The second series of The Circle began on 24 September 2019 on Channel 4, with a live special hosted by Emma Willis, and concluded on 18 October 2019 after 22 episodes. The series was confirmed on 18 January 2019. Sophie Willan returned as narrator for the second season. The series launched with 1,975,000 viewers. It concluded with 1,209,000 viewers, which was a +67% increase on the first season's final number of viewers, and attracted the biggest share of 16-34 year old viewers from 10 to 11:35 p.m. On 24 September 2019, it was announced that Richard Madeley would be taking part in the series as a special guest, and would be entering during the live launch. Viewers were then tasked with picking which persona he would be playing, ultimately choosing him to play as "Judy", a 27-year-old woman. He left the series during the seventh episode after successfully completing his mission to be blocked. On 18 October 2019, the series was won by Paddy Smyth, who had played the game as himself. He won £70,000 of the total prize fund, with the remaining £30,000 going toTim Wilson who won the "viewers champion" vote. Georgina Elliott was the runner-up of the series.
Format changes
This series was the first to include weekly live episodes, which are hosted by Emma Willis and airs instead of the regular episode on Fridays. Although it still features daily highlights, it also includes interviews with blocked players and celebrity guests dissecting the week's events. Emma also confirmed on the launch show that the prize fund had been increased this year taking it to £100,000, doubling the amount from the first series. The £100,000 would be split, with £70,000 going to the highest rated player and £30,000 going to the viewers' favourite finalist. Unlike the previous series, instead of the players rating each other out of 5 during each round, they are given the task of ranking each other from most to least favourite instead.
Players
The contestants taking part in the series were revealed on 23 September 2019.
Twists
Richard Madeley - "Judy"
Ahead of the launch it was announced that television presenter Richard Madeley would be entering The Circle, with the viewers deciding which persona he would be playing. They chose him to play as "Judy" a 27-year old woman. In Episode 5, Richard was tasked with becoming the most unpopular player and getting blocked at the next ratings. He successfully completed this task and as a reward, was allowed to give one player immunity in the next ratings. He gave this to Georgina.
"Joyce"
Beth Dunlavey and Jack Quirk, who both joined The Circle as separate players in Episode 8 were subject of the next twist decided by the public. After being blocked during Episode 11 having received the two lowest set of average ratings, they were then informed that the viewers had been voting for whether they should be blocked for good and be replaced by a brand new player, or continue in the game together but joining forces to play as one player, "Joyce", a 62-year-old woman. The viewers voted for Beth and Jack to continue in the game, and Joyce officially joined The Circle in Episode 12.
During Episode 16, Andrea and Jan entered The Circle as anonymous players. Andrea and Jan had to participate in various tasks until the main players had to vote for the egg they wanted to join The Circle as the final new player. Tim and Ella voted for Red Egg, whilst Beth and Jack, Busayo, Georgina, James, Paddy and Woody voted for the Blue Egg, meaning that with the majority of votes, Jan was voted into The Circle and Andrea was immediately blocked and left the show just a few hours after arriving. Jan became the last player to enter The Circle.
Results and elimination
Unlike the previous series, players ranked each other from most to least favourite in order to determine the average ratings results. ; Colour key
