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Ever since The Circle returned for series three, its been keeping us uentertained with all the crazy twists and the incredible contestants in The Circle 2021 line-up.

So far weve seen multiple catfish, one clone, and contestants playing slightly different versions of themselves, as they all aim to win the 100k cash prize.

The Circle works by contestants communicating solely through a social media app, and they never get to meet one another until a blocking takes place, with each contestant living in a separate apartment in the Salford block of flats.

From time to time, we see contestants move around the apartment block, whether that be to visit the gym or the roof top jacuzzi. And this year, the shows host Emma Willis was given her own room to deliver messages to the contestants.

So, how does it all work? And how do the contestants never hear each other?!

Its not unusual for contestants to get quite excited in their apartments when alerts are made, so how comes none of the other contestants hear them? In The Circle this could be a HUGE giveaway!

RadioTimes.com spoke to the shows executive producer Toni Ireland, and creative director Tim Harcourt who filled us in on what happens behind the scenes, from how they stop the contestants from bumping into one another when they leave their apartments, to how the social media app works. (Spoiler alert: Its not actually voice activated.)

Read on to discover the secrets of The Circle.

The show is located in a block of flats in Salford, however, Channel 4 only has access to 10 apartments, plus some extra rooms.

Toni explained: So we have a apartment block in Salford and a few months before, we start to rig it with cameras and sound and we have our art director who goes in and designs all of the apartments so that theyre all looking amazing each year and brand new. That takes a few months to set up and then our players enter and we start the show.

She added: We have 10 apartments which are decorated for the players to go and live in and we have them on rotation, so if a player gets blocked, well go in and do a refresh and then another player might move. We have the extra spaces like the yoga room, the gym and the roof terrace, and then this year, Emma had her room where she could go in and create some mischief.

To capture all the madness, over 100 cameras are used, says Toni.

Weve got about 115 cameras throughout the apartment block. I could also probably tell you how much cabling we use theres a lot! So, thats in each apartment and covering our extra spaces as well which is their sort of the chill out area. We call them hotheads, so theyre all sort of remote cameras which are controlled by our gallery, she explained.

On the show, we only ever really see the contestants in their apartments and occasionally in the gym, or on the roof terrace enjoying a soak in the jacuzzi. But thats as far as they can go. Players cant leave the building completely until after theyre blocked.

Jodi continued: Once theyre in The Circle, they are part of The Circle. The biggest challenge in this show is not giving anyones identity away so we could never risk them leaving the building or overhearing production. That might give away the magic of the show so we have to be super careful on that.

The Circle Channel 4

One of the things that has had us confused when watching The Circle is how the show manages to keep the contestants from hearing one another when theyre in their apartments.

Believe it or not, we think these apartments must have pretty thick walls because they just dont hear each other, Toni explained.

In Series one, when Freddie used to scream, we were like, How can you not hear Freddie? but they didnt. When were moving the players around the building, we make sure theyre extra careful so they have ear defenders when theyre moving from their apartments.

She continued: All our players are offered gym time and outdoor space each day and its like mission controlled in the gallery. We can see all our players on the cameras and we have a floor team as well in the apartment building who are there to move the players around. So the gallery will know whos in the gym, and then well move them back to their apartments and then the coast is clear to send the next person to the gym. So thats how we ensure that the players dont bump into each other.

Contestants are, however, given a day off filming to do whatever they like (except leave the building.)

For this day, filming stops completely and they dont have to interact with any of the other contestants.

There normally is one day a week that we call a down day, Tim revealed.

Sometimes theres a few late nights where theyre up recording till like one in the morning, playing games so we make sure they get a day where theyre not on camera. The game just stops, like half time in a football match and most of them spend the day eating takeaway, watching Netflix or having a nap. We dont let them watch the outside world like the news or anything. Thats the closest it sort of gets to normal life in there on that down day.

Natalya The Circle 2021 contestant Channel 4

Despite being allowed a day off, contestants must still abide by the rules of the game and arent allowed contact with the outside world, which means they cant use their mobile phones.

I think this is the hardest thing for players that go in there. Theyre like, What do I do with myself? Im normally on my phone during my downtime. This is why I suppose you see the players doing jigsaws or playing Jenga. Theyre not addicted to their phones like theyd usually be. We couldnt risk anything like that when we were making it, Toni said.

On series three, we watched Billy struggle with how to work the oven. He did eventually get it to work, and you might be surprised to hear that despite his lack of ability, he did have to fend for himself and cook his meals on the show as there are no cooks or cleaners in the building.

Its down to them, Toni said.

This is the interesting thing for me. I love watching what each player cooks and what they order. We take a food order before they join The Circle and make sure their fridge is stocked. I always remember Dan from series one used to make the most amazing meals. He was like hollowing out pineapples and then other players are sat there with a pot noodle. I love this sort of window into peoples lives. Some do a roast dinner on a Sunday, and then you had Billy this year who couldnt even turn on the oven.

So, do the contestants get any help?

We dont let them starve, Toni laughed. We can give them a nudge like with how to work things.

The Circles Yolanda has cloned Tally, and has become Orange Tally Channel 4

On The Circle, we see contestants reading out their messages, which instantly appear in the chat on the social media app, however, it isnt actually voice activated. In reality, each player actually has a producer who writes their messages down after theyre dictated.

I think its no secret that its not actually voice activated, Tim said. We did look into that right at the beginning but I think theres a reason why that doesnt work that well because its really hard. So, the contestants dictate their message and we read it back because we dont want people saying anything wrong or offensive and then it goes through the system.

Everyone has their own individual producer who dictates what theyre saying. Theyre sat in the gallery, which is almost like air traffic control so theres a desk and a producer for each of the players and they have a relationship with them. They help them type up the messages theyre going to send and they get to know them quite well.

As its not actually a super-fast, voice-activated network, things actually take a lot longer than it appears on the one hour episode.

Toni explained: Things take longer than you would imagine. A player constructs a message, they dictate it, it appears on the screen, we make sure theyre happy with it, they send it, the other player receives it and theyre constantly telling us how they feel about things as well. So its not as quick as your WhatsApp.

Its like WhatsApping your nan. It can take a while, Tim added.

The Circle series three contestants Channel 4

While we only ever see about 10 players on the show, there are actually about 12 more in lockdown ready to go in once a contestant is blocked, but they dont all get used for the series.

We have a pool of contestants who are potentially going into the series and theyre sort of on lockdown and are waiting to be pooled and asked to go in, Toni said.

Speaking of the need to keep The Circle diverse, Tim explained why they dont always get used.

He said: Theres a pool because you wouldnt want it to be all men. We want diversity. We have a good pool of about 10/12 extra people.

The Circle continues Sunday-Friday, 10pm on Channel 4 and All4. To apply to take part in a potential future series of The Circle visithttps://www.thecirclecasting.com or email: thecircle@studiolambert.comCheck out the rest of our Entertainmentcoverage or visit ourTV Guide to see whats on tonight.

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All the behind-the-scenes facts from The Circle 2021 - from the number of cameras to how the social media app works - RadioTimes