Frank Grimsley. Tom Dymond/Netflix
No catfish right here! Frank Grimsley was topped the winner of The Circle season 4 — and he did it by staying true to himself.
“I wished to indicate people who I — as a Black man, as a Black homosexual man, as a Black plus-size man — that I can go right into a sport and be widespread,” Frank, 29, advised Us Weekly completely earlier than the Netflix competitors’s finale dropped on Wednesday, Could 25. “I wished to indicate illustration within the sport. A visible illustration, not solely to all people that’s watching however for the opposite gamers as effectively. That we are able to exist on this house on TV and thrive in it.”
The Netflix hit, which debuted in January 2020, markets itself as a lighthearted and strategic competitors collection the place contestants who’re in isolation can select whether or not to play as themselves or go in as different folks whereas chasing a beneficiant money prize. The present, nonetheless, turned an immediate success with viewers not due to its aggressive focus, however because of the genuine human connection that shaped within the midst of heated gameplay.
Whereas the Maryland native advised Us that he “holds no shade towards anybody” who selected to enter The Circle as a catfish or play strategically, it was crucial for him to “be himself the entire time.”
Frank Grimsley. Courtesy of Netflix
“I’ve an infectious persona and I do know what I carry to the desk,” the content material creator defined. “And there’s one thing about me that different folks fall in love with. I wished to indicate individuals who had been watching that I may play this sport by merely being myself. I simply saved saying, ‘I’m going [with] my intestine right here and following my coronary heart.’ And I wished to indicate folks that you just don’t must be cutthroat, shady, or throw folks on the bus to win this sport.”
That doesn’t imply Frank didn’t face extra strategic contenders who tried to take him down. When the contestants participated in nameless challenges, catfish “Nathan,” also referred to as Alex Brizard, constantly tried to name him out as “a snake,” labeling him “Mr. Good Man” in an try and persuade the opposite gamers that Frank was pretend — one thing the previous social employee didn’t recognize.
“If you’re being real, folks suppose you’re taking part in a sport,” he advised Us. “I’m actually being myself. So to constantly be pushed in opposition to the wall and [it being] portrayed by different people who I used to be not being real actually began to get to me. It actually pissed me off.”
Frank added that whereas making an attempt to destroy his repute “was actually manipulative,” there’s a sure degree of technique wanted to be able to make the present extra attention-grabbing. “[Nathan] threw a monkey wrench right into a sport that wanted just a little bit of fireside,” he teased, admitting that the pretend frat boy was “wanted for the present.”
The last word catfish title, nonetheless, went to season 4’s particular company: Mel B and Emma Bunton from the Spice Women, who performed the pretend character “Jared” and had been in a position to up the prize fund by $50,000 after efficiently fooling everybody about their true identities.
“I believe the Spice Women would’ve [gone] a great distance! I believe they might have [gone] a extremely great distance trigger I had no clue,” Frank revealed to Us. “It was solely once we had [figure out who they were] that I began enthusiastic about issues and analyzing conversations and nitpicking each little factor. I actually favored Jared! Even once we discovered I used to be like, ‘That’s a joke. They’re not likely right here. It will probably’t be. There’s no manner.’ [But] it was actual.”
All episodes of The Circle are actually airing on Netflix.
Reporting by Kat Pettibone
