You might consider the Netflix reality show Too Hot to Handle a guilty pleasure, something you wouldn't want to admit to anyone, a prism of cringe entertainment. You might deny knowledge of it to someone who hasn't even asked. And you would be right.
The premise of the show is that unreasonably good-looking people have come to a beach resort expecting to flirt, hook up, and win a ton of money. Once there, though, they learn they will be on a sex ban for the entire trip, with their every move monitored by a faux-Alexa bot with a soothing female British voice encouraging them to form deeper connections with each other. To motivate them in this lofty goal, they lose several thousand dollars from their fat prize pot for every breach of the ban. Sound wonderfully terrible? Yes, it is.
What makes this ridiculous premise properly entertaining is neither the participants, who all sort of blur together, nor their shaky ascent to spiritual enlightenment, but the narrator's voice-over commentary of these newly post-teen antics.
Desiree Burch makes this show sing. She's sharp sarcastic, sex-positive, and talks like she's sitting on your couch with you making you feel better about spending 44 minutes of your life on this show.
Burch is an American comedian who lives in England and is a fixture of the British panel-show circuit, enriching the analysis on political satire shows like Frankie Boyle's New World Order and Late Night Mash, and taking pratfalls on the delightfully ridiculous contest show Taskmaster. Check out her wonderful series Profiles in Fatness on YouTube.
