The Circle Season 1: Where Are They Now?

Joey Sasso won the first-ever U.S. version of "The Circle," and if there was any contestant on the show who was born to be a star, it was surely Sasso — and not just because he casually flexed by sharing a candid snap of himself alongside Lady Gaga and Adele during his tenure on the show.

Since his big win, Sasso has continued to use his social media to share his brimming positivity and pieces of his life. By 2021, he had 828K followers on Instagram — where his bio boasts his signature catchphrase, "Family over everything." And he remains close to his "Circle" fam, frequently sharing pics from meet-ups. Sasso still talks to "Circle" bae Miranda Bissonnette, though he told Esquire in 2020 that they're not exactly romantically linked. "We have an amazing friendship that is unlike any relationship I've had with anyone else except my ex-girlfriend, who I've been best friends with since I was a child, so this means so much to me," he said, adding, "The love there is so genuine and real." 

Since snatching the crown, he competed in Netflix's Reality Games, which aired on the streamer's YouTube channel, though Sasso and his "Circle" buddies ultimately lost to the stars of "Too Hot to Handle." He started his own merchandise line called The Sasso Fam Collection, which features hoodies and phone cases boasting phrases like "Broey Joey," and he looked for love on MTV and Pepsi's dating show "Match Me If You Can" in 2021. Also in 2021, Sasso celebrated 10 months of sobriety via Instagram.

With her wit, charm, and good looks, Samantha Cimarelli (who went by Sammie on "The Circle") found a way to relate to everyone on the show. It's no wonder she made it to the finale and amassed over 1 million followers on Instagram, including Ariana Grande! Cimarelli is living the influencer life, doing brand deals for everything from candy to clothing brands. Notably, she joined forces with Rihanna's fashion empire, becoming an ambassador for the Savage x Fenty lingerie line.

As she shared on Instagram, Cimarelli earned her master's degree and was working to become a Board Certified Behavior Analyst after taking time off to film the show. She's currently based in Los Angeles and follows the rapid changes of the entertainment industry; the star launched a podcast dedicated to streaming television called "The Stream Queens" alongside "Circle" alums Courtney Revolution and Savannah Palacio in 2021.

Don't expect her to dip her toes back into the reality TV world anytime soon, though. In 2020, she told Screen Rant that she looked at "The Circle" like "a game show" and "never thought about being on a reality television show." "I feel like those shows bring out the worst in people and 'The Circle' has brought out the best in me, so I don't think I would want to go against that."

Seaburn Williams was the catfish who made it the furthest on "The Circle" Season 1, tricking players into believing he was his then-girlfriend, "Rebecca." Unfortunately, Williams and his girlfriend (actually named Sami Denis) split shortly after he was cast on the show, and he told S'More Date on Instagram that their relationship "ended due to a lot of different elements" in the public eye, though he considers her to be a "remarkable individual."

Williams continues to create content on Instagram and TikTok, where he has over 300K and 68.5K (and counting) followers, respectively. He uses his platform to spread positivity and joy, sharing messages with fans on Cameo — and potentially on stage. Although he's been slow to launch any new projects, the sky's the limit for Seaburn Williams.

"I'm about to be one of the top actors in Hollywood," he wrote on Twitter in August 2021, adding that he was starting a radio show "but also I'm back in school so get ready for an even better actor..." In October of that year, he revealed on Twitter that he had booked his first-ever standup show. Perhaps "The Circle's" resident clown isn't done making us laugh just yet.

Sean Taylor is a plus-size fashion influencer IRL, but she chose to enter "The Circle" as a catfish, using pictures of her friend Colleen while keeping the same personality. Though she's comfortable with who she is, she began the competition as someone else because of "the hate and harassment plus-size individuals receive online simply for existing," as Fashion magazine put it. 

Unfortunately, Taylor received a lot of social media backlash after the show's premiere, but she's taking it in stride. "The decision [to catfish] really came down to the fact that I thought I could make a bigger impact by really focusing on the side of body positivity that people don't want to talk about," she said. "Of course, body positivity is about loving yourself, but I think it's also about challenging systems and situations that make it next to impossible for people to love themselves."

Since the show's conclusion, she's continued living the fashion influencer life, serving as an ambassador for various clothing brands, as well as documenting her move from New York to Richmond, Virginia, alongside her boyfriend. They share an adorable Frenchie puppy named Burger, who, of course, has an Instagram account of his own.

Bill Cranley might not have lasted long in "The Circle," but he made quite the impact. Although he spoke about working in the auto industry on the show, he told the Chicago Tribune in 2020 that he quit that after his time on the show to focus on acting and modeling. As a contestant who was brought into the game later, he admitted that he "felt like [he] didn't get a chance to talk to the players. And that the whole cast was already set in stone and stayed to themselves. When there was a blocking, they weren't going to pick each other because of what happened in the past few days before," he explained.

Since his time on the show, Cranley has appeared in an episode of "Chicago P.D." and toured with the band Mt. Joy along the west coast, according to his Instagram. Most importantly, he outgrew his horse allergy. "Hope this gave everyone inspiration to go out and do what the naysayers say isn't possible, doctors included," he joked on Instagram.

Karyn Blanco entered "The Circle" as Mercedeze, and even though she didn't take the crown, she's thriving. Under her stage name, The Silent Celeb, Blanco has been releasing R&B tracks including "Thank God," "Do for Love" and "Funny" since 2018. The nickname, she told GO Mag, came from her club days when she was allowed to skip the line, teaching her the power of being "the person in the crowd no one ever notices but [who] has the most pull." Since her time on the show, Blanco has done collaborations with the streetwear line Rumors of War, and she still lives in the Bronx.

"The Circle" remains very close to Blanco's heart, and she regularly shares pics from meet-ups with new "Circle" family members, especially those from the LGBTQ+ community. Speaking of which, she's used her newfound platform to be an activist, speaking out about queer rights at GO Mag's panel on queer representation for Pride Month in 2020, as well as sharing her support for the Black Lives Matter movement. "I have so many DMs of people telling me that I opened up a conversation in their home that they needed to have, that it was overwhelming for me the first month of the show," she told GO. "I was really a crybaby every day because there's so many people that I was speaking to that went through what I went through."

Alana Duval might have been the first contestant to be blocked on "The Circle," but it looks like she is right where she wants to be. Duval is a model who spends her time traveling across the world — her Twitter bio notes her Mexicana heritage and lists her locations as Texas, Miami, and Los Angeles. She is affiliated with Moxy Management and Aston Models.

Duval has 171K followers on Instagram. "The Circle" wasn't her first stint on reality television, either. She competed on Season 2 of Naomi Campbell's modeling series "The Face" on Oxygen in 2013. Her bio during the series (per E!) said, "With a larger-than-life personality and flair for the dramatic, Alana always has a smile on her face and loves to make people laugh. A former track star, she gave up multiple scholarships to pursue her dream of being a model."

Regardless of where she goes, it seems she's enjoying the ride. "It's definitely been a crazy trip around the sun," she wrote in an Instagram post for her birthday in July 2021. "I'm so blessed to have you all follow this wild ride of mine."