Have I been watching too much TV? Maybe. As I’ve said before, Dave and I are working solid days. 9-5 for myself, and 6 AM-midnight for him. Ok, I exaggerate. But genuinely (sorry to embarrass you babe) but one of the things that really attracts me to him is his work ethic. He’s probably rolling his eyes if he’s even reading this, which he’s not because I have to strongarm him into reading my blog usually (guess it’s not as interesting as his twitter feed). But genuinely, he gets up between 5.30&7 most mornings, works until about 6 at night, takes a workout/dinner break, and works again from 9 or 10pm until midnight. And he does the dishes EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. Mostly because he told me I’m awful at doing them.
Anyways, I digress. I wish I could make you a list of all the things we’ve watched over quarantine, and I’m kicking myself for not doing it now, but here’s a brief version (in absolutely no particular order):
- Ready or Not
- Brooklyn
- Addams Family (2019)
- Addams Family (1991)
- Unorthodox
- Shtisel
- Tiger King
- Ocean’s 11
- She’s the Man
- Mad Men
- The English Game
- Sherlock
- The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch
- Road to Perdition
- Sherlock
- Big Mouth
- Across the Universe
- Little Women
- The Good Liar
- A Time to Kill
- Julie & Julia
- Just Mercy
- Uncut Gems
- The Lighthouse
- The Exorcist
- Get him to the Greek
- Victoria and Abdul
- Harriet
- Atypical
- Too Hot to Handle
Ok, so maybe we watch more than I thought. But some of those are movies (and I started this list from March 1st) and some are TV shows I watched by myself. Dave only rewatches the Sopranos & the Wire. Funny enough, we always say we can agree on TV more than movies (I prefer light rom coms and Dave prefers war movies), If anyone wants me to tell them more about any of those shows or movies, I would be more than happy to delve into it, but for now, this post is mainly here to focus on Netflix’s next best creation, “Too Hot to Handle”.
For fans of Love Island, the Circle, Love is Blind, etc. this will be right up your alley. Although I have to say I got really bored with Love is Blind after they left the little pods & I didn’t even make it through the Mexico episode. But I saw enough to understand all the memes that have been flooding my timeline.
But again, I digress. Let’s talk about Too Hot to Handle. Finally. For real this time. At episodes with about 40 minutes each, it’s not a huge commitment. In fact, I watched the first five in one night because I couldn’t look away at the train wreck (this is said with love I promise). In the first episode, you meet your og cast of very fit men and women. You have Francesca, Hayley, Chloe, Nicole, and Rhonda walking around in very tiny bikinis (not dissimilar to Love Island) and the boys, Harry, Sharron, Kelz, Matt and David.
The premise of the show, is that these 10 singles are only interested in one night stands & they are told they’re going on a one month vacation…well I’m not really sure what they’re told. But they have 12 hours from the moment they get there to flirt & kiss, etc. before “Lana” a cone shaped AI machine (not dissimilar to google or siri) gathers them around the fireplace and gives them the news that there will be no kissing, touching, sex, or masturbation, for one month. If they can successfully do this, they are eligible to win the prize of $100,000. If they fail, there will be financial repercussions for each slipup.
Overall, the show, which was a short 8 episode commitment, was not too dissimilar to the similar drama on love island, ex on the beach, etc. I don’t know what it is that’s so fascinating about reality television, but it’s definitely my guilty pleasure. While I found most of the cast ridiculous, although I adored Chloe, Rhonda & Nicole as well as David, most of the cast was straight up unlikeable.
Hayley, a sorority girl from Florida, who is now famous for not knowing where Australia is (yeah ok, very believable) left a few episodes early because she hadn’t learned a single lesson from being there, The goal was to form deeper meaningful relationships without just being there for sex. In the first episode(maybe the second-is this the worst review ever?), Harry and Francesca kissed losing the team $3,000. Harry told the boys beforehand, stating that Francesca kissed him except that they showed us how it happened and it was definitely the opposite.
I never understood why people lie on reality shows. They must know it’s going to be broadcast & the truth will come out. Anyways, Harry blames Francesca in front of the whole group and everyone gangs up on Francesca and to get revenge, Hayley and Francesca make out, deny it repeatedly and at one point Francesca states she makes bank from her instagram modeling job and doesn’t care about the money prize. (She sounds great right?).
I won’t give away all the spoilers, like I said I do think it is worth a watch, if you enjoy reality TV. I enjoyed it much more than Love is Blind, probably a little more than The Circle, but it will never steal the #1 spot of Love Island (UK). I do think there are a few fundamental problems with the show however.
- It’s unclear to me how they enticed all these people to the Island (actually I think they’re in Mexico) under false pretenses
- The show doesn’t actually work for members of the cast that are there but not sexually tempted. Matt, Kelz, and Nicole never really had a shot at being tempted. To remedy this, producers sent in a few more cast members, Kori, Bryce, and Lydia. At the time, they added nothing to the show except for Lydia, who genuinely seemed to be getting on well with David.
- I was so confused about the prize money. I wasn’t sure if everyone was going to win the same amount individually, or there would be voting at the end who would win. Would it be couples? Or individuals? It was made clear in the last episode, but it was something that bothered me throughout.
- Also, there were only 8 episodes even though the cast was in the villa for a month. That’s basically two episodes a week. We think we saw all the reasons the financial deductions happened, but it just feels like there was so much more time when other bits could have happened.
Let me know if you’ve watched Too Hot to Handle on Netflix & tell me what you thought in the comments below! Also, if there’s anything else on the list of things I watched & you want to know more about let me know!
xx
j
jordanabroadadventures.wordpress.com 