“Too Hot to Handle” Season 3 Review
In a world with an abundance of reality dating shows, “Too Hot to Handle” has one of the genre’s most original and entertaining concepts.
The producer’s trick around 10 objectively attractive “serial daters” to believe they are on a different dating show that wants the contestants to create drama from hook-ups and partying.
All the contestants arrive at the island where the show is shot excited for weeks of an all-expenses-paid vacation surrounded by solely attractive people. Well, that is until they find out the twist.
“Too Hot to Handle” aims to teach the contestants how to connect with other people beyond physical attraction. To teach them this, the contestants are forbidden from any sexual contact, including kissing.
To ensure that the participants don’t engage in any sexual activity, there is a large prize fund that any contestant can win. Each time contestants break the rules; money is deducted from the prize fund.
As if 10 hot single people being trapped in a luxurious resort and not being allowed to touch one another isn’t chaotic enough, the “person” in charge of all the rules and the prize fund is a cone-shaped robot named Lana.
While Lana may seem to be a parody of Amazon’s Alexa at first at first, Lana oversees the entire resort and can change rules whenever she sees fit.
Most fans of the show will agree that the first season of “Too Hot to Handle” was the best. With it being a brand-new concept, all of the drama and relationships that came out of it were unpredictable.
While Netflix still saw success with the second season of “Too Hot to Handle,” the show’s longevity was brought into question. If the show had already executed the concept in the first season, would anything that different happen with a new group?
The second season still had plot twists and dramatic events, but it didn’t live up to the original season.
Nevertheless, Netflix released all ten episodes of the third season of “Too Hot to Handle” on Jan. 19 with a new group of participants and new twists.
This third season definitely exceeded expectations. With compelling contestants that were the perfect mix of entertaining and cringe paired with new rules from Lana, the third season was unquestionably an entertaining binge.
While the contestants and their antics are the bulk of the entertainment on “Too Hot to Handle,” the narrator of the show, comedian Desiree Burch and the workshops contestants participate in help set “Too Hot to Handle” apart from other dating shows.
Many criticize reality television for being overly produced thus making things seem unnatural. While there are definitely a few moments from this season that feel like producers may have tampered with more than they should, this new season definitely feels more authentic than the previous.
Burch is responsible for the narration throughout the series. Not only is this narration helpful for the audience to be given context or a further explanation for what’s going on, but her hilarious digs at the participants and Lana turn the show from another drama-filled dating show into a cheery reality show that emphasizes self-discovery and improvement.
“Too Hot to Handle” features workshops with relationship experts. These workshops aren’t only for couples to try and connect on a non-sexual level but also help each participant leave the show with a newfound respect and love for themselves.
Both of these features have remained consistent across the series further aiding the quality of this new season.
“Too Hot to Handle” is the perfect binge, and while some may find the concept old by the third season, the production and idea of the series are unique and entertaining even to viewers who don’t necessarily love reality TV.
The third season of this reality series may not have surpassed the entertainment value of the first season but definitely established that “Too Hot to Handle” has the potential to have a surplus of enticing seasons in the future.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Sophia D’Ovidio is a first-year majoring in communications. To contact her email sgd5184@psu.edu.
