Shuvrajit Das Biswas
Netflix’s ‘Too Hot to Handle’ is a perfect reality television series to fill the void left by ‘Love is Blind.’ The dating game show sees a group of beautiful singles who are taken to an island for four weeks. As they try to find love and win $100,000 in the process, Lana (the virtual assistant), informs them of the rules. The individuals cannot engage in anything sexual, like kissing, sex, or masturbation. Their prize money will drop, upon engaging in such activities. Throughout the season, Lana continues providing instructions for the group to follow. ‘Too Hot to Handle’ seems like a mishmash of some widely followed reality shows like ‘Love Island,’ ‘Survivor,’ and ‘Big Brother.’ Naturally, you might be curious about how much of ‘Too Hot to Handle’ is real, and we have got you covered in that regard.
Is Too Hot to Handle Fake?
As with most reality shows, the answer is: it is complicated. Over the years, viewers have become familiar with reality tv tropes and know that they should be taken with a pinch of salt. In the case of most reality shows, makers influence the course of the series to make things spicier. Mostly, this is done by coaching the participants or even manufacturing incidents to notch up the heat.
Since ‘Too Hot to Handle’ has been most closely compared to ‘Love Island,’ it becomes essential to note that a participant has come out saying that the latter is entirely fake and scripted. A source told The Mail that “Love Island is completely disingenuous and a lot of the time very, very fake. It isn’t fair to mislead the audience like that. The producers don’t care what they’re doing to people as long as they’re making their ratings. We were treated like performing animals, and the current cast are still.” The source goes on to say that people are even instructed who to sleep with, in ‘Love Island.’
The good news for the fans of ‘Too Hot to Handle’ is that it does not require much interference, mainly because the central motif is abstinence. It brings us to the announcement made to the participants after they reach the island. On the show, it appears that the participants are only thrown this curveball 12 hours after they have arrived. The entire premise of the show is built along the lines that participants look tantalizing to each other, but cannot act on their desires.
We are introduced to them as serial swipers, and people who have been in meaningless flings. When the announcement is made, almost everyone loses their minds at the prospect of a long period of abstinence. However, it is more than likely that they knew the rules of the game, especially when it comes to such a central instruction.
Furthermore, the ‘virtual assistant,’ Lana, who acts as the host of the show, is not a real app or virtual assistant AI either. The show smartly does away with an actual host. Instead, it has producers of the show pushing instructions through Lana. The series makes it appear that Lana gathers information on the participants after observing them for 12 hours. However, Lana is not an AI application from a sci-fi movie or some form of Alexa. It is just a dumb speaker! So if there’s a fake element of the show, it is actually Lana.
Are the Contestants of Too Hot to Handle Real?
The show kickstart with five women, Chloe, Francesca, Haley, Nicole, and Rhonda, and five men, including David, Harry, Kelz, Matthew, and Sharron. All of them are stunning. What you may not know but is clear from the insta profiles of the contestants that most of them are models. Matthew claims to be an actor.
It is claimed that they have been selected through a rigorous process, but clearly selecting models and actors is just easier for a show because of their easier availability and accessibility. Not to mention the fact that participants are themselves looking to make their mark as reality television stars to further their careers. While the prize money might be a motivator, there is a higher chance that they will do whatever the producers ask them to, to draw attention to themselves.
Therefore, we see some lovely people performing tasks and living out their time on the island. Undoubtedly, due to their willingness to be directed, any interference from producers is also seamless. It results in a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining viewing experience where the boundaries between what is real and what is fake keep getting blurred.
Read More: Where is Love is Blind Filmed?
