‘The Circle’: Do the Contestants Get Paid Per Episode?

Netflix has found significant success with its reality competition series, The Circle. The show premiered in January 2020, and fans immediately became addicted to the premise. Producers sequester contestants who enter The Circle in their own apartments, and they can either play as themselves or as catfish. Ultimately, the game is a strategic popularity contest, and we love it. But while the winner gets a generous cash prize, do the other players get paid?

Netflix doesn’t give players a salary for participating in the show

Sadly, The Circle doesn’t hand out checks to the contestants who don’t win the game, according to Distractify.

Unlike other reality competition series like Survivor and Big Brother, Netflix doesn’t give the cast members a stipend per episode or week. But the producers fly them to England, where they film The Circle, and back for free, and they provide accommodations.

Even if a contestant doesn’t win The Circle, they still get a free trip to England. And as Distractify points out, filming only lasts a few weeks as opposed to shows like Big Brother that run for months. So that could be another reason why Netflix doesn’t pay the players per episode or week.

What is the prize money for the contestants who win ‘The Circle’?

For the first three seasons of The Circle, contestants who won were rewarded $100,000 — before taxes, of course. However, in season 4, two Spice Girls appeared and upped the ante for the other cast members. Emma Bunton and Mel B played as a catfish and completed a mission that raised the winner’s prize money to $150,000.

Since none of the Spice Girls are competing in season 5, Netflix returned to the $100,000 prize for the current iteration.

And while some reality competition series hand out cash prizes for the contestants who come in second place, The Circle doesn’t. The only way to earn money in the show is to come in first place or to win the Fan Favorite award, which viewers vote for after the season ends. The recipient of the award gets $10,000.

Meet the contestants of ‘The Circle’ Season 5

Twelve players, not including Paris McTizic, entered The Circle Season 5. And one of them is a fan-favorite contestant from The Circle Season 1.

The people playing as themselves are:

• Raven Sutton and Paris McTizic (Raven’s interpreter) — they don’t disclose Paris’ presence to the other players
• Marvin Achi
• Chaz Lawery
• Sam Carmona
• Tom Houghton
• Oliver Twixt

The catfish are:

• Billie-Jean Blackett, playing as her ex, “Bruno”
• Brian Clark, playing as his daughter, “Brittney”
• Brett Robinson and Xanthi Perdikomatis as “Jennifer” — Brett and Xanthi began The Circle playing as themselves, but when they both got blocked in episode 1, producers gave them a second chance as a catfish named “Jennifer”
• Tasia Lesley, playing as “Tamira”
• Shubham Goel, playing as “Sasha”

Netflix airs new episodes of The Circle Season 5 on Wednesdays.

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