Too Hot To Handle production secrets: This is exactly how the show is made

I have a lot of questions about the Too Hot To Handle filming. Like what show did the contestants think they were signing up for? How drunk were they really? What were they eating? Was it a bag of crisps like the rest of us on holiday? And how on earth did the producers decide a blow job is worth $6,000?

The producers and cast have revealed a lot of secrets about how the show was created. The secrets involve finding out the cast occasionally slept on the floor and a poor member of the team had to listen to all the noises the cast made to decide if they were sex or toilet noises.

These are all the production secrets from Netflix’s Too Hot To Handle:

Most of the cast didn’t actually apply for the show and were found via Instagram

I’m not surprised about this one at all, seeing as they all have great Instas. Francesca had 300k followers before the show even began. Most of them were recruited through Instagram and then went through an interview process. They were asked a lot of personal questions, including how many times a day they wank.

They were all on separate flights and Sharron tricked the producers on the way there

To make sure the cast didn’t meet before filming began, they were all put on different flights to Mexico and had different layover locations. Each of them had a handler accompanying them on their flights.

Sharron turned up to the airport in a leg brace, which turned out to be for a practical joke.

They were put into a three day isolation period before filming began

To ensure they didn’t meet, all the cast were in isolation for three days before they began shooting.

They had a personal chef and could request whatever they wanted

Harry revealed the contestants had their own chef who made their meals to order and it was the best food he’d ever had. They would request snacks like deep fried oreos and the chef would bring them in “abundance”.

Harry said: “I have dreams about that food, it was the best food I ever had in my life.”

Just like Love Island, the To Hot To Handle cast had a group dinner together every night. These dinners weren’t filmed, they didn’t wear mics and weren’t allowed to talk about the drama that was going down in the villa.

They also had a cleaning team running after them.

They weren’t given loads of alcohol

So whilst at times it looked like they were a bit pissed, according to Rhonda the contestants had their alcohol restricted. She said: “We only got served in moderation. It wasn’t like we were wilding out.”

It was filmed in April last year

Filming took place for 25 days in April last year in the beaut villa in Mexico which you can actually stay at for a casual $15,000 a night.

They were even filmed in the shower

To make sure they didn’t wank in the shower, there were cameras placed in there. David said no one could have any alone time because cameras were literally everywhere.

He said: “You don’t have any real alone time—you’re with people all the time. It’s pretty much only when you’re showering on in the bathroom that you have alone time, but the showers have cameras in them as well.”

There were five separate film crews! Five!!

Though the entire villa was rigged with cameras, there were five different filming crews. These crews wouldn’t go into the actual villa but would be there to film the contestants on the dates and in the workshops.

The cast weren’t allowed phones, iPads or books

In order to make sure the contestants were always communicating the cast were on a digital detox and weren’t allowed access to phones, iPads or any form of entertainment like books or games.

Sometimes they slept on the floor

Like Love Island and countless other reality shows, the cast all had to sleep in the same room and share beds. However not everyone was always keen on this and they’d sometimes sleep on the floor. David said he did a few nights but he mainly shared a bed with Sharron.

Over 3,000 people applied for the show, but didn’t know what they were signing up for

The show’s creator Louise Peet said over 3,000 people sent in audition tapes for the dating show. However they didn’t know what exactly they were signing up to be part of and they all knew is they would be filming for a “untitled dating show”.

They have a group chat!!!

This is so lovely, Harry said the group are still in contact over a chat on Facebook, do we reckon Haley is in it though?

They all hung out in Mexico after the show

After spending a month in a Mexican villa together, the cast decided to spend even more time together in a Mexican resort. They weren’t filmed and this is when they probably got their phones back, hence why they all have thirst trap photos in similar locations at the end of April last year on their Instas.

Lana was meant to be a mix of Ellen Degeneres and Mary Poppins

A very odd combination of women but there you have it. The show’s creator Louise said Lana was meant to be their guide, friend and guru. Lana was also meant to be a super nanny. Louise said: “We think of Lana as Mary Poppins meets Ellen DeGeneres. She’s also a bit of a super nanny as well.”

Also if you were wondering where the inspiration for Lana’s name came from? Well turns out the creators weren’t that inventive it’s just anal spelt backwards.

There were a number of prototypes for Lana, before they eventually settled on the cone shape.

There were transcribers to sort out sex noises from toilet noises

Yes this was someone’s job. One of the producers revealed to make sure the contestants weren’t cheating or engaging in sexual activity they would have to play back the tapes to decide if certain noises were toilet noises or sex noises. They said: “My assistant went over to become one of the loggers, and she became a complete expert at telling the audio giveaways of sexual action.”

It took a long time to decide the costs of each sexual act

The producers said they had a lot of debate over the price of a kiss, oral and full on sex. They said they wanted it to be cheap enough so the cast would break the rules but also cost enough to create drama.

They said: “We wanted to make it acceptable to break the rules so that we would have a show, but we also didn’t want to be too much about the money.”

Apparently sex was pretty easy to decide but oral and kissing were more difficult to choose a price for, and the producers kind of regret pricing blow jobs that low. They said: “We felt that $20,000 for sex was big enough, but it was those middle ground things that were a big debate. We eventually settled on $6,000 [for oral sex], but I think that was a bit cheap, as well.”

To watch more about how the show was made, watch this video by Netflix:

Too Hot To Handle is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

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