'The Circle' Season 7 Spoilers! Jadejha Edwards Says She Nearly Blocked Darian After the Season

Warning! The interview below contains spoilers for all of Netflix's The Circle Season 7, which aired in September and October. Please do not continue if you do not wish to be spoiled on who was blocked in those episodes.

Jadejha Edwards came into The Circle with one main goal: Flirt if need be, but keep your eye on the prize. But that plan hit a wall almost immediately when she saw Darian Holt. The two immediately hit it off and formed a tight alliance, while also perhaps kindling something more. Not to say that Jadejha wasn't focused on the game, though, as she navigated through the wildly shifting sands of Season 7 while simultaneously keeping herself out of the drama.

Jadejha made an effort to stay out of being influencer as to not draw a target to herself. The downside, however, is that it gave the people in power the opportunity to get rid of her tightest allies. That included Darian, though the bitter ending of their time in The Circle together turned sweet when they kissed during his visit on his way out the door. With the end in sight, Jadejha publicly called out "Gianna" (AKA Jojo and Nicky Scarlotta) as the biggest threat left in the game, hoping someone would take a shot at her right before the finale. Unfortunately, it was Jadejha herself who would be the victim of "super secret influencer" Madelyn Rusinyak, who was afraid that Jadejha's blood-free hands would make her a prime candidate to win.

Read on to hear Jadejha's thoughts on her time in the game. And check out Parade.com throughout The Circle Season 7 with the various players and catfishes alike.

Related: The Circle Season 7: Everything You Need to Know

What's your history with The Circle? How did you end up getting on the show?
So actually, I have watched The Circle, every single season, several times. I have loved it. I loved it so much that, when I was in college, I was the Miss International pageant chair. So that means that I had to create the next Miss International pageant. And the whole theme was The Circle. We never actually got to do it because then COVID hit, but the entire of the pageant was The Circle. That's how obsessed I was. So I was like, "Okay, just wait till I have the flexibility in my life. I'm trying to still go the traditional route. I'm an engineer, obviously. So I'm not gonna pursue it yet. Just wait. But as soon as I get to a position in life where I can just go ahead and start doing whatever I want to do...yeah. "So I was very, very excited whenever I was potentially getting cast. And when I was sent over to Atlanta, I was ecstatic. I was so nervous. Oh my gosh.

So, as an avowed fan of the show, did you ever debate catfishing? Or were you always going to go in as yourself?
The plan was to always go in as myself. But there was a part of me that was like, "If they make me play another player, I'm going to be prepared." So I had notebooks on notebooks of like random facts dealing with random occupations. I would have never made the mistake that Kevin made about the lifeguard question, because I was ready!  I was like, "If they make me play a guy, I know all the football stats, all the basketball stats." I did a bunch of research. But I always wanted to play myself, because that would just made things so much easier. And it did, obviously.

You opened up a lot on the show about your complicated past. Was doing that something that took you by surprise compared to your expectations going in?
It was and wasn't the the plan. Because I felt like my entire life I've been trying to avoid telling people my story, because I never wanted people to feel too sympathetic or  throw me a pity party. Because I made peace with everything that's happened. I am so grateful for where I am today in life. I would not be this young, beautiful, successful cyber security engineer had I not gone through those things. I'm sure I still would have been something amazing, but not this. So it was never really the plan. But I knew I wanted to open up with people. And I knew that for me to gain the trust of others, I had to put my trust in them. You gotta give something to get something. And, no matter if I got voted first, last, if I won, I wanted to still leave the game having genuine connections with people and bonding and just knowing that I played a game that whenever I look back, I would be proud of.

Well, you talk about leaving the game. Were you surprised that Madelyn blocked you right before the finale?
A part of me knew that I was a too powerful of a player because I didn't have any enemies. Even when we played the game the painting game, the worst thing that they could come up with was "Darian defender." And then when we played the the awards game, and I got "Most Manipulative," everybody was like, "What did Jadejha manipulate?" So I knew that I was too much of a threat. That was always going to be my plan. I never wanted to be an influencer. I always wanted to play the middle. Because I did want to kind of sneak up at the very end. No one had any reason to vote me low. I wanted to go undetected. So I never thought any other point in time in the game that I was going to get blocked. But I did think, if I were to be blocked, it was going to be the very, very last one. I didn't anticipate actually ever making it to the finale as one of the final players.

So I kind of already knew. But it was kind of messed up at the same sense. Because so many other people are a threat to this game that no one else is paying any attention to. So that's why I was angry. And then the fact that it was Madelyn, who I knew was playing just a dirty, conniving game. I was like, "How did Madelyn just become the secret super influencer?" And I didn't even know it was her when she walked the door, I thought she was Rachel, to be honest. And I was like, "What's going on here?" I wasn't angry. But I was like, "How the hell did this just happen?" But then, once I get blocked, Madelyn was being Madelyn, and I said, "Now this is going to make me upset."

It's interesting you mention bigger threats, and wanting to lay low until the very end. Because, before your blocking, you decide to come out hard against Gianna in the chat, highlighting her as the most dangerous person left in the game. Talk to me about your tactics behind that.
Well, for me, I had always been playing a strategic game. But I had a feeling that a lot of that strategy was going to be covered up or not as important as me being very flirtatious and all head over heels for Darian. So the moment Darian got blocked, I was like, "Finally, this is my opportunity. They won't be able to show only me flirting with Darian. Now I can just straight-up go for it. I can be the risk taker. I can do all of those things that I wanted to do and was doing." Just not as aggressively, because, again, I wanted to form those bonds with people. But even when I was doing the casting process, they asked me what my strategy was. And I said, "Honestly, I want people to think I'm so sweet and innocent and just this 'girl next door, she can do no wrong' until the very end. And then I just want to flip on all of them. I just want to turn it upside down and completely catch everyone off guard." And I did that.

I knew Gianna was never voting me first. I always knew that Gianna and Rachel had a tighter alliance than me and Gianna had. And although for the majority of the ratings, Gianna was in my top three, I knew that, at the end of the day, it had to be me or her. If anyone was going to game, it was going to be Gianna or Jadejha. But once I'd seen how many times Gianna was an influencer, and then just all of those things, I was like, "Y'all need to wake up! I can't take her down by myself." Especially because–and I didn't know this at the time, but I had the feeling–seeing Gianna make an alliance with Kevin and say, "Jadejha is our girl, but she's also our biggest threat. We need to get her game" and then take out my top two alliances.

And that was the whole reason I turned on them, because I had that suspicion that that's what was going on. And although, in the moment, she was like, "I saved you," now, watching it back, I'm like, "No, see, I was right! This entire time, you were trying to weaken my game." And I felt so bad, because when I turned on her, I remember in the game going to use the bathroom. And then I came out, and then I was just like, "Oh, but Gianna is my girl! I don't want to do it. I do want to put some doubt in people. But I'm not going to just gun for her anymore." So, yeah, I feel like it was warranted. It was definitely needed. I just don't think that people realized it early enough, because the main focus was always Kevin. And I was like, "Y'all gotta stop just focusing on Kevin! He can't make these decisions by himself. Hello?!"

Of course, we gotta get into all things Darian. Give me your initial reaction when you saw his profile and started chatting with him.
So getting to seeing Darian's profile, I remember during my intro, they were just asking us questions and stuff like that. And they were like, "So do you think you're gonna flirt with anybody?" I was like, "Yeah, I'll flirt with anybody. I don't care. This is a game. I'll do what I have to do to get to the 100k. Just make sure that I'm not flirting with a bald man. [Laughs.] That's all I care about. Don't allow me to play with someone who's bald, and I'll be okay." And whenever I seen Darian, I was like, "Okay, Circle, I see what y'all doing here. You take a guy who's exactly my type, and then you put him in front of me, and then expect me to not flirt. Okay!"

So yes, immediately, whenever I saw him, I was just like, "Oh my gosh." And it's crazy, because initially I wasn't like, "Oh my gosh, catfish." It just went straight over my head. I didn't care. I said, "This picture is nice. I like looking at it. Whatever, good enough for me." But there was a very short period of time where I was like, "Okay, this is going a little too well. What if this is a dad playing his son, or what if this is his current girlfriend playing him? Dang, I don't even get a chance for him in real life because he's already got a girlfriend!" So I did freak out a little bit. It was crazy. I would have never met him in real life. I mean, I'm sure that now that I know him, we have a lot of close ties where we definitely could have crossed paths before and just never thought about it. Sometimes you really do just have to meet the right person at the right time. But I never went into The Circle thinking it was Love is Blind. [Laughs.] It just kind of happened that way. And honestly, I feel like they probably should have put me on that show, because I'm I was way better at that. [Laughs.]

Don't sell yourself short, you nearly made it to the finale! So I have to ask about his visit to you after his blocking, which led to your kiss. Talk me through how that all happened.
First of all, I was feeling so many emotions. I'm an extremely confident person, and I don't ever get shy or embarrassed or whatever. But I remember that moment, and I literally was speechless. I was trying so hard to have words, because I was just like, "Jadejha, what are you doing right now? What are you doing?!" And prior to me going on The Circle, I had other dating shows reach out to me like Love Island and like another one that I don't even know if it ever made it to television. I was like, "No, I don't want to be that girl that's just dating someone. I want to be known for so much more than that. I don't want to be kissing strangers on television. I don't want to be that person again."

All that went right out the window whenever this man was in front of me. It just seemed like it was as if I've known him my entire life, the chemistry. We obviously didn't want it to end. You see Michelle come up and be like, "Hey, you know you still got blocked, right, Darian?" We were talking for so long, and it just felt so natural and authentic. And I was genuinely shy. And I feel like I don't get shy around the men. So the fact that I was shy around him, I was like, "Oh no, something's wrong here. I like him so much. What's going on?" Because I never get shy. But it was a little crazy. He was like, "Oh, I'm a gentleman. But I would really love to get a kiss in there." And we did. That was still the craziest thing. All I could do was scream at moments, because I was like, "This is really happening. What is going on right now?"

So what happened with the two of you after you left filming in Atlanta? And how are things now?
So when we first left Atlanta, I think everyone was kind of riding like this high like, "Oh my gosh, y'all. We all just did this, and we have this big secret between the 10 of us." So we made group chats and we talked. His birthday and my birthday are four days apart. So I was like, "Well, what are you doing for your birthday?" And he was like, "Well, I don't know. I haven't really planned anything," because, you know, men and their procrastination. So then he was like, "Well, I could just come to Houston, we can celebrate our birthdays together." So we did. And even Savannah came to Houston and we celebrated our birthdays together. But at first it was giving more friend vibes, low-key. I was like, "Oh, maybe we're just gonna stay here at friends." And I did try to block him in real life, because I didn't want to have another "situationship" or friends with benefits or anything like that. So I said, "I'm gonna just block him, because I like him a little too much." But we talked about it, and I didn't block him. So it was fine.

But then I made the crazy decision. I was going back to Jamaica, because I have friends and family in Jamaica, and some of my friends were getting married. And I was like, "I really need to plus one to this wedding." I thought I was going to take my ex, and then I met this new guy. So I can't take my ex, obviously. So I asked Darian if he wanted to come, and I gave him five days notice. And he did come. And this was at the beginning of this year when he came, and then he asked me to be his girlfriend, which is so crazy. I don't know how he pulled it off, because, again, it was my trip. It was the trip that I was already going on, but he still did. And it was so beautiful. There were rose petals and candles and all. I was like, "I don't know how you did this, but okay!" And honestly, he just keeps topping those things. Valentine's Day was even crazier. So we're we're going really strong, but we've also been moving really, really fast. He's met my entire family. I've met his entire family. We've done family trips. I'm not mad at it, but it's just been kind of crazy.

It has been amazing. It's so crazy to watch us, because the same two people that you see on the screen, we are very much still like that. We get just so excited to see the other person. Whenever he gets off work or we're going anywhere, we still get, like, you know, the butterflies and everything. And I thought it would have gone away by now. Obviously he gets on my nerves, because, again, he's a guy. But it is very much still there. And I just love everything about him. And everyone's like, "Oh, he picked Kevin over you. Don't trust him, girl." I said, "Y'all don't understand that man has been putting me first since that day. Kevin's nowhere near there." He didn't throw out the rose petals! I don't worry about him putting no one above me ever.

Next, check out our interview with The Circle Season 7 fifth-place finisher Antonio Hayes (AKA "Tierra").