Warning: Too Hot to Handle Season 5 spoilers ahead. As one of the final three couples this season (and one of the winners), it’s understandable why fans want to know if Alex and Elys are still together from Too Hot to Handle Season 5 and if they’re still dating in 2023.
Alex Snell and Elys Hutchinson were two contestants on Too Hot to Handle Season 5, and one of three couples who left the series together. Too Hot to Handle is Netflix’s reality TV dating series following 10 adults — all of whom have a history of meaningless flings and an inability to form long-lasting relationships — at a retreat for four weeks where they’re prohibited from Kissing, sexual contact, self-gratification by the series host, a traffic cone-shaped virtual assistant named Lana. The series sees the contestants go through workshops and date each other as they learn what it means to form a serious connection. In the finale, the contestants vote on a winner who receives a prize fund for experiencing the most growth throughout the series. As of Season 3, the prize fund starts at $200,000 and is reduced throughout the season whenever contestants break Lana’s rules and have sexual contact with each other or themselves.
In an interview with People in 2020, executive producer Jonno Richards and director Charlie Bennett explained the inspiration for Too Hot to Handle. “About two years ago, Laura Gibson [the creative director at [production company Talkback] and myself had a conversation over the phone about an episode of Seinfeld called ‘The Contest,’ Basically, the idea is that the core cast makes a bet with each other that they can avoid self-pleasuring for longer than the rest of them,” Bennett said. “It was a very funny episode, and it made us think that there was possibly something reality-based to make from it. So that’s where the idea came from. Then this show Love Island, that is very successful in the U.K. and is in the U.S. now, that felt like a sort of good template to put on it. And it grew from there, really.”
Richards continued, “I think it was always about trying to find a show that was funny, but also something that felt timely and would speak to people who are out in the dating scene now. Nowadays, people who are dating a lot and are hooking up a lot, they move quite quickly. So the idea was, how can you use that funny concept to perhaps help people form deeper connections, as well as it being entertaining as a social experiment? So it’s funny, but there’s something—you hope—real happening there as well.”
But back to Alex and Elys from Too Hot to Handle Season 5. So… are Alex and Elys still together from Too Hot to Handle Season 5? Read on where Alex and Elys are now and if they’re still dating. (Click here to find out if other Too Hot to Handle Season 5 couples are still together.)
Are Alex and Elys still together from Too Hot to Handle Season 5?
Are Alex and Elys still together from Too Hot to Handle Season 5? The answer is no. Alex Snell, a 28-year-old from London, England, and Elys Hutchinson, a 23-year-old from Lausanne, Switzerland, were two original contestants on Too Hot to Handle Season 5 and entered on Episode 1. Alex was interested in Elys from Episode 1, but she coupled up with Hunter, which left Alex to couple up with Megan. Once Elys realized her relationship with Alex was stronger than her connection with Hunter, she broke up with Hunter and coupled up with Alex. Alex and Elys stayed together until the end of Too Hot to Handle Season 5, when Elys asked Alex to be her boyfriend and he told her “yes.” In the Too Hot to Handle Season 5 finale, Elys was voted as the winner, while Alex was also a finalist.
So are Alex and Elys still together from Too Hot to Handle Season 5? The answer. Elys confirmed in an interview with Elite Daily in July 2023 that she and Alex are not still together after Too Hot to Handle Season 5. Elys explained that she and Alex dated for around six months after Too Hot to Handle Season 5 finished filming, however, they decided to break up due to the long distance between them. Alex lives in London, England, while Elys, who is from Lausanne, Switzerland, lives in Los Angeles, California. Both Alex and Elys still follow each other on Instagram at the time of writing this. “We stayed together just under six months after filming,” she said. “It was a very fun six months– very fiery and passionate. But with me traveling so much and us doing long-distance, it just didn’t work. We’re still on great terms, which is really nice.”
Elys also confirmed she was still single in her interview with Elite Daily, in which she revealed that she was focusing on her career in Los Angeles instead of her love life. “Right now, I’m focusing on my career. I’m in L.A. with my family and having a really good time. I’m open to going on dates, meeting people, and seeing where it goes, but I’m very happy being single and doing my own thing.” she said. While she and Alex aren’t still together, Elys did confirm that she’s remained friends with the entire cast, including Alex. “Literally all of them. The girls and I have a group chat, and we speak every day or two, and the guys will also be friends for life,” she said. “They’re the only people who have properly experienced what I’ve experienced there, so they are like a different category of friends.”
She also told Elite Daily about her love triangle with Hunter and Alex at the start of Too Hot to Handle Season 5, and why she chose Alex in the end. “I was genuinely really confused; I liked both of them,” she said. “It’s hard because when you’re in a villa with five guys, it’s not like you can lose sight of one and forget about them. They were both there the whole time, and it was hard to get to know them at the same pace and make a decision.”
She continued, “Spending time with Alex, I realized that we had a very similar dry sense of humor. Honestly, we got on like a house on fire. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed with a guy as much as I’ve laughed with Alex. So I just had to go with my gut feeling.” As for the relationship advice she’s learned from Too Hot to Handle Season 5, Elys told Elite Daily that she’s learned to trust her gut more. “Go with your gut feeling on everything. When you’re in the real world and not the Too Hot to Handle retreat, your friends, family, and people around you can sway your decision,” she said. “It’s so easy to stalk a guy on social media and see who he follows. In the retreat, it’s your decision. You genuinely meet people for who they are, not what their feed looks like or who their friends are. That’s something I’ve taken away—you should always go with how you feel about someone, because it’s your life.”
Who is the Too Hot to Handle Season 5 host?
Who is the Too Hot to Handle Season 5 host? Too Hot to Handle is hosted by a virtual assistant named Lana, who appears in the form of a cone and makes sure that the cast doesn’t break any of the retreat’s rules, including no Kissing, sexual contact and self-gratification. The series is narrated by comedian Desiree Burch.
In an interview with People in 2020, executive producer Louise Peet explained the inspiration for Lana. “Going back to Big Brother, we thought that an AI [artificial intelligence] way to communicate with the cast would be amazing,” she said. “Our senior producer Andy said he has quite a good relationship with the Alexa in his house. He feels like his Alexa is a part of his family, as we all do. We’re used to being directed by AI, and somehow we don’t get annoyed at them. So we were just thinking of interesting ways that people have these relationships with inanimate, artificial intelligence objects. And we thought, for this generation, it was the most clever way to communicate with our cast and also create a new character in the show, which is fun.”
She continued, “We can tell you why her voice was chosen. We definitely chose a Mary Poppins-esque, non-judgmental British female voice. Just for the authority and lack of judgment that we hoped would come across.”
Louise and executive producer Jonno Richards also explained when Lana decides to give contestants the green light, which allows them to make physical contact with each other. “When a couple showed that they were forming a deeper connection, then Lana would decide that they would get a green light,” Louise said. Jonno added, “It couldn’t all be the stick. It couldn’t all be punishment—there had to be a little bit of carrot, a little reward.”
Jonno and Louise also confirmed that Burch wasn’t on set for Season 1 when she narrated the series. “Desiree wasn’t on set. We would edit the show, then we would get writers to look at it,” Louise said. “Then Desiree would come in and add her take on things and her tone to it. You’ve got Lana in there, so you wanted the [narrator] to almost feel as if she was watching at home and commenting on it and sort of taking the mickey out of people a little. Not [just] telling you what was going on, but she had to be adding something to it. So that’s why Desiree was so good, because she’s got that tone. She can be warm and she can be a little snarky, but it’s done with a wink and never too harsh.”
Jonno added, “And she’s perfectly international. She was born in California, grew up in New York, and she lives in London. So she has this really amazing international accent that comes out now and again. She’s brilliant.”
Who’s in the Too Hot to Handle Season 5 cast?
The Too Hot to Handle Season 5 cast includes 14 contestants from across the world. Meet the Too Hot to Handle Season 5 cast ahead.
- Elys Hutchinson, 23; Lausanne, Switzerland — Entered: Episode 1
- Dre Woodard, 23; Georgia, USA — Entered: Episode 1
- Alex Snell, 28; London, England — Entered: Episode 1
- Bryce Saltmarsh, 22; Gold Coast, Australia — Entered: Episode 7
- Christine Obanor, 26; Texas, USA — Entered: Episode 1
- Courtney Randolph, 25; Texas, USA — Entered: Episode 1
- Hunter LoNigro, 24; Arizona, USA — Entered: Episode 1
- Linzy Luu, 24; Hawaii, USA — Entered: Episode 7
- Louis Russell, 26; Hampshire, England — Entered: Episode 1
- Megan Thompson, 26; Cambridge, England — Entered: Episode 1
- Trey Rodgers, 22; Illinois, USA — Entered: Episode 4
- Yazmin Marziali, 25; Montevideo, Uruguay — Entered: Episode 4
- Hannah Brooke, 24; California, USA — Entered: Episode 1
- Isaac Francis, 24; New Jersey, USA — Entered: Episode 1
Too Hot to Handle is available to stream on Netflix.
Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale.