The Anonymousseason 1 wrapped up with a tumultuous endgame featuring the final four players, and though Nina Twine took home the prize,she was accompanied in the finals by Marcel Cunningham, Christopher Shulstead, and Andy King. The trio of runners-up all had the opportunity to win the grand prize during a tense final face-off, where Marcel held some final bits of power before the end of the game. Though the guys outnumbered Nina, she was able to take home the final win after an intense face-off where each of the players had to lie to each other’s faces.
ThroughoutThe Anonymous,a new series created by Studio Lambertin the style ofThe TraitorsmeetsThe Circle,there was an interesting wave of deception that fed into the two different modes of the game. In anonymous mode, players got to speak freely about each other’s games and spread waves of mistrust, while in face-to-face mode, they had to work together to build a prize pot that one would take home at the end of the game. While the players sometimes struggled to switch modes,they were quick to put themselves first in the game.
Marcel, a streamer who plays competitive strategy games as a profession, Christopher, who managed to run the gamut of a showmance during the series, and Andy, an infamous event planner who wanted to reintroduce himself to the world,all came intoThe Anonymouswith a similarend goal. The players were all interested in winning the game, even without a precedent for their gameplay as they moved through the social strategy competition. Despite not taking the end prize, the trio of guys were all formidable competitors and sat down with Screen Rant to talk through the tough endgame.
Screen Rant: Christopher, I want to start with you - going into the final face-off, Marcel selected you to go first. What’s your headspace like going in to select your box? Did you feel like you still had a shot to take the win?
Christopher Shulstead: I’m a person that doesn’t break, so I feel like in that moment, I’m like,“okay, if I have to go first, I’ll go first.”I didn’t really care where my position was in that time, because whether I picked the losing box or the winning box, you aren’t going to see me change up anything. I was going to play it the same way, because I already had a vision of what I was going to do. My favorite color is blue, so I probably should’ve picked blue, but…you know. It was kind of a tough spot to be in. I respected Marcel’s decision, though, because I would’ve done the same thing. If there was anyone who had the chance to keep the winning box, it was going to be me – Andy has some nervous ticks that we love to see[laughs]and Nina [Twine] is pretty stoic…she did a pretty good job, but she didn’t have to hold onto it for as long. She only had to hold onto it for one round…which makes it easier.
Screen Rant: Definitely takes the pressure off. Speaking of pressure, your showmance with Victoria was a major part of your game. Do you feel like the showmance helped you, or hindered you?
Christopher Shulstead: It helped my game tremendously, I’ll say that time and time again. If she wasn’t there and she didn’t vote for me, Lilly [Jenkins] could’ve possibly gotten power and there could’ve been some other people who got power that would’ve sent me home. She played a wonderful game by throwing me under the bus, getting power, and winning the anonymous twice. Kudos to her gameplay, it was great.
Andy King: And you guys got to have some fun!
Christopher Shulstead: And I had fun, that’s right.
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Screen Rant: That’s the total package. Now, Andy - you picked up that win box first, but Nina wound up stealing it from you. What was your thought process after she took the box? It seemed like you almost wanted to help her keep that box in her hands.
Andy King: I was bumming out, I was so bummed. But then I was like - you know what? I never became the anonymous, I never won a challenge, so it probably would’ve looked bad if I walked home with that box and took the prize-
Marcel Cunningham: And bought a lambo.
Andy King: [laughs] I was in a total quandary, but one of my gifts in life has always been - as a stressful event planner in my business, a lot of my competition in business when things get stressful, they start yelling. I get really quiet, and the guys will tell you [my other ticks]. I lick my lips, I don’t know why. It was a quandary for me. I kept on thinking, Nina’s going to take this box. Hmm. Should I just have a breakdown right there? I didn’t, I went down and took another box and I obviously already knew what it was going to say because I’d already had the winning box, but…God works in mysterious ways. I’m kind of hoping I gave up $100,000 to make a million in the future.
Screen Rant: Great outlook to have! Marcel, I’m curious about your thought process in this as well - Nina seemed like she had you misted, to the point that in a confessional interview you even said you didn’t think she knew the game that well. Why give her third when it’s arguably the best position, rather than take it for yourself?
Marcel Cunningham: Before [the final face-off] I’d had conversations with everybody and I asked a lot of people, “who would be the one person you’d be okay losing to?” A lot of people said Nina. She had told me every single time [we talked] that she was not confident going into that final face-off, she said she was so nervous, she sucked at the face-offs…and she asked really piercing questions that gave up a lot of information. Putting her in that third spot, I felt that benefitted me the most because the earlier that she went, the earlier she took her box, the less information I would get from her. I hate that they cut this out of the episode, too – she actually asked me,“Marcel, what do you think I should do?”and I told her to take one of their boxes.
Screen Rant: Wow, that changes things.
Marcel Cunningham: Yeah - I think it helped me in one way, but it was that last minute decision that got me. She made the right call on which box to take. She crushed it, she made the right call.
Screen Rant: So why didn’t you choose to steal a box?
Marcel Cunningham: I really wanted that silver box, the second I saw it up there. My gut instinct carried me throughout the other face-offs, so I was like, can I do it again? It was actually the first time the silver box was ever up there, too. I was just like, silver. It’s calling my name, and it was 50/50.
Screen Rant: There’s just no way to know, but you did great. Okay, one question for all of you to end it off - if you could do one thing differently during your time onThe Anonymous, what would it be?
Marcel Cunningham: Mine would’ve been pretending to be somebody in anonymous mode within my own alliance, or alliances. Because, you know - a lot of people used Lilly as their catalyst or Andy used Christopher toward the end to be like, I want everyone to think I’m Christopher. I think picking someone I was working with and pretending to be them in anonymous mode would’ve been a good strategy.
Christopher Shulstead: I don’t know exactly what I would’ve done differently – maybe not have been so brash with my first two handles in anonymous mode. But I have nothing to complain about, because it kind of helped me and hurt me at the same time. I made it to the finale. At the end of the day, what mattered more than anyone realized – I mean, Jack [Usher] was obviously brilliant in anonymous mode, there were some other players who were brilliant in anonymous mode. You sit there and do that, no one knows who you are, and then you’re a threat. That makes everything a lot more difficult, and then only one person becomes the anonymous. I would rather have really strong alliances than have power for one day to take one person out, so I was happy with what I did.
Andy King: For me, I think I probably would’ve started to plant little seeds. I was absorbing a lot and listening a lot, and I could’ve been more like the guys, or more like Nina and started to plant little seeds. I was constantly thinking it, but I was just going person to person with the best listening skills possible instead of playing up the distraction tool. Obviously, it worked well for Nina. She never did it in a dramatic way, she was always pragmatic about it. Every time she left a group, everyone was like, wow. Wow. She could just change everybody’s thought process by just dropping a couple bombs, so I probably would’ve been attuned to dropping a few bombs instead of just listening.
The Anonymous
Cast
The Anonymous is a 2024 film exploring a strategic competition where players navigate both the real and digital worlds. In the virtual realm, known as Anonymous Mode, participants communicate anonymously to gain power and eliminate rivals, blending elements of perception and deception as they vie for victory.
