The Circle: Channel 4 decides not to re-commission the reality show

Channel 4 has cancelled The Circle after three years

Reality show The Circle will not be returning to Channel 4, after three years on our screens.

Based around catfishing and social media, contestants chat online and vote each other off based on popularity.

It had three regular series and one featuring celebrity contestants, each with contestants living in the same block of flats during the show.

The show has also been sold to Netflix in the US and has a Brazilian and French version too.

A spokesman for Channel 4 said: "The Circle has been a huge hit for young audiences and has grown successively over three seasons on Channel 4.

"We're incredibly proud to have worked with Studio Lambert North and Motion Content Group to invest in such an innovative show and to have given it a springboard for its international format success."

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Channel 4 also said in the statement that they decided not to re-commission the show as they were looking to bring new ideas and concepts to the channel.

The production company Studio Lambert are said to be in talks with Netflix to launch the show on the streaming service - so hope is not lost for fans of the show.

Studio Lambert have previously received criticism after a report by the Guardian alleged that workers on another one of its shows, Gogglebox, were being mistreated.

The studio denied the claims and said support was in place for staff.

Alex won the first series pretending to be his girlfriend on the show

Alex Hobern was the first ever winner in 2018 and says it was always going to be difficult for contestants on the show to try and top what had already been done in the past.

"As somebody who was on the first series, it was very new and fresh and unfortunately for the shows after that I used to always get the feedback like 'your show was so much better'," he tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.

"It's tough to stay new, fresh and innovative so when I heard it [was ending], I was disappointed, but I think its cool that Channel 4 are thinking progressively about how we continue to revolutionise and be creative within the TV industry," he says.

The third and final series of the Circle on Channel 4 was won by Natalya Platonova who catfished the other contestants by pretending to be a man called Felix.

The second series was won by Paddy Smyth who played as himself and The Celebrity Circle was won by Lady Leshurr, who pretended to be Big Narstie.

It was originally hosted by Maya Jama and Alice Levine, who were later replaced by Emma Willis.

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