Nicole O'Brien

Too Hot to Handle is a British reality television dating game show produced by Fremantle production companies Talkback and Thames. Created by Laura Gibson and Charlie Bennett, the show's eight-episode first season was released on Netflix on 17 April 2020. Hosted by a virtual assistant named "Lana", the show revolves around 10 adults – all of whom primarily engage in meaningless flings and are unable to form long-lasting relationships – who are placed together in a house for four weeks and must go through various workshops, all while being forbidden from any kissing, sexual contact or self-gratification, with the monetary prize getting reduced any time a rule is broken.

In January 2021, the series was renewed for two more seasons, both of which were filmed back-to-back amid the COVID-19 pandemic on the Turks and Caicos Islands. The first half of the second season released 23 June 2021, followed by the second half the next week on 30 June 2021. The third season was released on 19 January 2022. The fourth season premiered on 7 December 2022. The fifth season premiered on 14 July 2023.

Hosted by a traffic cone-shaped virtual assistant named "Lana", the show revolves around a group of adults – all of whom primarily engage in meaningless flings and are unable to form long-lasting relationships – who are placed together in a house on a tropical island for four weeks. Initially led to believe they are on a fictional, raunchy show, the contestants are later informed by Lana of the true purpose behind their stay, and that they are forbidden from any kissing, sexual contact, or self-gratification for the duration of it. The contestants start with a $100,000 grand prize that gets reduced any time a rule is broken. Alongside these restrictions, the contestants are put through various workshops aimed at aiding personal growth, in order to foster genuine connections between them.

Each season starts with 10 new contestants, although later new additions occasionally join throughout. Similarly, contestants who are unable to form connections in the house or commit to the process are sometimes kicked out, while others may voluntarily withdraw if they feel that their personal growth would be better facilitated outside of the show's environment.

Season 1 (2020)

Season 2 (2021)

Season 3 (2022)

Season 4 (2022)

Season 5 (2023)

Background

The show was created by Laura Gibson and developed by Charlie Bennett, citing Seinfeld episode, "The Contest" as their inspiration for the premise of Too Hot to Handle. Laura Gibson, creative director of Fremantle-owned production company Talkback, which produced the eight-part series, told Deadline Hollywood that she had been working to produce a dating show since 2016.

Viki Kolar and Jonno Richards, executive producers for Too Hot to Handle, said they found inspiration for the virtual character from artificial intelligence and virtual assistants, especially in video surveillance. Viki Kolar stated, "[A.I.] is literally everywhere around us. It's kind of governing us, it's taking over," in an interview with Glamour.

Development

On 5 May 2019, Netflix Studios, LLC applied to trademark the phrase "Too Hot to Handle" for all educational, training, entertainment, sporting, and cultural purposes. The application was approved on 24 June 2019, and was extended on 5 March 2020. This has been done with other Netflix original programs such as Stranger Things, The OA, and Big Mouth. Too Hot to Handle was produced by Fremantle production company Talkback.

The show, instead of using a human as their host, used a virtual assistant named Lana. Desiree Burch provided voice-over narration, making snarky and comedic remarks towards the contestants.

Casting

In 2018, Talkback announced that casting for an untitled reality television show was open. In total, over 3,000 people auditioned for the show; however, producer Louise Peet stated that the people who ultimately ended up being on the show stood out to the casting team and were chosen quickly.

Filming

A luxury resort called Casa Tau in Punta Mita, Mexico opened to guests in December 2018. Soon after, Too Hot to Handle started filming at Casa Tau in late-March 2019 and ended filming in April. After filming had ended, all fourteen contestants were able to spend several days at the resort with no cameras before going home.

Release

On 10 April 2020, Netflix released the trailer for the first season of Too Hot to Handle. The first season of Too Hot to Handle consisted of eight episodes, all of which were released on 17 April 2020 on Netflix. A reunion episode aired on 8 May 2020, where Desiree Burch interviewed the fourteen contestants. The first 4 episodes of second season premiered on 23 June 2021, while the remaining 6 episodes premiered on 30 June 2021. The third season was released on 19 January 2022. The first 5 episodes of the fourth season premiered on 7 December 2022, while the remaining 5 episodes premiered on 14 December 2022. The first 4 episodes of the fifth season premiered on 14 July 2023. The next 3 episodes were released on 21 July 2023, and the final 3 episodes of the fifth season were released on 28 July 2023.

Netflix released two spinoff mobile games, Too Hot to Handle: Love is a Game (2022) and Too Hot to Handle 2 (2023).Both games are available free to all Netflix subscribers.As of March 2023, Love is a Game was Netflix's most played game.

Prize

Season 1

At the allocation ceremony, the ten remaining contestants became the winners. Francesca Farago, Harry Jowsey, Kelz Dyke, Bryce Hirschberg, Chloe Veitch, David Birtwistle, Lydia Clyma, Nicole O'Brien, Rhonda Paul, and Sharron Townsend all split the $75,000 prize fund, resulting in $7,500 for each person.

Season 2

At the allocation ceremony, it came down to three contestants: Carly Lawrence, Cam Holmes, and Marvin Anthony. The fellow finalists were the ones who voted for the winner, selecting Marvin as the winner of the $55,000 prize fund.

Season 3

At the allocation ceremony, it came down to four contestants: Beaux Raymond & Harry Johnson (as a couple), Georgia Hassarati, and Nathan Soan Mngomezulu. The fellow finalists were the ones who voted for the winner, selecting Beaux and Harry as the winner of the $90,000 prize fund.

Season 4

At the allocation ceremony, it came down to two couples: Jawahir Khalifa & Nick Kici, and Kayla Richart & Seb Melrose. The fellow finalists voted for the winner, with Jawahir & Nick winning the $89,000 prize fund with a final vote of 6 votes to 1.

Season 5

At the allocation ceremony, it came down to two contestants: Elys Hutchinson and Dre Woodard. The fellow finalists voted for Elys to win the $100,000 prize fund. Elys decided to split the prize fund with runner-up Dre, resulting in $50,000 for both contestants.

Viewership

The first season of Too Hot to Handle became the No. 1 television program on Netflix during the week of 20 April 2020.

The second season of Too Hot To Handle accumulated 111,680,000 hours watched while in the Netflix Global Top Ten; season 3 racked up 72,840,000 view hours, and season 4 scored 74,900,000 hours.

Critical response

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the first season of Too Hot to Handle 36%, holding an average rating of 4.9 out of 10 from 28 reviews. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, gives the series a score of 43 based on 13 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Critic John Serba of Decider panned the show, describing it as "a mashup of Temptation Island, Love Island, "The Contest" episode of Seinfeld and The Peter Griffin Sideboob Hour", stating that "to call it tawdry is to engage in nuclear understatement", calling it "some of the dreckiest dreck ever drecked", and advising viewers to skip it.

Rachelle Hampton of Slate also wrote a negative review, stating: "Despite an irresistibly juicy premise, Too Hot to Handle doesn't know what kind of show it wants to be, and it suffers for lack of direction. (...) Its will-they-or-won't-they concept is ruined as soon as it becomes clear that, yes, they obviously will, even if it means losing tens of thousands of dollars."