Instead of launching a career in TV, the last winner of The Circle in the UK went back to her day job after clinching the £100,000 prize. Corporal Natalya Platonova - who The Circle viewers may know as 'Felix' - went back to her life in the army.
Natalya triumphed in the final Channel 4 series of The Circle, convincing contestants that she was Felix, a male paratrooper, to win the social media style popularity contest, where catfishing is a legitimate winning tactic. But instead of taking up offers on the reality TV merry-go-round, Natalya went back into service as a Military Policewoman.
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Asked in an interview with the Army about other offers she has had since winning The Circle in 2021, Natalya replied: "Celebs Go Dating’ and stuff like that? I wouldn’t want to do reality TV like that again. If I was to do anything TV-wise it would be quite a serious documentary, perhaps something that could work in tangent with the military, something to do with mental health, raising awareness of females – good stuff like that.
"Thankfully, ‘The Circle’ doesn’t fit into the standard realms of reality TV, it’s quite a clever concept. I want to step away from that and have a professional and mature career going forward."
Born in Uzbekistan and raised in Surrey, Natalya has been around showbiz before, working for an event planning company that helped organise Elton John's wedding. But it's the army where she's found her calling.
"If I ever get fed up with the Military Police or I want to look elsewhere there are so many options for me and they are all within the military. You can be whatever you want in the Army if you have that passion and drive.”
"I have seen more things than I would have if I had stayed a civilian. Even doing the show has still shown me the reality of reality TV. This (the Army) is job security and this is camaraderie, this is friendship, this is a life-long career choice and It looks after me."
And her military experience worked in her favour on The Circle. Natalya explains: "Of course, my Army training helped 100% it’s the discipline and it’s the commitment to the cause. I think that in there (in the show) you can get flustered and I had a cool head on the whole time."
She also used her time on the show to break barriers and challenge perceptions about women in the military. One way, was by posing as Felix, your archetypal Action Man.
"You see a guy in kit and think that is normal and I believe you. If they see a woman in military uniform, I thought I’d spend my experience justifying my career and I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to just go in there and see what it would feel like to be accepted in a sense. In the military, I’m accepted, but in civilian life they still think why have you gone in as a girl?
"I wanted to break down those barriers because on the show I was very girly, I was very glamorous I swanned around in dresses. I showed on there that you can be a human and a professional soldier, they go hand-in-hand – you can be your authentic self and a soldier. To me it was like a social experiment in a way; because I’m surrounded by men 24/7 I wanted to see if I had the lingo – if I could be a male, and it worked, I won and I play a very good male apparently."
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