SO you thought you'd seen the last of Big Brother? As one reality game show door closes, another one opens. Or it did so this week in the shape of The Circle.

This is Channel 4's newbie, cashing in on our addiction to watching members of the public make absolute fools of themselves on national TV.

As with so many "new" reality TV shows, this is mostly a twist on the well-worn Big Brother format.

Take a bunch of strangers, let them interact with each other for a few weeks, record all the scheming, flirting, bitching and ditching – and crown one the winner.

Back in 2000 when the first episode of Big Brother aired, it was truly ground-breaking. We'd never seen anything like it, and we were glued to our screens for our regular fixes of "Nasty Nick" (remember him?) and his housemates. Some 9.5 million of us tuned into Channel 4 for that first Big Brother final; last year’s series final on Channel 5 was watched by just 1.1 million people.

So The Circle is following a familiar path, pitting eight contestants against each other in a popularity contest where the winner will go home with £50,000. Each participant has checked into a block of flats, where they are to stay for the next three weeks. So far, no different from BB, eh? The catch here is that they won't meet each other, just interact via social media.

It is presented by Alice Levine and Maya Jama.

When we first met the eight competitors on Tuesday night, we quickly got to know them – and their game plans via cameras in each of their apartments. Half have decided to lie on their profiles, or at least conceal the truth about themselves from others (apparently in social media terms this is known as "catfishing"). Talk about fake news! Leading liar is Alex, who has adopted the persona and profile picture of his real-life girlfriend Kate. This makes for an awkward moment when he gets the highest rating from others after the first day and wins a "date" in the virtual hangout space. He chooses Mitchell, who is cast as a naive soul. Unlike Alex, what you see is what you get with Mitch, who admits to being a "mummy's boy" and is looking for love.

Alex isn't the only candidate messing around with social media. Jennifer is 40 and works in digital marketing. Ironically, she hates social media and thinks those who use it are "narcissists". She pitches herself as a 34-year-old junior doctor, specialising in cancer treatment. It's a strange ploy: does she think being a medic will make her popular? Even at 34 she is almost old enough to be the mother of some of her competitors, an observation made by Aiden, whose most memorable line about her "Pot Noodle belly" was shared while lounging on the sofa eating from a plastic carton of the stuff.

Other mischief makers are Freddie, who is gay but pretending to be straight, and Genelle, who is having to conceal the fact she has moved into the apartment with her baby.

Not surprisingly, social media erupted with a running commentary on the show. Many watchers took to Twitter to share their dismay that people were "catfishing" – pointing out how damaging this can be and that Channel 4 should be more responsible.

Jennifer was singled out too for pretending to be, of all things, a cancer doctor in order to gain popularity.

Some tweets said the flats used by contestants could be put to better use: for the homeless or victims of the Grenfell Tower fire.

But most commentators were prepared to roll with The Circle a while and see where all these private messages, group chats and private hangouts lead to.

The makers are pitching this as an educational experiment on how we use social media to define and shape our lives. For sure, it is a bit of that, just as Big Brother was a way to evaluate how people behave when they are locked away together for weeks on end.

But let's not kid ourselves. Like BB, The Circle is a game show; it wants viewers and ratings. To get those what it really, really wants is a tabloid-baiting heap of controversy. And that is surely only a few clicks away...