"Too Hot to Handle's" Rhonda and Sharron Still Talk Every Day

From Oprah Magazine

• Rhonda Paul, 27, and Sharron Townsend, 25, met and began dating on the Netflix show Too Hot to Handle.

• The reality series was filmed in Mexico in April of 2019.

• A year after meeting, are Rhonda and Sharron still together? We spoke to them and found out where the couple is today.

Too Hot to Handle, a new dating show on Netflix, challenges attractive singles to get to know each other—without hooking up. Sharron Townsend, 25, and Rhonda Paul, 27, were one of the first couples to form under these restrictive circumstances.

Today, Rhonda classifies their relationship as a "work in progress." They are no longer officially dating, but they speak every day. Sharron tells OprahMag.com that meeting Rhonda was "one of the greatest things that has happened" to him. "She's been a gem in my life," Sharron continues.

The couple's trouble began when they left the bubble of Too Hot to Handle. Sharron returned to New Jersey, where he lives near his single mom and five brothers, and works as a wrestling coach. Rhonda moved back to Atlanta, where she is raising her son.

"After the show, we were going strong for a few months," Rhonda says. However, given the geographic divide, they struggled to meet up in person. Swept up in their busy and separate lives, Sharron and Rhonda eventually lost contact.

"I was having family issues. My mom was sick. I ended up closing off again. Not intentionally, but I found myself distancing from her," Sharron says.

Recently, Sharron and Rhonda started talking again—but their grand reunion has been put on an indefinite pause due to the pandemic. "Right before coronavirus happened, I planned to fly out, or she was going to fly to Jersey. Coronavirus halted our plans," Sharron explains. "The quarantine is another hurdle that we have to get over," Rhonda says.

Now, Sharron and Rhonda are in a state that's between friends and an official couple. "She helps me for everything. We talk daily. She's there for me emotionally, but not physically," Sharron says. "Kind of like in the show."

Finding a genuine romantic connection wasn't on Sharron's to-do list when he joined the cast of Too Hot to Handle. "I didn't plan to fall in love. I planned to act even crazier once I saw how beautiful the women were," Sharron says. "It just so happened that I caught eyes with Rhonda, and I got butterflies. Then, we were singing love songs all day."

Though Sharron and Rhonda felt an immediate connection, their progress stalled after Sharron pulled away. "I told her something along the lines of, 'Don't get your hopes up. There will never be anything,'" he says.

Why the hesitation? As he revealed in the show, Sharron was scarred from his last relationship. "I used to be a hopeless romantic. But my ex cheated on me with my best friend. I was so distraught. I never thought I’d find love," Sharron says.

Rhonda persisted in pushing past Sharron's barriers. "He was shutting me down in the beginning. The more we got to talking and got to spend time with each other, I was like wow—he’s more than just a 12-pack and oiled-up body. He’s a genuine person. He saw that in me too," Rhonda says.

Soon, their relationship grew so strong that even Lana, the show's robot/mascot, approved of their progress, and granted them an evening in the private suite. "I don't think I would've given anybody an opportunity to get as close to me as Rhonda did [if it weren't for] our circumstances at the retreat," Sharron says.

With that in mind, Sharron hasn't given up on their relationship."Hopefully there's still a chance that we can still make something work. I got a lot of love for her," he says. "You know what they say. A blessing comes—but if you let it pass you by, it may not come again. I know what I have in front of me. I don't want to let it pass me by."

For the show's creators, Rhonda and Sharron are the show's success story, no matter where they are now.

"Have you seen a relationship like Sharron and Rhonda's on a reality show before? I have never seen that," creative director Laura Gibson tells us. "The growth that those two go through together, the genuine emotion at the end of it, was heartbreakingly gorgeous."

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