Who Is Madelyn Rusinyak on The Circle?

While The Circle Season 7 crowned a winner earlier this month, it also introduced a new set of interesting personalities. Chief among them was Madelyn Rusinyak, who has been called the true villain of the show by her castmates. But who is Madelyn Rusinyak from The Circle really?

Who Is Madelyn From The Circle?

Many viewers were introduced to Madelyn on The Circle Season 7, where she took the cake as one of the most ruthless players ever seen on the show. Throughout her time on The Circle, Madelyn proved willing to do whatever it took in order to win. This often led to her manipulating other players, sometimes even downright lying and being intentionally deceptive in order to get her way. She eventually became known as a villain and perhaps the most blatant liar ever seen on The Circle.

Madelyn was truly a fascinating player to behold. She came across almost as a caricature, cycling between scheming and crying about the things she had done. Near the end of the season, Madelyn had a phone call with her family and expressed sadness over what she had done on the show. Interestingly, she was advised to keep going and apologize later, a tactic she employed until the very end.

Who Is Madelyn Outside of The Circle?

Going into The Circle, Madelyn’s profile described her as an education staffer. However, the 25-year-old native of Franklin, Georgia, has another, more interesting job. She’s also an OnlyFans model and influencer, with 28.9k followers on Instagram.

Although she is arguably best known for her appearance on The Circle, the social media experiment was not Madelyn’s first onscreen appearance. According to IMDb, Rusinyak has an acting credit in the television series Keller Nation. She was also featured on Season 4 of Temptation Island in 2022.

Is Madelyn Really a Villain?

So how much of what was seen on The Circle was reflective of who she really is as a person? According to an interview with Parade, she didn’t come into the show intending to be a villain but, at the same time, was not completely opposed to the idea:

“Initially, when I first went in, I was like, “Okay, I’m gonna be very genuine. I’m not gonna be a villain,'” she said. “But I also went in thinking, ‘I don’t want to be a background character.’ So it was never like, ‘Okay, I’m going to completely cross villain off of my list.’ If I need to be one, I will. I’d rather be that than be forgotten.”

Much of the criticism Madelyn receives comes from her wishy-washiness. Is she a ruthless villain, or is she someone who genuinely feels bad about the questionable things she does? This question persists even on her IG profile. In one post, she seems sorry for her actions and even apologizes to Darian and Heather.

However, two posts later, Madelyn appears to show no remorse and even takes a jab at fans bothered by the way she played the game. She adds two slides to the end of her post that are dedicated to these fans. In one, she implies via a meme that viewers upset with her are jealous and should get over it. The last slide is an picture of a man giving the finger to the viewer.

At the end of the day, it’s difficult to make a final determination as to whether Madelyn truly is who she portrays herself to be in The Circle. However, whether you love or her or hate her, one thing seems to be certain: she really doesn’t care.

The Circle Season 7 is now streaming on Netflix.