David Took Us Behind the Scenes of His 'Too Hot to Handle' Workouts
Last spring, Netflix sent a bunch of conventionally hot people to a tropical resort to shoot a reality show called Too Hot to Handle. A $100,000 prize was on the table, but the catch—which the stars didn't learn until they got there—was that the prize money would go down if anyone succumbed to their sexual urges; sex, kissing, and yes, even a stealthy "self-gratification" session, would cost them varying amounts of cash. The noble goal, similar Love Is Blind, was for hot people to form deep connections not based on physical chemistry.
"It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience," says David Birtwistle, one of the aforementioned hot people you'll meet when Too Hot to Handle hits Netflix on April 17th. "It's something that I'm really grateful for. I don't think I'll ever get something similar to that again."
Well, that's probably true. On the show, contestants were monitored by an omniscient digital being known as "Lana" (read: hyper-attentive producers) to track if and when they did any sort of deed.
"We were very aware that Lana was everywhere at all times," David says. "There were definitely a few moments where you know for a fact that if Lana wasn't there, some stuff would be happening."
The no-kissing rule was the hardest part of the show, David says. Things got really tricky when he made a connection with someone in the later stages of the show—and they had to fight not to lock lips.
"When you're in the pool, in swimming suits, and you're very close to one another ... having to not kiss someone when you really want to, and you're like an inch away from their face, that is tough," he says. (Meanwhile, the no-masturbating rule was easy: "You don't have any real alone time—you're with people all the time. It's pretty much only when you're showering on in the bathroom that you have alone time, but the showers have cameras in them as well.")
A post shared by Too Hot To Handle - David (@david.birtwistle) on Apr 9, 2020 at 9:22am PDT
For the U.K.-based fitness and nutrition coach, it was also tough spending four weeks without a gym; there were only dumbbells on set. David knew he'd have to get creative with his workouts, so he stuffed his suitcase with resistance bands, a jumprope, and any other small fitness accessories he could squeeze in.
"It was very much a case of, 'How can I get the most out of this environment?'" he says. The answer was dumbbell-based functional fitness moves, including shoulder presses, dumbbell thrusters, and dumbbell snatches: "multi-joint movements put together in some sort of CrossFit-style metcon, or circuit, to get the heart rate up." He also used bodybuilder-style hypertrophy to build muscle.
"Me and a couple of the lads got into a rhythm of working out every morning," David says. They'd crank out a big workout, do some soccer drills, then hit the pool for a swim.
His workout buddies included Kelz, Matt, and Shirron. "I taught Kelz how to do handstand walking," David says. "You'd be surprised: a man that's 6'6", he learned it quite quickly. I was pretty impressed."
The women also got in on the workout action...by providing extra resistance in David and Kelz' routines.
"We didn't have enough weight, so we asked one of the girls to stand on our backs as we were doing pushups, just to get that extra resistance in there for that chest workout," David recalls. "I think there was bench-pressing some of the girls ... at some point."
Wait...bench-pressing the women? Did that not count as sexual activity?
"I’m glad they didn’t clock onto that one," David says. "Lana wasn’t watching."
It remains to be seen whether David made any lasting deep connections with any of the ladies on the show, but he certainly bonded with the other guys—and discovered some things about himself, too. He says one of his best memories of the show was the men-only warrior workshop, where the guys covered themselves in mud and learned to express their vulnerabilities and past traumas. "It built relationships," he says. "It allowed us to see each other for our true person."
Sounds like in one way or another, Too Hot to Handle achieved its goals.
"Running down from the villa into the water and cleaning ourselves of the mud, that was such an amazing experience," David remembers. "I can’t tell you how brilliant that felt to run into the sea and just be free."
Too Hot to Handle hits Netflix on Friday, April 17th.
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