"The Circle" Season 3 Predictions | Bella Hirst

If you’re anything like me, you’ve been mildly obsessed with "The Circle" ever since Season 1 was released on Netflix. For those of you who don’t know, "The Circle" is a reality competition show where players essentially compete to be the most popular. The catch? It’s entirely digital. Each player stays in their own apartment where they communicate with other players through an online platform. Some players take this opportunity to “catfish” — use someone else’s photos to better their chances in the game. The players are frequently asked to rate each other, and the top two players (usually) decide on a player that gets blocked. Along the way, "The Circle" offers games for the players to get to know each other (or insult each other anonymously). Through this, alliances are formed, new players join, and sometimes even romances emerge. This all culminates in the finale, where the top five players rate each other, everyone meets in person, and the highest rated player goes home with $100,000. With the Season 3 finale airing this coming Wednesday, I wanted to offer my predictions for the final ratings.

Spoiler Warning - This article contains some spoilers for recent episodes of “The Circle”

5: Isabella

As much as I want her to take the win for the Isabellas of the world, I think she’s going to end up in 5th place. Most players, including her allies, Nick and Ashley, suspect her at least a little bit of being a catfish — and they’re right. The player behind the profile is Sophia, who believed she’d do better catfishing as her older sister, who she deemed more attractive. My main consideration for her placing was how she stands with the people outside of her alliance in comparison to those within her alliance — Kai and James have a questionable but existent alliance with Nick, and Ashley has made connections with both Kai and James. James stated in the last episode that he wanted to block Isabella, and after Kai’s last conversation with Ashley, I think Kai would pick her over Isabella. Even within her own alliance, Ashley is closer with Nick. In fact, though it was a surprise to me, Nick put Ashley as first in his last ratings, showing Isabella as the third wheel of the alliance, despite her “romance” with Nick (I can’t wait to see his face when he finds out he’s been catfished by a lesbian).

4: Kai

This may be a surprising pick, since Kai’s been a really popular player so far. This is exactly why I think she’s going to end up in fourth. She had a pretty strong alliance going with James, Daniel, and Ruksana (then Jacki towards the end), but with Daniel, Ruksana, and Jacki all blocked (mostly thanks to James), her chances are not looking very good. She and James now have an iffy alliance with Nick, who I believe might rate Kai low in the end since he deems her a big threat. I think Kai’s perception as a popular player will cause Isabella and Ashley to do the same, leaving her in 4th place. Honestly, with the only player truly in her corner being James, I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up last.

3: Ashley

Notice how I don’t think the catfishes are going to win? Ashley is played by Matthew, the real-life Ashley’s best friend. Matthew seems like a great guy, and Ashley’s been a nice player, but I really don’t see her ending up any higher than 3rd. My reasoning for this is more or less the same as it was for Isabella — the people who she’s not in an alliance with are going to rate her lower than Nick, but probably higher than Isabella. She said some negative things about Kai in a recent game, but made an effort to reach out, apologize, and own up to it in an honest (well, honest for a catfish) conversation with Kai, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see Kai rate her above Isabella, if not above Nick. I’m genuinely curious to see how that alliance will go in the final ratings. James and Ashley have also connected, and I think they have a casual respect for each other, so I’d be surprised if James rated her lower than Isabella. Also, in his last ratings, Nick picked her over Isabella, which I don’t see changing.

2: James

Even if James has less solid allies in the game than Ashley and Isabella, I think he’s going to be rated 2nd for the opposite reason I think Kai will be in 4th: he’s perceived as a less popular player than he really is. Isabella will likely rate him higher than Kai for that reason alone, Ashley has made a genuine connection with him, and despite her conversation with her, I wouldn’t be surprised if she rated James above Kai. Nick is definitely the most strategic player of the game, and despite their alliance, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he turns on Kai because he sees her as a threat. I’d be a lot more surprised if he did that to James, who he definitely doesn’t see as a big threat, and who he appears to have a more genuine connection with. I don’t think Nick guessed that James was the other secret influencer in the last episode — if he did, that may affect his choices.

1: Nick

I hate to say it, but I really do think that Nick is going to win. He has an alliance with every single player in the game — him, Ashley, and Isabella (“The Band”) have been a loyal team for a long time, and I know he’s going to be rated well by them. He also has an alliance with James and Kai, which I’ve mentioned before that I see as questionable. This is because I don’t trust that Nick will be loyal to them, especially not to Kai, who he’s had it out for this whole game. I do, however, trust that James and Kai will be loyal to Nick. With every player in the game rating him in their top 2 (at least), I genuinely believe that Nick is going to win "The Circle".