Yahoo Finance The Circle 's Lisa Delcampo Says Lance Bass Was 'Excited' for Her to Play as Him: 'I'll Help'
Netflix
It was one thing when Chloe Veitch from Too Hot to Handle turned up on the new season of The Circle… but Lance Bass?!
Of course, the *NSYNC star isn't actually playing the Netflix game show, which sees isolated contestants compete for popularity — and a $100,000 prize — by communicating only through a social media platform known as The Circle. Instead, Bass' assistant of 15 years, Lisa Delcampo, has entered the game claiming to be the pop star ready to say "Bye Bye Bye" to the competition.
In this rare case, posing as a celebrity is a fine thing, and, according to Delcampo, 42, her employer applauded the choice.
"He was super supportive," Delcampo tells PEOPLE. "He was like, 'Do it. Whatever you need. I'll help with whatever.' He was really excited for me."
Bass, 41, recently shared that support with Entertainment Weekly. "We're both huge fans of The Circle," he said. "And so to be able to be a part of the show in any capacity, it's so much fun for me."
RELATED: The Circle Season 1 Winner Joey Sasso on How to Win
Netflix
Below, Delcampo shares what went into her choice not to play as herself, what she had to study to prepare to "be" Lance Bass and what a typical day on The Circle is really like.
PEOPLE: Why go in as a catfish?
LISA DELCAMPO: I just thought it would be fun being somebody else, and Lance is really the only person that I could properly catfish as, besides I guess my family members. I've worked with him for so long, it just seemed like a natural fit. And it would let him play the game vicariously through me, because he's also a big fan of the show.
When you applied for the show, were you already planning to play as Lance?
No. Because obviously the public would see me so it was like we were both playing in a way, so I was open to whatever. I said, "I will play as myself. I'll play as Lance. Whatever would be the most interesting."
Did it take any arm twisting to convince Lance to allow you to do this? Like, did you have to promise not to get drunk or something?
No, he knew I'd be on my best behavior.
Were you surprised by the people who didn't know who he was or who *NSYNC was?
I guess. I knew some of the younger people may not know who he is, but I knew that some people would definitely know that it was him.
So what did you do to prepare? Obviously, you had 15 years of experience with Lance under your belt, but were there certain things you asked him and made sure you knew before entering as him?
Yeah. The things that I think I asked him the most about were space questions, because I was like, "What if somebody is really well versed in outer space?" But the hardest one I think I got asked in The Circle was like, "What is a cosmonaut, exactly?" So that I knew.
RELATED: Too Hot to Handle and The Circle Returning to Netflix for Second Seasons
Were you worried when someone asked why Lance would do this and battle for a $100,000 prize?
I was, but it is true that he is a big fan of competitive games. He would love to do The Circle or Big Brother, but obviously he's too busy and can't.
What was a typical day like? How much do you know in the morning, and then, how does the structure of the day play out?
Every day is different, depending on if there's a ranking or voting or challenges. Sometimes I'd have a couple hours' notice before a conversation or something, sometimes I'd have 30 minutes' notice. So it was kind of all over the place, but there was a good bit of downtime where I got to do a lot of reading.
RELATED: Every Burning Question About Netflix's The Circle, Answered by an Editor Who Visited the Set
What was it like watching that Terilisha-Savannah rivalry unravel?
That started before I came into The Circle, so I was trying to piece together what happened and I didn't get a good understanding. I just knew that there was some bad blood between them. I obviously didn't want to get involved, especially since I was a new player, but yeah, it was interesting. I was like, "Oh, I'm glad it's not me."
The first four episodes of season 2 of The Circle are currently streaming on Netflix. Four new episodes drop on Wednesday.
