By Paul Jones @GazettePaul
Editor/Head of News
A SOMERSET farmer is set to plough a rather different furrow when he takes part in a TV reality show.
The 35-year-old - known only as Sy - will appear in Channel 4 series The Circle, which sees players live in separate flats in the same apartment block, communicating with eachother through a social media platform.
The platform - called The Circle - allows the players to be whomever they want in their profiles, as they are hidden behind a screen, hiding or revealing whatever the like.
Popularity is the name of the game, with players rating each other as the show progresses, and the least-popular individuals 'blocked', leaving the show.
Over the course of the three and a half weeks, The Circle sees twists and turns, shock blockings and new players entering when old ones are blocked.
And viewers at home can also influence the show with live votes via The Circle app.
HOME: The contestants all live in The Circle apartments
Character is everything in The Circle, and fourth-generation farmer Sy described himself 'confident, outgoing and cheeky' - but planned to stay honest in the show.
"I can't lie, I find it impossible to. I wish I could, but my memory is so bad I could not lie.
"Also, I'm not so bad, why would I want to be anyone else?"
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"I guess I'm quite lucky because I lead quite a different lifestyle than most so I'm hoping that me with animals and dogs kind of gives other players an insight as to who I am and that I’m a nice guy."
Single Sy said he would not rule out finding love on the show, and should he win, vowed to invest the £100,000 prize money at home in Somerset.
"There is a barn conversion on the farm, I think I'd chuck a lot of money at that," he said. "That would be lush.
"And of course, there's the prize bull!"
The Circle starts on Channel 4 at 9.15pm tomorrow (Tuesday) night.
BACK AT HOME: Sy on the farm in Somerset
Originally published in the Somerset County Gazette
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