For the first half of the game Darian Holt had a dream experience in The Circle Season 7. He had a "bros" alliance with "Andy" (AKA Heather Richardson ) and Kevin Fernandez . He had been connecting and flirting from the first day with Jadejha Edwards . And he seemed to not be in danger of being blocked, but not sticking out too much as a threat.
But, in a series unfortunate events, it all grinded to a halt. After Madelyn Rusinyak plotted to get Andy blocked, she came into the chat with a fabricated story about how Heather had come to her throwing Darian under the bus. An irate Darian immediately denied it. But soon Madelyn was able to use the lie to get her allies to tank him in the ratings, sending him to last place. Luckily, Darian was granted a reprieve via the "Disruptor" power, which allowed him to pick one of the influencers. Surprisingly, he chose not to pick Jadejha, but Kevin, feeling he would protect him. Unfortunately for Darian, his decision proved fatal. Madelyn came to Kevin before the blocking with another lie about how his fellow "bro" had plotted against him. And so Darian was stunned to find himself blocked at the hands of an influencer he handpicked.
Read on to hear Darian's thoughts on his time in the game. And check out Parade.com throughout The Circle Season 7 with the various players and catfishes alike.
Related: The Circle Season 7: Everything You Need to Know
What's your history with The Circle ? How did you end up getting on the show?
I made a tweet back in 2020. I literally tweeted, "I would love to be in The Circle. " I had a bookmark. I made several tweets about it, and I referenced back to that when I actually got selected for The Cirlce . So I applied years ago. I didn't make it, obviously, at the time. But again, everything happens for a reason, and now you see that I'm a part of the Season 7 cast of The Circle . But yeah, I was a big fan of The Circle . I love watching it. I love watching everybody's strategy, and I always say that'd be a good story for me to go on and just truly be my authentic self.
To that point, did you ever debate catfishing? Or were you always planning on being yourself?
Honestly, the plan was always to be myself. Now, I will say back in the day, if I was the catfish, it would have been my ex at the time. But at the time, so don't need to worry about that anymore. But yeah, everything happens for a reason, as I said. So the best way for me to come into The Circle was to be myself.
When you enter The Circle , you immediately form a bond with Kevin and Andy. Were you planning to "bro down" going in, or did that happen coincidentally?
It just came so quick. It was like an instant connection. I think maybe it was solidified when Kevin told me for the VIP party. That's when I kind of felt like, "Okay, this is a solid alliance." Because he could've invited Savannah, which I one hundred percent thought he would have. Then he blocked Savannah. I'm like, "Okay, maybe he's a bros bro." And then you saw what happened with me. [ Laughs .] But yeah. I mean, initially, the broader connection came pretty quick. And then me and Jadejha's connection came pretty quick as well. I wanted multiple alliances. I didn't want to just have one stand out.
Let's talk about Jadejha. It's clear the connection was immediate between you two. Give me your first reaction to seeing her and talking with her.
I knew immediatel.y I said, "I'm sliding in the DMs. I'm sending a message 100% without a doubt." So yeah, when I saw her face, I was like, "I'm definitely gonna get at her." I didn't want to give anybody else a chance. I was trying to go ahead and make that connection with her immediately.
So for about half the season, you were coasting in a safe position in the middle of the ratings. And that all begins to spiral when Madelyn comes into the Circle chat with a lie, saying that Heather threw you under the bus. Talk me through your thoughts on what was happening as it all went down.
The thing was she was pinning that me having being a "fake bro" and turning on Andy and saying this and that, trying to get Kevin out the game. But in reality, everyone saw the chat that I had with Andy before Andy actually left. That was a pretty emotional chat. Now looking back and seeing her reaction and how emotional she was going into that blocking, I provided that reassurance in the moment. So for Madeyn to come and say, "But Darian's behind this and that; he's not a bros bro," it was a straight cap. It was a straight cap. But, you know, people fail forward.
Well, the good news is you get to become the Disruptor during the ratings, knowing you could be in some trouble. And, rather than Jadejha, you choose Kevin. Talk to me about the logic behind what wound up becoming a game-ending decision.
When I became Disruptor, I was ready to make my decision that night. So everyone knows I became a Disruptor that night. I said, "Okay, bet. I'm choosing Jadejha without a shadow of a doubt." And then the next message on the screen said, "You make your decision tomorrow." So I'm like, "Okay, so I get to think about it." But honestly, that was a decision that I did not even need to think about. I didn't need any additional time to overthink it, be overly strategic. And that's literally what happened come the next day. So that night, one hundred percent in my mind, I said, "I'm choosing Jadejha." But then they said, "You make your decision the next day." So I'm just waiting. I'm like, "When do I make my decision? Do I make it in the morning, the afternoon, the evening?"
So I do say that I did start getting a little over-strategic in terms of evaluating my options. So option one is Jadejha, and then, okay, alliance with Kevin. And then also I consider Garret, but they do not show me considering Garret. So in terms of my strategy, I break it down to you like this. And I say this during filming. I'm like, "100% I'm safe if I choose Jadejha." So I know that. But also in my mind, I'm thinking, "If I choose her, she's going to have a target on her back." And the way the influencers were rolling this season, I don't even know if I would want to be in in an influencer the way things were just getting so nasty and dirty in the chest. It was getting real wicked, so I didn't want to put a target on that. The second thing was, 100% I would have been outed as a Disrupter, because everyone would have known, "Who chose Jadejha as a Disruptor? Darian." And then lastly, my plan was to get Madelyn out of the game.
So looking back, if I wanted to execute my plan like that, I should have chose Garret, simply because nobody would have known. Well, first of all, Jadejha wouldn't have a target on her back. Nobody would have known who the Disruptor was. I don't even think Garret would even known who chose him as an influencer in that moment. And then I had a chat with Gianna, Jadejha, and Garrett previously. So maybe Garrett would have kind of been on my side. The only thing was, I never had the chance to have personal chats with Garret, to really trust that he would execute that plan. So that was a strategy behind me not picking Jadejha. It wasn't me picking Kevin over her. It was me trying to be strategic in terms of not putting a target on her back, because she did defend me a lot. She defended me publicly, and I know that. So my thing was, had I picked her, I felt like it was gonna mess up her game in terms of putting the target on her back.
Did you debate telling Kevin you were the Disruptor so he wouldn't block you?
So I literally thought that Kevin knew I was going to be the Disrupter. But looking back, I don't think he knew. But that was another thing. I thought that he would know that I was the Disrupter and that we were still cool. But I didn't know he was going to backstab me. I didn't know Madelyn had already planted a seed.
You had an understandably adverse reaction to being blocked. Talk to me about what was going through your head.
It was just one of the moments where I was like, "Wow." Because, again, I knew I made a risky decision. But a part of me was thinking that Gianna was going to hold me down. Because, again, I had an alliance with Gianna. She had an alliance with Jadejha; she knows I'm an ally with Jadejha. So I knew that Gianna would hold it down. But in that moment when I saw my name, I lost it. Because I was like, "Dang! I shouldn't have gambled. I should have stayed safe." Bbut that wasn't the case. And yeah, you saw the frustration out of that one. So that was just a lesson learned in that moment.
Well the moment turns sweet when you go to see Jadejha and, for only the second time in Circle history, we see a kiss between players!
To be honest, I almost went to go see Kevin's ass after my blocking. I thought about it in that moment. I was like, "Don't," because it was more important to see her, obviously. It would have been Circle history if I went and started trying to whoop on Kevin's ass! It could have been a different story.
[ Laughs .] Well I have to hear about everything that led to this kiss between you and Jadejha. What's your perspective?
I mean, as soon as I walked in the room, I was like, "First of all, she's real. Damn! She's real beautiful, pretty. Wow." So we get to talking. The chemistry seemed to be there. And we just started locking the eyes. There's a lot of blushing and stuff going on. And the moment presented itself. And then both just went in, and there we go.
I'd be remiss not to ask, what were things like once you left Atlanta after the season? And how are things between the two of you now?
So, you know, I'm from Jackson, Mississippi. She's from Houston. But once the snow ended, I went back home. Me and her still communicated; we talked, a lot things like that. And I don't know if you remember in the show, during our interactions, I was jokingly saying, "I'm gonna move to Houston!" And, yeah, I ended up moving to Houston! [ Laughs .] So I moved to Houston at the beginning of the year. We've been doing our thing. We are official.
Next, check out our interview with "Andy" AKA Heather Richardson, who was eliminated in Season 7 Episode 3 .
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