The Circle is all we want to talk about. Move over Baby Yoda, because the first pop culture phenomenon of 2020 is a Netflix reality show wherein a bunch of rando strangers all stare at screens all day, dictating hashtags and emojis to each other in their quest to win big money. If you’re not obsessed with The Circle, then who even are you?!

Team Decider is thoroughly obsessed with The Circle. We’ve got staffers enchanted by Joey and Shubham’s friendship, repping hard for #TeamSammie and #TeamRebecca, and we are all mystified by Adam/Alex’s pants. But any discussion about The Circle ultimately moves beyond the moments (That kiss! That Drag Race connection! That awkward period chat!!) and into the realm of questions. We’ve never seen a reality show like this in America, as all our dishy shows require contestants to be within drink-throwing distance of each other. The questions just kept piling up week after week—so we decided to get some answers!

Decider’s Circle Braintrust brainstormed a lot of questions and whittled them down to a (frankly ridiculous) two dozen. We sent them over to Tim Harcourt, the Circle EP who imported the show from the UK to the US, and got a lot of answers. Aside from questions about where the show films (we already know), the future of the Netflix iteration (come on, Season 2!), and how the Circle operates IRL (we know it can’t be a real voice-to-text setup!), Harcourt was incredibly forthcoming with info about parts of the show we were certain would be closely guarded Circle secrets. We got 20 answers to 20 questions—and honestly, we probably have another 20 questions we could ask. But that’ll just have to wait for The Circle Season 2 (which, again, come on Netflix!).

Below you’ll find 20 answers to 20 questions about The Circle from EP Tim Harcourt. Get obsessed!

The Circle 1. Were contestants given a Circle guidebook? Tim Harcourt: No. They are given the rules of the game and are briefed by producers before and during the show. 2. How quickly did contestants catch on to using The Circle? Really quickly. I’d say less than a day. 3. Were contestants only allowed to chat during certain windows of time? Of course. We had to allow for people to sleep and have their rest, so chats were regulated…. We couldn’t chance bugging people during their beauty sleep! 4. Were blocked contestants dissuaded from outing catfish in their goodbye videos? Or did Antonio choose to not out “Mercedeze”? It’s a rule of the game that blocked contestants can’t overtly out other contestants.

The Contestants 5. How much did producers interact with contestants? A little, to explain the rules and also so the contestants had someone to talk to in-person. It’s a game where you can’t see your opponents, not a test of solitary confinement! 6. Shubham said in an interview that a therapist was available on set. How often were they called upon? [They were called upon] whenever anyone felt stressed or just wanted someone to talk to who was outside the game. 7. Do producers have a say in the catfish identities, or are they determined wholly by the contestant? No. We are very strict that we want the contestants to own their own strategies, so we don’t steer players to any identities. 8. Regarding Joey and Miranda’s make-out, was there hope it would go further? No. We’re not Love Island!

The Building 9. What’s stocked in each flat’s fridge, and how specific is it to each contestant? Contestants put in grocery orders every day or so. 10. How are all the flats spaced throughout the building? Are they soundproofed or are they far apart? The flats are soundproofed and there is an apartment between each pair. 11. How many flats in that building are Circle-ready, meaning outfitted with all the cameras? Are they all used during the course of a season? Ten, and yes. 12. Is the rest of the building occupied during filming? No, except with interview rooms, gyms, and the yoga room. 13. How were the common spaces (the gym and hot tub) shared without contestants bumping into each other? We have an “air traffic controller” making sure only one player is ever traveling at a time, and they are always accompanied outside their flat. 14. Were contestants allowed to go outside to locations other than the hot tub? No, except to smoke cigarettes.