In case you haven't heard yet, there's a new reality dating show on Netflix called Too Hot to Handle, and it is WILD! The series revolves around a group of contestants who travel from around the globe for the chance to win $100,000. But like any good show, there's a catch! Participants must resist all forms of sexual interaction, including kissing. Production tracks everyone's whereabouts through a bunch of cameras that are placed around the house they're staying in, but even with all the monitoring going on, there are still a few secrets that aren't revealed. Like, where the show is filmed, and the fact that the series was inspired by a Seinfeld episode. Don't worry, though: we went ahead and rounded up all the fun tidbits you may not know about the show.
10 Things You Didn't Know About Netflix's Too Hot to Handle
10 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets We Just Learned About Netflix's Too Hot to Handle
Show developer Laura Gibson revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that the idea for Too Hot to Handle came to her after she rewatched Seinfeld's "The Contest episode. "They all had to not masturbate for money, and they all cave. I said, 'There's gotta be a show in there,'" she told EW.
"The Contest" aired on season four of the beloved NBC show in 1992. "We talked about it being like the minibar in a hotel. This is what the peanuts will cost, like that," showrunner Viki Kolar explained.
The show was filmed in Casa Tau's private villa, which is located in Punta Mita, Mexico. The fancy estate currently goes for $15,660 a night on Trip Advisor.
The creators reviewed thousands of applications as they searched for the cast. "When their casting tapes came to us, they sang," creator Louise Peet said of the contestants that were chosen. "They were perfect. They fit the bill in terms of their habits, in terms of their love lives and their commitment phobia."
We never saw the contestants cook their own food on the show, and there's a good reason for that: they had personal chefs. Even though they weren't shown, Nicole recently told Collider that she had the "most amazing food" there. "We had these personal chefs who cooked us whatever we wanted for breakfast, lunch, dinner. So for breakfast, we would have huge fry-ups, french toast, pancakes. So we'd wake up at around eight o'clock," she said. "We'd all get ready, and then lunch would be just steak. We had steak all the time. Same with dinner, lovely chicken. It was amazing."
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While some contestants applied to be on the reality dating show, others were chosen by producers. "I was actually messaged by a member of production to go on the show, and I didn't really know necessarily what it was about. I just knew that it was an opportunity to meet attractive people," Francesca revealed to Cosmopolitan in an interview. Harry, on the other hand, applied. "Yeah, so I applied, because I just suck at dating," he told the outlet.
Just like The Bachelor, producers would sometimes nudge the contestants to do certain things on the show. "In these situations, if they know that you've got a problem or you need to have a chat with someone, they'll just point you in the right direction to get a result, or to get that conversation happening and get to the end goal," Harry explained to Cosmpolitan. "They're not forcing you to say or do anything you don't want to. They just kind of help nudge you in the correct direction."
We already knew that the cast was under surveillance the entire time, but the show went as far as to include cameras in the bathroom to make sure contestants weren't breaking the rules. "There were cameras everywhere, even in the bathrooms," Bryce explained in an interview with Hollywood Raw. "It was just CCTV, it was not for broadcast the ones in the toilets. It was just to make sure you weren't doing that . . . they're not recording, but they're watching essentially."
Even though one producer suggested that Lana be inspired by Amazon's Alexa, Gibson told Oprah Magazine that Lana is more like a "super nanny." "When I heard the idea I thought, 'I can't believe this hasn't been done before.' We're always being watched and listened to. It felt so modern and youthful to have an AI robot that was their love guru," she said. "We think of Lana as Mary Poppins meets Ellen DeGeneres." In fact, Lana interacted more with the contestants than the producers. "Lana was their love guru, Lana was their guidance, Lana was their friend," Peet added.
While it may have seemed like the cast was always drinking, apparently, that wasn't the case. "We only got served in moderation," Rhonda told Oprah Magazine. "It wasn't like we were wilding out."
Taking after The Bachelor, there were no phones or internet access while filming the show. "It was really refreshing to not have a phone and to be in an environment where you are really with people, talking and having fun," David said to Oprah Magazine.