the flirt train as he entered 'The Circle' this time around. Even though he was as anxious as a girl to flirt (the persona he was given to play with by 'The Circle'), he attempted to keep a little distance but was always receptive to it.
On the first night, Shubham and his fellow newcomer Tasia Lesley aka "Tamira" were tasked with gaining the most followers from the existing participants. Shubham, as Sasha, formed an alliance with Billie-Jean Blackett, as "Bruno," to prepare for the challenge. The rules were then changed to require the player with the fewest followers to block one of the followers. And, while Tamira gained virtually all of the players to her side, with the exception of Jennifer and Bruno, Shubham, as Sasha, was forced to make the difficult decision of ousting someone from the game. He eventually blocked Bruno, much to the chagrin of the latter.
Subham gained Billie-Jean's trust in order to win some followers (as per the task assigned to him on night 1). In return, Billie-Jean took the freshly arrived "Sasha" under her wing and referred to herself as her older brother (his catfish persona being a guy). Subham was torn when he had to pick between Jennifer alias, a combined profile now handled by previously evicted players Brett Robinson and Xanthi Perdikomatis. Jennifer was introduced to the game alongside another new player, Tom Houghton. They promised to always have each other's backs and see it through to the finish. So, when Jennifer's neck was on the line, Tom stood up for her and assured Subham that saving Jennifer is the wiser choice.
Jennifer aka Brett and Xanthi were shrewd enough to leverage their alliance from the start, enlisting Tom to back them up and speak with Sasha aka Subham. Seeing how these two players supported one other may have made Subham understand how vital it is for him to form an alliance as well. Subham was split between saving Bruno aka Billie-Jean and Jennifer aka Brett and Xanthi in terms of alliances. Bruno's words meant a lot to Subham, and his decision to follow Sasha on day one showed that he had Sasha's back. When it came time for Sasha to do the same, he was conflicted since it meant blocking Jennifer, who he knew had a strong alliance with Tom. To win the game and remain in the good graces of an already powerful alliance, he had to betray his commitment and block Bruno.
Do you think Billie-Jean would have stayed if any other contestant had spoken up for Bruno as Tom did for Jennifer? Tune into Netflix to catch the brand-new episodes of 'The Circle' Season 5 and see how this new alliance fares.