Four years after its debut, Too Hot to Handle season 6 is trying something new. The hit Netflix reality show, which returned for its latest installment on July 18, is known for challenging a group of sex-crazed singles to forgo their biological urges for the chance at real intimacy and commitment, with a potential cash prize. Up until now, finding the cast of proto-influencers has required a bit of subterfuge, with each season premiere featuring a twist where the contestants, who'd believed they'd signed up for a more traditional Love Island-esque romp, find out they're actually set to go toe-to-toe with the sex cop robot Lana. (Season 4 even enlisted Mario Lopez for its fake-show ruse.)
However, the Too Hot to Handle season 6 cast knows exactly what they're in for, prompting the dating show's producers to raise the stakes and introduce new elements to the game. Enter, Bad Lana: the scheming AI cousin built to encourage rule-breaking (and money-spending) behavior. Before diving into new episodes of the popular reality series, read on for a breakdown of Bad Lana and other twists, including a new bunker, shake up Too Hot to Handle season 6.
What is Bad Lana in 'Too Hot to Handle' season 6?
Since the cast of Too Hot to Handle season 6 knows what's coming when they enter the villa, they have to be thrown for a loop in a brand new way. The first big surprise comes when they're welcomed by Bad Lana, a matte-black cone with red lighting and a sultry American accent that's designed to "encourage humans to succumb to their baser instincts." When this new cone is in charge, the traditional rule breaks (i.e. kissing, heavy petting, self-gratification, and sex) all receive no fines. As the show plays out, it becomes clear that this allows the original Lana to see them all at their worst—and just because Bad Lana time means no fines, that doesn't mean there won't be consequences.
What is Lana's bunker in 'Too Hot to Handle' season 6?
Bad Lana takes control of the retreat for the majority of season 6, episode 1, giving all of the contestants a chance to explore their options. Atlanta girl Bri and Brit Charlie take the most initiative to pursue and kiss multiple people, so they become easy targets for Lana. The white-and-purple cone takes over at the end of night 1, and she has two big reveals: The prize pot will be $250,000, the largest in the show's history, and the two worst-behaving guests will be banished from the retreat. Bri and Charlie have an emotional goodbye to the villa, but that doesn't mean they're gone for good.
Bri and Charlie are immediately sent to a new area of the villa, which turns out to be a windowless guest house in all neutral colors. As the two biggest threats to the prize fund, Lana orders the pair to stay there for 24 hours, wearing baggy "prison clothes" and counting a pile of paper clips. If the boredom wasn't bad enough, all that empty time is filled with Bri and Charlie stewing over whether their respective crushes, Demari and Lucy, are having their heads turned by someone else.
Eventually, Bad Lana arrives to tease them both with two new arrivals who have come to the villa—THTH alums Flavia and Louis, who appeared in season 4 and season 5, respectively. The darkside bot presents footage of Flavia and Louis flirting with Demari and Lucy, offering to show them to Bri and Charlie for the low price of $5,000 each from the prize fund. (To be fair, it's cheaper than a kiss.) Later that night, after Flavia and Louis choose dates for the evening, Bri and Charlie spend another $5,000 to see who they choose. Neither Demari nor Lucy end up going on the date, so the coast is clear for Bri and Charlie to reconnect with them when they're let out of the bunker a few hours later. However, the prize fund is also $15,000 lighter.
Who's worse in 'Too Hot to Handle' season 6, Good Lana or Bad Lana?
Outside of the big drama of season 6's first two episodes, Bad Lana exists to lean on the cast members' lust and insecurities to deduct more money from the prize fund. Her last big moves from the first episode drop is to tempt Katherine and Louis in the private suite, providing an array of toys and half-off-rule-breaks hour. Her inclusion is a nice change of pace from the typical formula, but Bad Lana would be much more effective if the prize money hadn't been the weakest part of the show since the very first season. If the most captivating stars of each season don't really care about the prize than it loses its power.
Really, the original Lana is the more severe of the two. The bunker itself is her domain, and the second way she utilizes it in episode 4 is quite cruel. When Demari and Katherine are chosen for dates with two new arrivals (dubbed "grenades"), their matches Bri and Louis are banished to get out of sight and (theoretically) out of mind. Bri gets bunkered twice in four episodes, which is harsh!
So is the existence of Bad Lana just there to remind us that the good Lana's methods can be unethical at times? Will season 6's changes finally break the Too Hot to Handle experiment? We'll have to wait and see, but it's clear that post-Bad Lana, nothing remains the same.
