If you've gone on Netflix over the past few days, then you might've come across a new reality dating/competition series called Too Hot to Handle. Seeing as how it was No. 2 on the most watched programs as of Sunday night, then perhaps you've even seen it. Quarantine can do strange things to your brain.
But for those who haven't, the show's premise is centered around enticing attractive people not to fool around with each other by rewarding them with money if they can hold out. Those people are cooped up on an island, and while they're sealed off from society they can't get physical or their reward pot will dwindle down to zero. While you won't want to check the Wikipedia page if you have any interest in watching (due to spoilers and all), that site sums things up by pointing out that prize money for contestants decreases if those contestants engage in "any sexual contact on the island." Easy enough concept to follow.
Now, if that sounds like a repackaged idea to you, then it's probably because it is. Show developer Laura Gibson told Entertainment Weeklythat she actually came up with it three years ago after watching the iconic 1992 Seinfeld episode "The Contest," which is centered around a bet over how long that series' main characters can go without masturbating.
"They all had to not masturbate for money, and they all cave. I said, there's gotta be a show in there," Gibson said to EW.
Netflix was first pitched the series in 2017. Filming didn't begin until March/April of 2019. Showrunner Viki Kolar explained how hard it was to craft a concept that would encourage people not to get physical when, you know, they're used to doing that.
"We talked about it being like the minibar in a hotel. This is what the peanuts will cost, like that," Kolar said. "$3000 was set for a kiss, and even that took a lot of debate."
The rest of the logistics were also crafted from educated guesses. As EW writes:
"For each base the couples would cross, the producers had to come together to decide how much they purposefully disobeyed the rules. They needed cameras set across the retreat. Assistants, called loggers, were also listening into the audio at all times."
"One of the loggers told me she became an expert of deciphering audio during sexual activity," Gibson says. "We would say 'keep an eye on those sounds. What time are they doing it? How long are they in the toilet for?'
Producers for the show also see the silver lining that comes with being lucky enough (at least from a release date standpoint) to have the show come out when most people around the planet are locked down.
"We could have never predicted this would go out when most 20 to 25-year-olds in the world are going to be suffering from terrible blue balls," Kolar told EW.
Definitely not a great time to be 20-to-25, and also every other age. You can read the whole thing here.
