Netflix already got me good withLove Is Blindearlier this year and now the streaming service has yet another dating reality show winner on its hands withToo Hot To Handle. As someone who’s never been tempted byThe Bacheloror any other hugely popular dating show, I was shocked when I couldn’t turnLove Is Blindoff, blew through the entire season in a matter of days, and then found myself needing to keep up with most of the contestants on social media. Well, now it’s happening all over again.
Somewhat similar toLove Is Blind,Too Hot To Handleis another experiment of sorts. The producers found ten stunning serial daters who are all about sex, sex and more sex, and challenged them to make forming a meaningful emotional connection the priority instead. They all arrive at their tropical villa ready to hook up, but then they’re hit with the show’s big twist; kissing, sex and self-gratification are all against the rules. And on top of that? If someone breaks those rules, the entire group is fined and they’ve got to watch their $100,000 grand prize dwindle.
Having grown so attached toLove Is Blindso recently, I’ve got to admit that it took me a little while to fully embraceToo Hot To Handleand to stop longing for theLove Is Blindformat instead. That show was certainly extreme. After all, it got contestants to commit to marry each other after mere days of dates without ever actually seeing one another. But,Too Hot To Handleactually feels like an even bigger stretch because all of the contestants are, well, a bit over the top.
At the start of the show, almost every single person involved comes across as extremely egotistical, over-confident and, to be frank, pretty obnoxious. But remember, this is a show about forming meaningful connections and in a sense, that challenge is put on the audience, too. A good deal of Episode 1 features the group hitting on each other and showboating, but episode by episode, the show does a solid job of chipping away at those caricature-like first impressions, revealing who they really are and how they can move forward. Yes, there’s still a lot of raunchiness and short-sighted behavior from start to finish, butToo Hot To Handleactually does have a number of very emotional beats and meaningful lessons about trust and self-love.
The show format does feel a little bit like a work in progress at points, but the folks behind the scenes still manage to bring it all together quite well. A good deal of time is spent focusing on the romance and putting the contestants in tempting situations, but they also incorporate group exercises that are often precisely placed for two purposes - to force contestants who are butting heads to connect and also to break up the repetition of possible rule-breaking. On top of that, the show’s eight-episode run also comes with a consistent string of very interesting curveballs that up the suspense. But again, it really isn’tjustabout manipulating the viewer to click “next” immediately after an episode ends. These twists do truly add meaningful layers to the contestants’ journeys.
One element of the show that winds up coming in handy way more than I initially thought it would is the narration. At first the one-liners feel like cheap shots strategically placed to tell me what to think, but it soon becomes quite apparent that the pacing was heavily reliant on that voice-over work, as was the overall structure of the game. TheToo Hot To Handlegame master, Lana, also takes a little getting used to. Alexa’s cone-shaped cousin wakes the group up every morning, dishes out the rules, and is watching for possible transgressions 24/7. In the process, Lana essentially becomes another character on the show. Similar to the narrator’s banter, the contestants “conversations” with Lana become more and more charming and amusing as things move along. Ultimately, the narrator, Lana and the contestants come together to giveToo Hot To Handlea very catchy beat and pace.
Admittedly, I’m still finding my sea-legs when it comes to reviewing reality television, but the one thing that stays constant from reality TV to scripted TV to feature films is the importance of a piece of content’s ability to pull you in, make you invested and then keep that content on your mind well after the story wraps up.Too Hot To Handleticked every single one of those boxes. Yes, at times laughs are coming at the contestant’s expense and some of the behavior featured on the show is downright absurd, but it’s all mighty entertaining and there’s a very effective blend of that absurdity and also some legitimate heart. In the end, guess who’s following another crop of reality stars on social media now?
