Decider: Let’s go back a bit: What was it like watching your mom and brother on Season 1?
Mitchell: I know a lot of different casting producers for these different shows via social media, and one of them ran the show idea by me and respectfully, I was like, “This doesn’t look like it’s going to be a great show.” And down the road, my brother and mom call me and were like, “Hey, we’re gonna go film this show.” And I’m like, “Oh, get out. What’s it called?” And they told me it’s The Circle. I was like, Oh, my gosh, guys, you might want to get away from there. Like, I heard the concept and it doesn’t sound like it’s gonna go anywhere. Anyway, fast forward a couple months and I watched the show and I was like, wow, this show is ahead of its time. Like, perfect timing too. I don’t know, if they had inside sources in the government who knew about corona. To have a show that’s people trapped in apartments talking to people via social media, because that’s all we all did for the last year. So I remember watching this and then a month later, two months later, COVID happened. I’m like, this show was incredible because it gives the behind the scenes of how we all interact on social media. I was like, you know what? Sorry Netflix for chirping the show in the beginning, but this is a darn good show.
Did you see any mistakes that Ed and Tammy made in Season 1 that you wanted to avoid?
A lot of people think I have all this insider knowledge because my mom and brother were on, right? I didn’t talk to them much post-show. We watched the show, but at the time I was already living in Miami. They said how fun it was but there were no details they shared because it’s behind the scenes, it’s filming, it’s not the most interesting thing right? The most interesting thing is the show being on Netflix. Watching them back was a bit of a surreal experience because I remember opening up Netflix and seeing my brother’s face and I was like, this is trippy.
Learning from them, I saw they came into the game late and I feel like anyone who comes in late, it’s tough because people already have their core alliances built. I realized that people skills are really the most important aspect of it, and I feel like my mom and brother went in there and gave it their best shot for coming in as late to the game as they did for sure. I love them to death. I even remember asking my mom, “Mom, how do I win this thing? Give me the meat and juices of it. What does it look like?” And my mom said, “Honey, you’re gonna do great! Just be yourself! They’re gonna love you, blah blah blah—!” I’m like, “Mom—!” You know, typical mom response.
Even though The Circle is not a dating show and flirting is not a requirement of the game, it always happens. “Couples” always form, and you found yourself in a love square with Chloe, Emily and Trevor. Was flirting a big part of your gameplay or did that all happen unexpectedly?
Not at all. I went in there just super in a blissful state. We had all this time to gather our thoughts from waiting to film the show without our phones or social media or anything like that. So I went in there super cool, calm and collected and said, “Hey, let’s have fun with this. Let’s see where we could take this.” I saw a couple of good looking girls and saw something happening. I was like, ferk it, you know, if I saw this person, if I was on Instagram, I’d probably say this. So what’s gonna change here? And I definitely went ahead and shot my shot at a few different people. And then there was an interesting thing happening with the Trevor situation. He’s like, “Yo, bro, that’s my”—I think he said, what were the words?
She’s the Beyoncé to my Jay-Z?
Yeah, that’s it. And I’m like, this is class act, bro code. Here I am getting this knowledge that this guy, one of my boys, is trying to get this girl on here. I am chirping this girl trying to win her over as well. And I’m like, ferk that, he was there first. Usually I’d say let the better man win, but in this situation, I was like, ferk it, we’re not stepping on any toes. We’re going to be respectful. My mama raised me right.
You also formed a really strong bond with Khat because you both joined the Circle at the same time. You also figured out that Courtney was the Joker right away!
Right off the bat. Looking back, I really think it’s just a gut feeling. Watching the show back, there’s so many cues that I didn’t have. I come in blindly in episode five, I have no clue what happened. I had no clue what conversations went down and for some reason, I’m like, you know what, this sounds like someone trying to be a girl to throw the girls under the bus. And really, I think a girl would not want to do that even if they hate the other girls because they know they have that kind of girl connection. The obvious answer was Emily to me and Khat at first. It was too suspicious. Who else has that same verbiage, that same talk, that same lingo? And who else would have a reason to want to move these puzzle pieces around? And then when they got to pick that super influencer, I knew where ties were and I’m like, that confirms my suspicions of Courtney being Joker because who else would Courtney trust? River. They were buddy buddy in my eyes.
And then River’s the one who came to block you face to face. What was it like being blocked by Lee, who is kind of a ray of sunshine in human form?
Oh my gosh! I was blindsided by that blocking. Every time there was a blocking, I’m getting all these messages, like, you’re my spirit animal for eating during every blocking. You’re so relaxed and everybody else is on the edge of their seat. I remember every time I kept repeating to myself that stressing is not gonna get you anywhere in life, kid. So even when I got blocked, I remember I was legitimately meditating. I’m sitting there and I’m thinking this was the only blocking I was actually certain I wasn’t going home. In my head I got Trevor/Deleesa, I got Chloe rating me high, I think I got in good with John. So even if Courtney and River, or Lee in this case, rate me low, they have no chance of being super influencer. So I was literally like, I feel bad for whoever’s going home tonight and I’m gonna sit here and meditate. And there was a knock on the door I didn’t hear, I was such a Zen-like—I don’t know if I was in the middle of a prayer or some form of meditation. And then all I remember hearing is like,”Mitch, Mitch,” or whatever Lee said. I look up and I was so confused. I’m like, first of all, who are you? Second of all, what are you doing here? And then I gained reality. I’m in the Circle, this means he’s blocking me. And then—I feel so bad, Lee, I apologize—I was like, “John, you’re real!” I was like, “Oh my gosh, John’s real.” I look back at it and that completely was Lee catfishing as River and not John. So embarrassing.
Once time caught up I started grasping little facts. Okay, we are in the Circle. I did just get blocked. If this isn’t John, who the ferk is this? Because he’s a catfish, clearly. How did I get blocked? How are you super influencer? You see that unfold throughout the conversation. I start off very confused and then somewhere a light bulb went off. I’m like, “This ferking guy just blocked me! Why the ferk did you block me?” I started getting rowdy. I can’t blame him, because he said it was all strategy. And I said you know what? Smart on you because I had you ranked the lowest out of everybody! I didn’t trust you, just straight up. I was like, I knew you had Courtney’s back and I knew the second it was between me and Courtney, you’re going with Courtney. We didn’t have that mutual level of trust. You played the game well, honestly, and there’s no hate between me and Lee. We still love each other and talk every day. But you know, it is what it is at the end of the day.
Stream The Circle on Netflix