Warning! The following contains spoilers for The Circle Season 3's first four episodes that were released on Wednesday, September 8th. read at your own risk!
Netflix's The Circle recently returned for Season 3, and the social media reality competition really hit the ground running with an awesome cast and some new fresh twists. Few felt the burn harder from those early-episode twists than Michelle Rider, the wife, mother, and dog-lover from South Carolina whose identity was stolen by the season's first evicted contestants, sisters Ava and Chanel Capra. There were two Michelles in the game, and the exit ultimately came down to one fateful question about dogs.
I'm talking, of course, about the seemingly innocuous poll in which the cast was asked whether they let their pets kiss them on the mouth. Orange Michelle — the real Michelle — chose no, and it was that avoidance of canine saliva that ultimately caused the cast to wrongly determine that Ava and Chanel Capra's Blue Michelle was the "true Michelle" that entered the game. When I spoke to Michelle Rider about the moment that effectively ended her game, I asked if she expected her thoughts on dog kisses would go over so poorly with her fellow competitors. Her response:
Hell no! No! I could not believe that! See, I think there’s still a misunderstanding because what the question was is ‘Would you let your dog lick you in the mouth?’ Remember? I said ‘No, but I will let my dog lick me on the cheek.’ And everybody just went crazy because I don’t want my dog who just licked their boo boo to lick me in the mouth. That’s where my husband kisses me, you know what I’m saying?
I certainly understand what Michelle Rider is saying, but I can't deny being just as shocked as the rest of The Circle Season 3 cast was in hearing that she did not allow her dogs to kiss her on the mouth. She was the self-professed dog lover of the group, after all, so when Blue Michelle chose the answer everyone expected a dog-lover to pick, I could only cringe, knowing it hurt her chances of staying in the game.
Ultimately, that was the deciding factor that convinced The Circle cast to keep Blue Michelle and block Orange Michelle's profile from the game. As one would expect, Rider wasn't on board with how the cast reacted whenever she watched the finalized episode, and then doubled down on her response in a hilarious way.
And everybody’s like ‘Ooh she can’t be real.’ Honey, my dogs are my babies, but I don’t care. I’m not going to let them put their poo poo mouth on my... Hell no, uh-uh.
If it's any consolation, at least the Capra sisters didn't go much further than the fake Michelle Rider. Episode 4 ended with Kai Ghost's arrival to the room, as marked by her stunned face when she realized The Circle Season 3 cast had made a terrible mistake. Of course, these things happen in The Circle, and if it's any consolation for Rider, it doesn't seem she would have lasted much longer anyway, given Ava and Chanel Capra didn't exactly sweep the competition as catfish Michelle.
The Circle Season 3 airs new episodes on Netflix every Wednesday all throughout September.
