Spoiler for The Circle Season 7 Episode 1-9The Circle players form alliances and romantic connections to avoid getting blocked from the reality show’s social media platform. However, the twists of the game change every season. Season 7 has the disruptor power, which can help a player navigate through a blocking. Two players survived getting blocked the first time it was introduced on the Netflix show.

Darian Holt was in the starting lineup for season 7. The 29-year-old teacher hoped being himself was enough to win the $100,000 prize. He noted he was single in his profile and got to flirting. Darian talked to Collider about his controversial move and that romantic connection.

Darian Didn’t Want to Put a Target on Jadejha on ‘The Circle’
Image via Netflix

The sixth-grade teacher said he accomplished his goal of finding his queen while being a Southern gentleman. How did he know that Jadejha Edwards was right for him? “Attractive, smart, got it going on body,” he said about the engineer. “You saw all the characteristics, genuine, loving, all of that.” Darian was also covered with the Bro’s alliance with Kevin “K Fern” Fernandez and Andy played by Heather Richh. Kevin chose this alliance over his showmance and blocked Savannah Miller.

“I was like, ‘Dang, but also that made me think he’s a bro’s bro, for doing that,'” Darien said. “Initially…obviously you see as the season goes on. He was not a bro’s bro and was easily manipulated. And you see how I caught the short end of that.” Heather visited Madelyn Rusinyak after Andy was blocked. Madelyn told the rest of the cast that Heather visited her and lied, saying Heather warned him that someone in the group was being disloyal. This was about Darian to tear him apart from K Fern, and it worked.

However, at the end of the Netflix episode, Darian had a shot to save his game with the disruptor power. He could pick the second influencer and chose K Fern, which got a lot of backlash. Kevin decided who to block with Gianna played by Nicky and Jojo Scarlotta. His non-negotiable was Madelyn and his target was Darian. “I mean, all of the signs were there for Kevin,” the teacher admitted. “I will say he gained my trust at the very beginning. Once Andy left, my game–I should have straight up gravitated towards the opposite way.”

The teacher was too focused on stringing the sales rep to the end because his other connections weren’t as strong. Darian tried to explore his options in his chat with Gianna, Jadejha, and Garret Caillouet. “Garret was someone, I should have pulled a little bit more into my circle as well, because […] we were a little more mature ones.” He said there was a lot of drama this season, and it was stressful watching the gossip ruin his game. “Madelyn pulled that literally out of her a–,” he said. “And I can’t fathom the thought that Kevin was that easily influenced.”

Most viewers want to know why Darian didn’t make his queen an influencer. “So initially my thought was 100% to go with Jadejha,” he answered. However, he had time to think about it and that’s when his plan changed. “Now you get to sit on it. Why are you sitting on the obvious decision?” he explained. “So I check in with Kevin, I have conversations etc. I will say with Jadejha, she was playing a very great game. She was sitting with third almost every single time.” He said one of the reasons he went with Kevin was, “I knew 100 percent, the moment I made her made her an influencer she would have had a target on her back, and we know every time it was an influencer after a blocking, it got nasty.”

Darian thought this move would be better for her game. He gave his reaction to watching Madelyn at work. “She mastered him perfectly. It was crazy. I’m like, ‘Damn, she did a damn good job.'” He repeated that none of it was true. “At least you can see I was true too,” he later said. “I was true to my bros. I just true to my alliance.” Episode 9 revealed Darian was blocked. He chose to see Jadejha before leaving and warned her about Kevin.

Stream on Netflix