Vithun Illankovan entered The Circle to try to make history. And though he didn’t achieve his goal of becoming the first Asian to win a UK civilian reality show, he definitely won the hearts of the nation with his funny quips and relatable vulnerability.
I sat down with him for a conversation, the only way we know how nowadays – via Zoom. Vithun was very easy to talk to, chatty and came across surprisingly self-assured. We discussed his Circle strategies, future endeavours and the hilarious way he planned to break the news to his mum before entering the show.
Vithun was blocked from the competition last Thursday by his 'Circle sibling' Manrika and her 'Circle boyfriend' Felix, after stirring up some mischief between the pair in an anonymous game.
The decision led to an absolute uproar from viewers, particularly towards Manrika, and while Vithun revealed he believed the blocking was done, not out of strategy but, "out of the fact that she couldn’t stand that someone stepped to her", he absolutely doesn’t condone the backlash Manrika has received since.
"One of the things I found quite awkward is when people are giving me support, I just feel like they should be able to give me support without having to say someone’s a snake in the same comment. I make sure I don’t like any of those comments because, like, it’s just a bit awkward."
It’s important to mention at this point that the contestants are real people reading the comments being put online and giving an opinion is different to sending targeted hate.
Likening Manrika "the character" (aka the person he knew her as) to "the girl that's with the popular boy at the start" in 'To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before' or other "American high school movies", Vithun said he got a better read on her after Penny and Tally were respectively blocked.
"By the end I felt like she was almost someone I was a bit scared of, and I felt like I was more like appeasing, rather than actually liking, as such."
Regardless of this, Vithun assures me he didn’t mind Manrika’s gameplay tactics because it’s part of the show. "For me I guess the only bit I personally didn’t like was her ending monologue on Friday’s episode, where she goes like 'Vithun learnt his lesson. Andy, you’re next. If you step up to me I'm going to do you twice as dirty' - it just felt very like threatening and I did find it quite uncomfortable viewing."
"Once you're done, there's nothing for the trolls to gain because the process is over for you, so I do feel like once the show like finishes or whenever Manrika’s final episode is, people will be more receptive and nicer to her," Vithun adds.
Image credit: Channel 4/Studio Lambert
Despite being blocked, Vithun claims he wouldn’t have done anything differently: "I think, the fact that it's a TV show about a game, rather than a game that's televised - I feel like I did the best I could, given the conditions I had. So, I wouldn't say that there's anything that I feel I could've done better, really."
Although, he did let on that he was "strongly encouraged" by producers to admit to the anonymous message that ultimately led to his departure.
"It wasn't like I just did it thinking it was a good strategy. I did it feeling like I had no other option. Even when I did come clean, on the screen it just says like ‘yes it was me’ but when I explained it, I tried to make it seem like it wasn't me coming for them. So I was quite strategic with my apology and I do think the way I phrased it would’ve worked on anyone apart from Manrika.”
As you can imagine, there’s a lot of content from each day that the viewers don’t get to see. Vithun says he was more tactical than what made the final edit.
"Obviously from any individual’s perspective you're always going to know what actually happened and want that on screen, but you understand for a show’s perspective they have to kind of dramatise everything."
The cameras didn't impact his gameplay, in his opinion, though: "I think my behaviour might have only been influenced by the fact the producers needed certain content to edit to create a show.
"Whereas with me, I felt almost as if I was bringing the ‘real’ to reality TV, or at least that was my aim as such. I feel like one of the reasons why I think I've had such a good reception is because I'm very much like anti-establishment of the whole kind of typical reality show contestant you would get. So when I was there, because I was just there to bring the realness, I didn’t try and act over the top when I didn’t find something dramatic.”
Having said that, like most players, Vithun did go in with a plan and his strategic vision didn’t just start when he entered The Circle. Talking me through his application process, he revealed how he ditched his original plan to go in as a "poorer white man", after something similar had been done previously, and how his ethnicity was at the forefront of his mind.
"They said I'd have more chance being selected as like the 'stats mastermind'. Obviously, I could’ve still gone ahead with my original idea, but ultimately, I thought to myself I want to give myself the best chance of getting casted so then I decided to go as myself."
"When I applied for the show, I knew the cast would have about 15 people, like series 2 had 15 people. But I wasn’t thinking I need to be in the best 15 applicants, I was thinking I need to be the best Asian applicant."
We discussed how this actually is a very common mindset for a lot of British Asians when applying for opportunities that tend to only have a ‘token’ minority position. "I thought I could literally be the 200th best applicant, if I’m the best Asian I’ll get on. I also thought I could be the 2nd best applicant but if the 1st best applicant is Asian, I’m not getting on.
"That’s actually how I saw it when I applied; I just thought I need to be the best Asian applicant."
He also really praised The Circle for the amount of representation this series, calling it "historic" and saying he believes it will encourage more South Asians to apply for reality shows in the future.
"Especially given Manrika and Hashu already had big followings and stuff, but I applied on my own accord, I wasn’t scouted by anyone or like asked about would you be interested in applying, so I definitely think it shows that anyone can get on the show. Also, me, Hashu and Manrika, we all have very different personality types so I think it really shows to the viewer there’s not one type of Asian."
When asked if he would go back in as a catfish given the opportunity, he was very confident in his answer: "I’d always do the show again and again just because I’m competitive. For no other reason other than just to compete. It’s ironic you mention that because when I applied for the show, I only spoke about being myself as a footnote on the application, the majority of my application is actually talking about how I would be a catfish.
"Looking back on it I definitely feel like I'm happier when it's myself just because I think I lived the experience more than had I played this character. And also, I feel like a big reason why I wanted to play as a character initially was to hide behind a mask and hide my insecurities. Instead, going as myself forced me to face up to them."
Of course, it wasn’t just his own insecurities that played a part. Vithun reveals he was really scared to tell his parents about going on the show.
"My actual plan was to write a note on my bed saying I’d gone for the show and then just left. I wasn’t planning on telling them."
He did tell them, however, and the first thing his mum said was 'it’s not for Asians'.
"But then I convinced her like I showed her a photo of Shubham from the US series and I was like look there is a brown person that does this show and that kind of helped convince her a bit."
"That would have been such a good narrative if the show was live. Like, someone ‘fleeing to The Circle for reality TV stardom’. The tabloids would have absolutely loved that," he laughs.
I asked Vithun what he would say if he could send an anonymous message to a contestant now.
"I think it’s a really hard question. I would probably do a group one, just to show that the cast are kinda more cohesive and together. I would talk about how we should take responsibility for our actions or something like that. But I wouldn’t want to send it to any individual person, I think it’s more about having the group on the same page type thing."
He clarifies the contestants are all friends now, and even have a WhatsApp group, although he added that the degrees of closeness between the individuals are varied.
When asked who he was rooting for to win, Vithun of course had a logical answer: "I based this decision purely on who I think’s done the best with the conditions they’ve been given," he tells me. "For that reason, I would say Andy or Felix."
So, what’s next for Vithun?
"I mean, I’d always be open to competing on other shows because we filled out like a long questionnaire before entering, and I remember one of the questions was like what’s your dream job or something and I literally said like I’d wanna go on all the shows and try and win or just try and compete on them.
"Yeah, I don’t know what’s next for me. I do think my approach to life is just one day at a time and even in The Circle, after that first day, I was ready to go at any day. I was ready for there to be a twist like while I’m eating a sandwich to be like 'someone’s going home now'. So yeah, I’ll just take everything one day at a time."
Vithun thinks the whole process has helped him prove himself and recalls his relatives always laughing off his reality show aspirations in the past.
"I think now that I’ve done it, I do feel like it’s taken a lot of pressure off me for the rest of my life almost, because it’s like I did the one thing that I said I wanted to do since being a kid.
"I’ve had quite an academic childhood and I feel like people say education opens doors, but I almost felt like it closed doors for me, because I felt like people would always be like 'you’ve gone to this school and this university, you’d have to go to this type of job'. Whereas I think now, I don’t have to be judged as a person that went to this uni, I can be judged as a person who went onto this TV show. So, I think if anything it’s helped open doors for me."
The show also gave him newfound confidence.
"I was probably one of the few people that did the show without the intention of being in the public eye. I did it because I feel like being on TV is more the proof that I was good at the game, because I was good enough to get on the show out of the 40,000 applicants."
"I also do feel like it showed me that I can make friends – well, I don’t know if that's necessarily a lesson for me or maybe for other people and just the wider society, that when you give people a chance, they can show interesting sides to you."
"I showed myself that I am actually like, worth people’s time and it shows other people to give people time and not judge them on their appearance."
The Circle continues tonight at 10.20pm on Channel 4.
You can find Vithun on social media:
@VitIllankovan - Twitter
@vithunillankovan - Instagram
@vithunillankovan - Tiktok
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