John Franklin (aka Carol) from ‘The Circle’ loves life in Hoboken, NJ

The fourth season of "The Circle," a Netflix reality competition show, began this month and one of the contestants is a 24-year-old Hoboken resident who grew up in West Caldwell.

If you've never seen the show,  players "enter The Circle" and they move into an apartment, and build relationships with other player through an app, hoping to gain their trust and popularity.

We recently chatted about growing up in Jersey and what it's like getting recognized on the street.

Where in Jersey are you originally from?

"I am originally from West Caldwell, New Jersey. Went to James Caldwell High School, Class of 2015. I did theater, chorus, a lot of after-school singing programs, I played soccer for four years, golf for four years, and I swam for one. I was trying to be as active as possible."

Where did you go to college?

"I went to Quinnipiac University, Go Bobcats! I was involved with 230, which was our television station, and I was part of our radio station WQAQ. My favorite thing I was involved in during my four years was my fraternity, Pi Kapp, which was fun. I did a lot of work with our athletic department, that is when I started to get my feet wet doing social media and content creation, which is great. Shoutout to my Quinnipiac Women's Volleyball team, they basically gave me my first job in social media and for having some belief in me."

Where do you live now?

"I currently live in Hoboken."

What’s it like going out in Hoboken since it aired?

"It's been weird in a good way. It is weird to get recognized and people want to take a picture with you. So that has been strange to get used to but its really cool, I love when people come up and talk to me. It has been a lot of fun. Last night for the first time, I had someone seek me out at a bar. Somebody was like 'I came here because I know you love to come here' type of situation. But it is still pretty cool to be a part of the culture and people know who I am when I walk by."

What are your favorite places to go in Hoboken?

"Empire Coffee Company. I go there every morning a coffee because I couldn't get through my day without it. They have the best staff in the world, I love them. I always frequent Mulligan's Pub, that is my favorite place to have a drink, for some reason whether its Monday or Saturday night, I'll be there. That's probably why I love it. Big fan of Fiore's Deli and Losurdo's Deli, two totally different animals obviously. But I love them both. Going out for a bite to eat, I love to go to Zack's. Oh and Alessio's, I love Alesseo's."

What is your favorite Italian restaurant in New Jersey?

"I am gonna go close to home and it's gonna be off the board for most people, but I hope I get respect for it because it's where you are born and raised, you stay there. I have been going to this place since I was 7 or 8 years old. It would have to be Russillo's in Caldwell. It is just that place when I get home on a Friday, we are getting pizza from Russillo's. It just feels like home to me."

What was going through your head when you applied?

"When you apply to an open casting call, you never think you're gonna get a response. I just applied on a whim because at the time I was in between jobs and unemployed. When I applied for the casting call, I also applied for the job I currently have, and I was like 'whatever I get first, I'm doing'. I happened to get both, which is really lucky. They were like 'You're going, you're going to England' and I was like 'I have to do this'."

How did you explain to your mom the show before you went on? Had she watched it?

"When I applied for the show, my mom had only seen it in passing because my sister and I were huge fans of the show. When I left for filming, she binged it, and she loves it. She is watching our season now, on the edge of her seat as if her son is not even in it. "

What prep did you put into catfishing as Carol?

"As far as actual gameplay goes, none. I went in with this mentality of I can play the character just fine, I know her too well and I made a lot of the decisions in the game, like my profile. Her job in the show is something in media, which catered more towards what I did, but she doesn't do that in real life. I did Facetime my sister though, because I remember in Season 2, Jack got caught being a catfish from the makeup mannequin challenge, and he didn't know how to do it and he was playing a girl. So my sister gave me a basic makeup tutorial, like enough to know how my mom would do her makeup. I got kind of screwed though because it ended up being cake decorating and not makeup. But either way I can put false lashes on you if you need."

What about people thinking you are a catfish?

"Everyone watching the show has realized, people are keying in on the fact that I am a catfish, but they don't care. Which is kind of fun. That was kind of my mentality going in, this game isn't catch the catfish. This game is building relationships, and I have always been good at that. It shows sometimes you just need the relationship more than you need them to believe who you are."

What’s it like watching it back on TV?

"A funny part is you obviously only know the conversations you have when you're filming it. And I haven't seen the show until it comes out. In every conversation, it somehow comes around to what do you think of Carol. I didn't realize how much real estate I had in everybody's head. It was fun, my old man references I could just pull out of my back pocket, like the Prince one, when Everson joins the game. During the party scene, you don't see us dance, but the song that we danced to was "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor, and you don't see it but we were talking about dancing and I said something like 'Oh Gloria Gaynor, that takes me back' and everyone I have talked to since filming the show said that they were convinced I was a catfish, and that threw them off. "

What was it like being filmed all the time?

"It is crazy, it is so interesting because I think it is 12 cameras around the apartment and they are always on. They do obviously respect your privacy for changing and showers etc. But there are times where you are doing things that you don't even realize are just living and they are filming you and people pick up on it. Like day one I was making chicken, and there is a whole subreddit about my chicken I made because it looked really good and people have been DMing me for recipes."

What did you do to pass time in The Circle besides cooking?

"I played a lot of guitar, obviously you don't see a lot of that because of copyright of the songs. I wrote a lot of stand-up bits, in the beginning you see me with a blue notebook, in the first batch of episodes, that is just my stand up notebook. I didn't take a note the whole time the show is being filmed. I would just be editing my stand-up to pass time. There was a marble maze game that I must have done hundreds and hundreds of times and I never beat it. Which was very upsetting because it is an elementary level maze and I have a master's degree and I couldn't complete it. I also had a slinky, lots of knick-knacks to pass the time."

Who was your biggest threat at the end of Episode 8? Being in it and watching it?

"Yu-Ling both ways. When I was there, Rachel also felt like a threat but now watching it back she wasn't a threat, Rachel was the person in the game if you just said something to her she would listen to it. For example, Nathan wrote her off right away, then they had one conversation and was like 'we are all good, we are friends now'."

You can watch "The Circle" on Netflix. Episodes 9-12 are available on Wednesday, May 18, and the Finale will premiere on Wednesday, May 25.