The Challenge Scouting Reports: The Circle Season 1

*SPOILER ALERT FOR THE CIRCLE SEASON 1*

The Challenge started off with rookies coming onto the show exclusively from The Real World or Road Rules but nowadays contestants are coming on to The Challenge from almost anywhere. With casting rumors about season 37 circulating including the first potential Challenger crossing over from Netflix’s The Circle and the premiere of Season 2 of The Circle this week, I took a look at the full cast from The Circle Season 1 to evaluate who of them would and wound not be good additions to The Challenge in the debut of a series I am calling The Challenge: Scouting Reports.

I am breaking down the cast members from each show in to one of four categories “Not Right for The Challenge”, “I’m not excited but they could surprise me”, “Good Casting Choice” and “Absolutely! Why aren’t they already cast??.” First a quick description of what The Circle is…

The Circle is a social strategy reality show that on Netflix. The premise is that each of the players are isolated in their own apartments and communicate exclusively using an in show social media app called The Circle. The big twist being that players can appear as themselves or choose to catfish as a somebody else. So without further ado here are my thoughts on where the cast from The Circle Season 1 fall in terms of viability as prospects for The Challenge.

Not Right for the Challenge:

Karyn Blanco:

The Challenge is just not the kind of show for Karyn. She is fun and gives good commentary but she is right for a social game like The Circle and not as much the physical game we see on The Challenge. She is nearly 40, married and not really athletic so I think she would not be what is right for The Challenge.

Alex Lake:

Alex similarly to Karyn in that he is not right for a show like The Challenge. He is in his midthirties, married and not athletic. He would just be completely out of place on The Challenge like in high school if you took the stereotypical theater kid was put on the football team to play quarterback without ever playing football in his life.

Tammy Eason:

In The Circle people can choose to catfish as someone else, Tammy came in with her grown son to try to be a calming force for the chaotic and brash nature of her son Ed. She is older than even every contestant who is on The Challenge All Stars and although it would be hilarious in an absurd way we do not need to see a 54 year old rookie on season 37 of The Challenge.

Sean Taylor:

Sean’s storyline on The Circle was about how she was coming in using somebody else’s pictures and then making the choice to embrace her own beauty as a curvy woman. Sean is in a committed relationship and has taken a step back from social media. She seems very happy in her life and like someone who would not enjoy the extreme nature on The Challenge.

Bill Cranley:

Bill was only on the show for three episodes and brought very little. After he was eliminated, Bill whined about how because he entered the game part of the way through it was unfair for people to stick to their alliances. So considering that he is both boring, whiney, and not memorable enough that anyone would be excited to see him I think he is an easy person to pass on.

Shubham “Shooby” Goel:

Shubham was one of my absolute favorites from The Circle but he is not right for The Challenge. The closest comparison to someone who appeared on The Challenge would be Mike who was a replacement on Rivals and even though a lot of people really liked Mike there was a reason why he did not want to come back. The Challenge is not Shubham’s kind of show. Shubham is also pretty busy living a very different kind of life being actively involved in politics including being the youngest person to run for Governor of California. I cannot see him making the transition to The Challenge as much fun as he is I think he would get called in to the first elimination round and destroyed.

I’m Not Excited But They Could Surprise Me:

Chris Sapphire:

Chris is really entertaining and would bring good representation for gay men which The Challenge has been a bit lacking as of recently. However I do not know if it is something he would want to do and he also does not strike me as someone who would be a great competitor in a show that is this physically demanding.

Alana Duval:

Alana was the first person out on The Circle. She is an absolute smoke show and I could see her be fun on the show but I am a bit hesitant. She is a lingerie and bikini model and not an athletic model. Also she doesn’t look to be really in to hitting the gym and gives me similar vibes to someone like Anastasia (The Real World: Portland & Rivals 2).

Good Casting Choice:

Miranda “Randi” Bissonnette:

Randi was not on The Circle for a very long time but while she was there she was very fun. She is very flirty and could potentially bring fun and hook ups to the show. Similar to Alana she has been working as a model but Randi is in better shape than Alana. Also She was able to build much stronger relationships with others contestants including a number who I have in my “Absolutely! Why aren’t they already cast” category.

Antonio DePina:

Antonio had a strong start on The Circle but then he quickly crashed and burned. He is a messy player, very flirty and physically intimidating. He is a professional basketball player currently playing overseas and could come onto The Challenge similar to a Fessy and be a dominant physical competitor with legitimate professional athlete abilities. I don’t know if he would be willing to come on The Challenge particularly if it were to conflict with his basketball career but I think he’d be a really good choice both for the competition and the drama.

Ed Eason:

Ed is supposedly in quarantine right now to be on season 37 of The Challenge. On The Circle he is the guy I mentioned above who came on the show with his mom. He is both well educated graduating from with a degree in engineering from Cornell and in good shape being a college athlete and enjoying adrenaline fueled sports which could definitely translate to success on The Challenge. Ed is brash, messy and someone I could see get into drama and hook ups which is something the show has been lacking as of recently. He is a bit unexpected of a choice since he was only on three episodes but after considering it I hope we do see him on the show next season and not getting cut last minute as an alternate.

Absolutely! Why aren’t they already cast??:

Seaburn Williams

Seaburn was one of the five finalists on season 1 of The Circle and made it there while catfishing as his girlfriend leading to a lot of hilarity. He is an absolute goof and reminds me of Kyle that he will be a lot of fun and great in confessionals. Besides the entertainment factor Seaburn is also in great shape, he has been working as a model since the show and absolutely cut. I think he would be an absolute slam dunk to contact and bring on for a future season of The Challenge.

Joey Sasso:

Joey was the absolute star of the first season of The Circle. He is a fun and flirty ladies man but in a way that it comes across as genuine and not as sleazy. He had genuine friendships with all different kinds of people and he ended up getting the votes to win the season from the rest of the cast. He is a reasonably athletic guy but I think if he were to want to come on with the goal of trying to win he may need to hit the gym a bit harder. However he is a really good guy and great entertainment. Also the potential for him to come on to a future season of The Challenge is strong, Joey is going to be on the new MTV dating show Match Me if You Can with Challenge Alumni Ashley “Millionaire” Mitchell and Natalie Negrotti so he certainly has an in with MTV.

Sammie Cimarelli:

Sammie was one of my personal favorites from The Circle and I wasn’t alone in thinking that since she won Fan Favorite at the end of the season. She is gorgeous, super entertaining and I think she could potentially be a surprisingly scrappy competitor similar to Kina, Diem or Big T small but has a lot of heart. After the show she went back to school to finish her masters degree so I do not know if she is potentially ready to move on from reality tv but I certainly hope not because she is the number one person I want to make the leap from The Circle on to a season of The Challenge.