‘Too Hot to Handle’: Francesca ‘Definitely’ Thinks Avoiding Sexual Contact ‘Does Intensify an Emotional Connection’
Too Hot to Handle is Netflix’s latest reality show craze. The show follows a group of conventionally hot singles with commitment issues as they attempt to form deeper connections than they’re used to. They have to do this without any sexual contact. If they do anything more than a handshake, the group’s $10,000 prize money gets slashed.
When Francesca Farago agreed to be on Too Hot to Handle she had no idea what she was getting into.
“The first few days in the villa, we still had no idea really why we were there. And then when the bomb dropped that it was like a self-discovery growth experience, it was kind of a shock,” she said in an interview with Esquire that went live April 23.
The ‘Too Hot to Handle’ rules helped Francesca grow as a person
The publication asked the Canadian influencer is she feels “that being prevented from having sexual contact really does intensify an emotional connection.”
“Definitely,” she responded. “I think that not being able to get physical with someone makes your connection with them stronger because you have to find other ways to show affection. Generally, I’m a very affectionate person. I like to touch the person I’m with and I like to be touched. That’s one of my love languages, I guess you would say, physical affirmation. So the fact that we weren’t allowed that was a real shock for me but, even though I did break the rules and have some physical contact, I was still able to form such strong bonds with people. I don’t know if it would necessarily have been that strong if it was more of just a physical thing.”
Francesca says, thanks to the rules of the show, she got to know people “on such an emotional level.”
“We got to know ourselves as well, so I guess that whole experience just really makes you reevaluate the way you form relationships,” she said.
Francesca gained a lot from the ‘Too Hot to Handle’ workshops
The Too Hot to Handle workshops clearly weren’t for every contestant. But Francesca thinks they were key to her growth on the show.
“Without the workshops, I don’t think I would’ve developed as much as I did in the house. All of them made you have a lot of self-realization, a lot of self-reflection. They definitely allowed me to open up to the other people, realize a lot about myself, a lot about my character, a lot about the way I was treating other people in the house, which I didn’t really realize before,” she said. “I was just being selfish and focusing on my connections and I was breaking the rules when I wanted to, but I realized that we were there to grow and my actions had consequences and there were other people’s emotions involved and I needed to consider not only myself, but everyone else’s emotions as well.”
Francesca continued: “So without the workshops, it definitely wouldn’t have ended the same way that it did, because we wouldn’t have been able to develop in the way that we did and learn about ourselves. So they definitely touched all of us.”
