The Circle premiered on Netflix back in January of 2020 and became a huge success, and it's time to talk about how it positively impacted the LGBTQ+ community. The series saw competitors live in their own apartments and communicate with the other contestants via "The Circle," the show's very own talk-to-text social media platform. Players compete to be the last ones standing, for a cash prize of $100,000 ($150,000 in Season 4), and during season 4 of the show, history was made.
Since The Circle premiered, the show has featured an LGBTQ+ castmate on every season. Some of the LGBTQ+ contestants that appeared on the series included season 1’s Chris Sapphire and Sammie Cimarelli, season 2’s Courtney Revolution and Lee Swift, and season 3’s Sophia Layne and Matthew Pappadia. However, none of this LGBTQ+ contestants ever won a grand prize. That would change during season 4 of the Netflix show.
When season 4 premiered, viewers were introduced to 28-year-old Frank Grimsley. According to Out, the openly gay contestant was a "big boy with a big personality," and he would make history on the show. During the Wednesday, May 25 finale, the 28-year-old school social worker was crowned the winner, beating out runner-up Trevor St. Agathe (who played as his wife's friend, Imani). Frank became the first LGBTQ+ contestant to be crowned the winner of The Circle.
According to the article mentioned above, right from the start of the game, Frank's fellow The Circle players loved his infectious charisma, and connected with his personality. Throughout his time in the game, Frank was ranked highly, and became an influencer three times. This just goes to show that the fellow players in The Circle game bonded with him.
While there were LGBTQ+ finalists in past seasons of The Circle, Frank beat out all those other finalists. and made history on the show, something that he sure wasn't expecting to happen. His success has set a happy precedent, pleasing many viewers. Now, Frank has paved the way for future LGBTQ+ contestants on the series. The popular player was his authentic self, so he was able to win the game without pretending. Now, future players who are out and proud know that they also have a chance at victory. If viewers want to watch the series, they should know that four seasons of the show are now streaming on Netflix. Re-watching the series will definitely give fans a way to kill time until The Circle season five premieres.
Source: Out