Here’s What Cost 'The Circle: France' Contestant Paolo Thousands of Fans Online

Are you into the reality game show The Circle on Netflix? If not, start watching. And if so, you know that the series has U.S. and Brazilian editions, and might be aware that it actually began as a British show back in 2019.

And now, the expansion continues. We can officially add France to that list, as The Circle: France dropped on April 9. 

The name of the game is to decide who to be to build your best social media presence. From there, you're on a mission to become a top influencer and, ultimately, win a cool €100,000.

As the world is introduced to the new French contestants, naturally, people want to know more. 

The youngest contestant on this season, Paolo — or Chico Paolo — is a 21-year-old who hails from Chatou, France. He’s a self-described actor, student, and model. He also shares that he’s an avid climate activist, which has caused some controversy with his followers (more on this to come).

Paolo plays himself on the show (whereas other contestants take on personas in the hopes of gaining more popularity). His persona seems to be working out for him in real life. He's gained 120,000 Instagram followers and counting — in less than a year!

On the show, “the contestants create an online profile, where they can either be themselves or a catfish (a fake account where they pretend to be someone else). While they vie to win daily challenges, users begin to privately DM each other and build alliances. The goal: be named the most popular of the group by the end of the season,” as Entertainment Weekly explains. 

Paolo’s feed is filled with photos that practically ooze with angst, sexuality, and one clearly carefree spirit. Each post gets more of a response than the previous one, and it’s no surprise between his provocative captions and the heavy James Dean vibes he gives off. Case in point, one hashtag he uses is #dontneedclothes.

As mentioned, Paolo is proud to say that he’s very committed to the environment. But he admits that it’s been tough for him to find a balance and the best way to introduce his ideas on social media without losing fans, he tells OhMyMag. 

With a growing fanbase, he realized that social was a platform for creating positive change. 

“When I started having a lot of subscribers...I see it as a loudspeaker,” he says.

But when he opened up about his dietary preferences and bad habits that impact the planet, he noticed that he lost more than 30,000 followers in just a few months. Let’s face it. People aren’t following him for his climate views (I mean, have you seen him?). 

“People subscribed to me for my physique, that's what I was proposing, so they were not going to subscribe for anything else,” Paolo says. “Today, this social network is not known to share ‘intellectualized’ information but I want to participate in this change."

Keep doing your thing, Paolo!