Hulu Names Tinx Host of 'The Circle' Revival With TikTok Voting

Hulu will premiere its revival of "The Circle" on November 17 with creator Tinx as host and, for the first time in the U.S. version, live audience voting through TikTok and text messages. The shift moves a format Netflix ran for seven seasons onto a Disney-owned platform and hands real gameplay power to viewers — a structural bet that social participation can revive an aging reality franchise.

Tinx, whose real name is Christina Najjar, replaces comedian Michelle Buteau, who hosted all seven Netflix seasons. The new season streams on Hulu and on Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers, releasing three new episodes weekly on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for five weeks. The finale airs Friday, December 18.

What does the revival change?

The original format isolated contestants in separate apartments, cut off from the outside world and communicating only through a show-built social platform called "The Circle." Players were blocked one by one across the season, and final rankings determined the winner. Some played as themselves; others catfished as someone else entirely.

Hulu keeps that core structure and layers on two additions: celebrity players and live audience voting. The network's logline calls the season "a fast-turnaround social experiment" that is "filmed in real time," with "audience votes shaping the game." The winner takes home a $100,000 grand prize, according to ABC7.

The distinction matters for practitioners watching the format. Netflix's version was a fully pre-recorded competition; Hulu's revival compresses production into a near-live cadence, which is what makes viewer voting mechanically possible in the first place.

How does the fan voting work?

The first vote is already open — and it previews the catfish mechanics driving the season. Layla Taylor of "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" and her friend Kate Racker will enter the game posing together as a single man. Audiences voting on TikTok or by text will decide which persona the pair adopts: a character named Doug or one named Steven.

That early vote is effectively an audience-acquisition funnel. Fans must engage on TikTok or via SMS before the premiere to influence casting decisions, converting promotion into participation weeks ahead of the November 17 launch.

The cast mixes celebrities with civilians. Hannah Brown, star of "The Bachelorette" season 15, and Sasha Farber, a "Dancing with the Stars" professional, both play as themselves. Dominic "Chef Dom" DeAngelis of "Vanderpump Villa" will catfish as Lisa Vanderpump. Among the civilian players is Gina, a content creator from Austin, Texas, who plays alongside her husband Yanis while presenting a single version of herself.

Who is Tinx?

Tinx hosts the live SiriusXM call-in show "It's Me, Tinx," which premiered in 2022. Her 2023 book, "The Shift: Change Your Perspective, Not Yourself," reached the New York Times bestseller list, and she published the novel "Hotter in the Hamptons" in 2025. Both books are in development as TV adaptations with Tinx attached as executive producer. She is represented by WME, 3 Arts Entertainment and Paul Hastings LLP.

The host choice signals Hulu's targeting: Tinx built her audience on TikTok, the same platform now carrying the show's voting mechanics. The pick aligns the host, the format and the participation channel within one ecosystem.

Who produces it?

Studio Lambert produces the series alongside Omaha Productions — Peyton Manning's company — and Motion Entertainment, a WPP Entertainment company. They work in partnership with Turnkey Studio Services, a division of Banijay America. Susan House serves as showrunner.

For social media strategists, the revival is a live test of whether TikTok-native voting can measurably lift a streaming reality series — engagement numbers from the pre-premiere Doug-versus-Steven vote will offer the first read on whether audiences will follow a format from passive viewing to active play.