This week, 24-year-old Busayo Twins entered The Circle household with all the force of someone who'd been shot from a cannon. Calming only to introduce herself, we learned that she was a young, opinionated black woman from Camden with a love of grime – something which often intimidated the bejesus out of most people, she said.
But that wasn't all. Given the show's love of twists this year, it turned out that Busayo went in, not as herself, but a young, middle-class white guy called Josh. She figured that a floppy-haired blondie with blue eyes would be infinitely more popular than she could ever be as herself.
"White men earn respect sooner than women and people of colour, and tend to find romance on TV shows much easier than a black woman would," she explained. By doing all this, Busayo hopes to show that black women, who are often pre-judged by appearance in society, shouldn't be underestimated.
In Twitter land, Busayo's white, male privilege act has ruffled more than a few feathers. Within seconds of her arrival there were accusations of 'sly racism' and a 'vendetta against white people'. Detractors argued that if it had been the other way round, black people would have been outraged. On the flipside, Busayo's backers have found the accusations of racism laughable.
"Busayo saying what most black women be thinking every day. Expressions of our opinions are usually seen as aggressive and often invalidated. Much needed straight facts," one wrote.
Unsurprisingly, the divisions appear to have been roughly drawn down colour lines.
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In terms of Reality TV, this latest development feels like the closest we have come to an on-air conversation about racism since Goody-gate back in 2007. When Celebrity Big Brother's race row (which included Jade Goody's taunts against the Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty) went global, the show had something of a breakdown.
It apologised profusely and never spoke of such things again. Nowadays, if Reality TV were your only barometer of social cohesion, you could be forgiven for thinking that racism had been completely eradicated.
Related: Why Samira Mighty's cut Love Island scenes are actually really important
But even if programme makers are editing things out to spare us the gory details of in-house bigotry, racial issues have managed to manifest themselves in other ways. Take Love Island, the paradise where romance sees no colour.
Every year without fail, black women enter the villa and manage to get ousted faster than the time it takes for their nails to dry. Some can't see what all the fuss is about – after all, there's nothing you can do about sexual preferences – but for others it is a clear sign of racism at work. The problem is that racism rarely makes a blatant call. Even though research has shown that black women are at the bottom of the pile when it comes to dating, it would be difficult to prove it on Love Island unless contestants explicitly said so.
Back at The Circle, Busayo is not the only catfish in the river. James, the bearded Liverpudlian, is playing a blinder as a young single mum with a very cute baby. And let's not forget that last year's winner came out on top because he assumed the identity of his pretty and affable girlfriend. In both instances, men chose female identities because they were more influential, affecting and successful. To date, neither have drawn too many accusations of misogyny.
For Busayo, playing the white man has been, if nothing else, entertaining but far too subtle.
If you really want to see white privilege live in action, check out Busayo's opponents on Twitter.
She doesn’t know it yet, but they're doing the job for her.
The Circle airs on Channel 4.
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