Warning: Spoilers ahead for Too Hot to Handle season 5.
WHILE TOO HOT to Handle is full of secret kisses, hookups, and love triangles, the main objective is to show a bunch of young singles that making emotional bonds with their partners is just as important as physical ones. To incentivize the cast to put sex on the back burner during their time on the show, they start off with a grand prize (this year it was $200,000, the highest ever), and each time they break a rule—which includes no kissing, no sexual contact, and no self-gratification—the final prize gets docked.
There were about 15 rule breaks this season, with the highest one coming in at $48,000 for Christine and Louis, while Elys and Alex lost $36,000 for an impressive 12-minute kiss. At the end of the season, all of these infractions left the group with a $100,000 prize.
Even though the last two seasons of THTH saw couples vying for the prize, this year Lana decided that she wanted to have two individuals as finalists. She ended up picking Elys and Dre to vie for the final prize, and then the cast voted for who they thought should take it home.
Who Won Too Hot to Handle Season 5?
After a final cast party, it was revealed that the cast voted for Elys to win the season. However, she surprised everyone when she declared that she wanted to split the prize evenly with Dre, so they both ended up taking home $50,000.
The reason why the two were picked as finalists is because of their personal growth. Initially, Elys wasn’t in touch with her feelings, and she struggled to tell Alex how she felt about him as they got more serious. By the end of the season, the two were in a relationship after she asked him to be her boyfriend, and they even exchanged “I love you’s.”
Dre started off the show extremely disappointed that he was on a sexless retreat, but he soon became the supervisor of the group, and while he held people accountable for their infractions, that left him without any time to make his own connections. But after ghosting newcomer Linzy the day after their makeout, he realized the error of his ways and explained that his ego had led him to pursue her even though he didn’t want anything more.
Through some workshops at the retreat, Dre was able to become a more thoughtful person, and he even stated that the reason he wanted to win the prize money was solely so that he could take care of his family.
Temi Adebowale was previously an Editorial Assistant at Men’s Health, covering shows like Survivor, Peaky Blinders, and Tiger King. Prior to her entertainment work at MH, she was Newsroom Fellow, writing news stories across Hearst Digital Media’s brands. Temi likes Rihanna, the StairMaster, and tacos.
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