As Vulture reported early last year, Netflix's The Circle has the potential to be catfish-central! Part of the fun of the show is seeing contestants figure out who's real and who's fake - but while that may be entertaining for viewers, what's going through the contestants' minds as they navigate the show?
In an exclusive interview with TheThings, Season 3's Calvin Crooks opened up about how he knew who was real and who was fake while filming, and spilled the beans on who he wasn't 100% sure about!
Calvin Weighs In On Why He Believed Kai Was Real
As TheThings has previously reported, Calvin had a feeling Kai was real, right from the start!
Given the showmance these two shared, that's hardly surprising!
The real question is, who else did Calvin feel was 100% genuine?
Why Calvin Had A (Good!) Gut Feeling About Ruksana
Another contestant Calvin believed was real, right from the get-go was Ruksana Carroll.
Per Bustle, Ruksana is no stranger to reality TV, having featured on Family Feud not once, but TWICE in the past. For that reason, it might make sense that Calvin felt like he knew her.
However, it turns out Calvin actually knew her, IRL. That's because, as Calvin laughed, "Ruksana is, to this day, 10 minutes away from my parents' house [in New Jersey]. I'd seen her before!"
If having seen each other around town before hadn't been enough, Calvin added that the way each of them spoke confirmed the theory, too.
"She knew, from the way I talked, that I was real," and vice versa.
As a result, he continued, "my gut was just telling me to have her back," - and it seems like it's paid off, because off-camera, these two have become great friends.
In fact, Calvin added, "her daughter calls me 'Uncle Cal' now. It's crazy!"
What About Michelle?
As Culturess reported, The Circle viewers were set into a tailspin when catfishing duo, Ava and Chanel cloned the identity of Michelle Rider, thereby becoming 'Blue Michelle.'
Asked why he believed Blue Michelle to be the real deal, Calvin laughed, "alright, I want you to think objectively now. [As a contestant], you're seeing a screen!"
He went on to elaborate that, "we had one person giving us a lot of detail and, respectfully [the real] Michelle wasn't giving much detail on herself."
However, what tipped the scale in favor of Blue Michelle in Calvin's eyes was the photo Orange Michelle shared.
"She said it was from 2000, but the quality did not look like it was from the year 2000. The quality looked like it was a Polaroid, old-school, flick-of-the-wrist type!" he joked, before adding, "20 years ago was T-Pain!"
What Made Calvin Think Twice About Ava
Speaking of the blocking that led to Ava and Chanel taking on Michelle's identity in the first place, Calvin admitted that he wasn't 100% sure about whether Ava - previously a contestant on America's Next Top Model - was real or not.
For starters, she was incredibly attractive, and initially, Calvin explained that he had some suspicions.
That being said, he also acknowledged, "Netflix knows how to get very good looking people together," referencing the platform's super popular Too Hot To Handle as an example, "so I rolled with it."
As for his thoughts on the matter once he saw that Ava and Chanel were in it together, he was less than impressed. Asked whether he felt like he'd been catfished, he didn't skip a beat: "they were 100% a catfish."
"There wasn't a 'Chanel and Ava' profile, it was just an Ava profile!"
He ain't wrong about that!
There's no denying that The Circle messes with everyone's heads, from viewers to contestants, themselves! However tricky it may be to keep up, though, one thing's for sure: fans just can't get enough!