Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Too Hot To Handle’ Season 6 on Netflix, Where Lana and Her Evil Twin Bad Lana Are Playing Mind Games With The Show’s Horny Contestants

After five seasons of Too Hot To Handle trying to trick its horny contestants into participating in a competition where they’re rewarded for their abstinence, season six turns the tables and actually cast ten willing participants in the contest to see who can stay sex-free the longest. The contestants are unabashedly sex-crazed and proud of it, and even though they’re fully aware of what’s expected of them this season, they have no idea that there are loads of new surprises in store for them. Even though the formula’s shaken up, is the show still hot enough, or is it too cold to hold?

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Opening Shot: Beautiful, beachy scenery and big, luscious butts are the first things our eyes are tempted to feast upon in the opening montage of Too Hot To Handle , season six.

Once we get all of our establishing shots of T & A (tropics and ass) out of the way, we learn that the contestants actually know the premise of the show, unlike in past seasons where they didn’t realize they’d be forced to abstain from sex.

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The Gist: Normally on Too Hot To Handle , an assembled group of horny contestants think that they’re appearing on a dating show where they’ll get to hook up with people and maybe even meet someone special, and then they’re shocked when it’s revealed that they’re on a show where the competition is actually all about abstaining from sex to win a cash prize. On the sixth season of the show however, everyone who has been cast knows that they’re on this show, and, honestly, none of them seem to care.

In most of their introductory interviews, this season’s contestants explain that they love sex, and they’re pretty sure the show’s robotic cock-blocker, Lana, can’t tame them and their naughty ways. What they don’t know is that the show’s formula has changed up a bit. Lana is still around, but she’s joined by her sinister alter ego Bad Lana – also a disembodied robot voice, but made of black metal so you know she’s evil – but Bad Lana doesn’t care if these kids hook up and in fact, she encourages them to get their flirt on.

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What the contestants don’t know is that regular Lana (Good Lana?) is watching their every move, and though there won’t be financial penalties for all that slutty behavior, she plans to kick off the contestants who prove to be the biggest rule breakers and cant keep their hands or tongues to themselves. When she shows up to the bondage party that Bad Lana encouraged them all to have, contestant Jordan declares, “Look who showed up, bitch cone .” It is, admittedly, a hilarious line, but the way he says it denotes some genuine annoyance and, dare I say, robot misogyny . Lana assembles to contestants to announce that the original rules of the show, no kissing, heavy petting, sex, or masturbation, are back in place, and that the show’s two biggest rule breakers of the day will be banished immediately (!). Those two contestants are Charlie, who kissed three girls that afternoon, and Bri, who kissed two guys.

It’s a seemingly cruel and unexpected twist and the banished contestants are rightfully pretty angry to be kicked off, but also… as I said, they did know what show they were signing up for, and Lana’s known for being a stickler for the rules. But as they exit the retreat, Lana stops them to let them know that banishment does not actually equal elimination, and – twist – they’re not actually leaving the show after all, they’ll be holing up (ew) with each other in Lana’s special “banishment quarters.”

Our Take: At a certain point in a show like Too Hot To Handle ‘s existence, it becomes so popular that the surprises and twists that make it special need to be overhauled to keep it fresh. Fortunately, the new aspects of the show like Bad Lana and the lack of a fake show within a show aren’t bad, just different. As always, it’s the “naughty nymphos” whose obsession with sex are still the beating (throbbing?) heart (nethers?) of the show and they’re still why we’re here.

I try to have a charitable view of the contestants on shows like these who seem allergic to modesty because usually their commentary is so outlandish that it’s funny. But if I’m, say, 70% charitable and open-minded and is entertained by the spectacle of it all, I’m still 30% grouchy grump who is worried that at least one of these contestants will probably end up holding public office within then next four years. But if you watch a show like this with a judgey attitude, you won’t enjoy it. If you take it as unseriously as its contestants seem to, as if you were living your whole life like it was hot girl summer, you will undoubtedly have a good time.

Sex and Skin: There’s very little left to the imagination when it comes to the contestants’ bodies, and though they’re technically not allowed to have sex, it’s all they want to do and talk about.

Parting Shot: After it’s announced that Bri and Charlie will be living in the banishment quarters, narrator Desiree Burch says, “So Lana takes hostages now? She is not messing around this year.” In a montage of scenes from future episodes to come, it’s also revealed that two past contestants will be joining the cast to replace Bri and Charlie, who are also shown suited up in the banishment area in jumpsuits that make them look as if they were extras from the Dharma Initiative on Lost .

Performance Worth Watching: I mean, this how is cast to perfection with uninhibited personalities who seem to be willing to say and do anything and anyone, but if I had to pick just one person to watch for, it’s Katherine, who looks a little like Dua Lipa and describes her type as “tall and tan with colored eyes.”

Memorable Dialogue: “Sorry in advance, mom, you probably shouldn’t be watching this,” contestant Kylisha says in an interview after explaining that her mom is the one who signed her up for the show. This, just a moment after Kylisha self-describes as “the ultimate f—kgirl.”

Our Call: STREAM IT! Look, now that his season of Love island USA is wrapping up, we all need another option for juicy summer fun, and this season’s new twists are fun and unexpected.

Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Massachusetts. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.

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