THE Circle viewers were left baffled after two players battled it out as the same person – and no one could keep up.
The Channel 4 show returned on Tuesday for its third series kicking off with a whopper of a twist.
At the very beginning the episode, Yolanda – who had been blocked while playing the game as husband Chris – was given the opportunity to clone another existing player’s profile to stay in the game.
She decided to secretly re-enter the competition as 23-year-old medical receptionist Tally, who had entered the competition as herself on day one.
The humdinger of a twist sent the rest of the contestants into a frenzy when an ‘orange’ Tally appeared alongside a ‘blue’ version in the on-screen messaging system.
Yolanda was left trying to convince everyone she was the ‘real’ Tally, despite not knowing what private conversations they’d had already.
The producers helped her out by giving her some notes and allowing her to watch Tally in an ice-breaker round.
Tally was at first flummoxed by the shock twist and tried everything to assure her fellow players that she was real one.
The Circlers were torn between the ‘blue’ and ‘orange’ Tally, unsure who was telling the truth.
The perplexed contestants then fired questions at the pair to see who was lying.
Tally was left fuming as she tried to convince the player that she was real, explaining the stories behind her three tattoos, her star sign and begged her fellow contestants to quiz her.
The receptionist then formed an alliance with 24-year-old recruitment consultant Manrika, who also entered the show as herself.
But the rest of the Circlers were still unconvinced as they swayed between the two profiles, unable to identify the catfish.
Father and daughter duo Jamie and Millie Dutton-Forshaw could not agree on who was telling the truth, while James Crossley – aka Hunter from Gladiators was left bewildered at their responses.
After getting increasingly frustrated at the twist, Tally decided enough was enough, and pulled ‘orange’ Tally – aka Yolanda – into a private chat.
Meanwhile, fellow contestant Vithun instantly went into detective mode as he worked out what was going on.
He said: “Part of me thinks it’s Yolanda, like the real Chris, she’s like come back.”
Viewers were left in hysterics praising the show for their brilliant twist, with one writing: “This clone twist is genius OMG.”
Another posted: “Woahhhhh what a twist!!! You know this series is going to be amazing.”
A third added: “OMG I feel so anxious for the real Tally. This is crazy. Such a good twist.”
Another shared: “This twist is brilliant!!! Great star, it’s thrown the whole circle into a frenzy. Love this show.”
The Circle sees several contestants living in a block of flats who can only communicate through a special social media app.
The most popular person among them eventually wins £100,000, with losers being “blocked”.
Tally is in a relationship but is playing single in The Circle.
Speaking about going on the show beforehand, she said: “I have built this Instagram that doesn’t really represent me as a person.
“I really want to go on The Circle to strip everything back and be perceived as my normal quirky self rather than these posey, edited pictures. I want to see if you are really only accepted if you look a certain way.”
