Too Hot To Handle season 5 had a lot of twists and turns, like cast members ditching each other and new sexy singles arriving midway through the season. Trey Rodgers and Yazmin Marziali entered the villa on the fourth episode as grenades to shake things up. Then Bryce Saltmarsh and Linzy Luu also tried their best to disrupt the love pecking order from episode 7 onwards. Viewers were shocked to see lusty horndogs Hannah Brooke and Isaac Francis get eliminated by Lana on episode 8. So, who won To Hot Too Handle season 5 and the remaining $100,000 prize money in the end?
Lana had a tough decision to make as most of the castmates this season broke the rules of not getting physical. However, looking back over the entire season, two clear finalists stood out to AI sex addiction therapist. Blonde bombshell Elys Hutchison and goofball Dre Woodard showed the most personal growth in learning emotional intelligence and getting know someone before getting intimate.
In the end, Lana declared Elys the winner of Too Hot To Handle season 5, and she won the $100,000 prize money. And Elys proved her worthiness in winning the show’s champion title, because she decided to give half the prize money to runner-up Dre. However, someone else from the cast won the real first prize, garnering the most Instagram followers from the show.
“We probably wouldn’t have had a $100,000 without you being detective. And I did spend a lot of that $200,000,” Elys said for why Dre deserved half the remaining prize money. Also, Dre’s large family went through a lot of financial hardship, so Elys helped change the fortunes of his entire family. “She has a special place in my heart,” Dre said of Elys.
The two took home $50,000 each, not a bad payday after getting a nice vacation in a villa in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Dre and Elys celebrating their $50,000 cash windfall by spraying champagne at the end of THTH season 5 (Netflix).
Why Lana Chose Elys As Too Hot To Handle Season 5 Winner & Dre As Runner-Up
Dre hugging Elys for sharing the prize money with him (Netflix).
For picking Elys, Lana gave a long description of her journey on THTH season 5 and how she matured on the show.
“Elys, you arrived here focused only on yourself. ‘I’m someone who needs to be stimulated at all times.’ You put your needs and desires above all others. ‘Honestly, I’m not sorry for that. A kiss is a kiss.’ You didn’t think about how your actions — ‘My decision is Alex’ — could hurt others. ‘I’m not the type of girl who talks about her feelings. Over time you learned to shift your perspective. ‘I just lost the sense of caring’. You sought happiness for others. And began to open up. ‘I’m genuinely starting to feel strong emotions for you.’ This allowed you to form a deeper connection with Alex. ‘Do you want to be my boyfriend?’ With whom you’ve now embraced commitment. ‘I’m leaving with a whole new outlook on my life.’
Her showmance boyfriend Alex Snell said she deserved it the most because she changed the most of anyone on the show.
Lana then announced Dre as the other finalist, and gave reasons for his merit.
“Dre, you arrived here looking for shallow hookups to boost your confidence. ‘I signed up for sex on a boat… Making me horny as a matter of fact, I’m not going to lie.’ You were obsessed with the money. ‘Two hundred racks?’ And closed yourself off from making meaningful connections. ‘How much money have we lost, does anybody know?!’ And then when your ego was bruised… you used Linzy for self-validation. ‘Me and Linzy don’t got nothing.’ However, you realized your error and confronted the issue head on. ‘Again, I just wanted to apologize. I regretted the way I went about the kiss. My ego got the best of me.’ And from that point forward, you opened your heart up to change. ‘Me going out to have sex with all these girls to make myself feel good, and that’s wrong.'”
“And you have now flourished. ‘I walked in the ghost or the player, but this retreat had completely changed my life, I’m a whole different person.'”
Ultimately, Dre’s maturity transformation was too little too late for lots of the cast. Elys showed more personal growth and built a very strong, intimate connection with Alex. However, in the end they both took home the same amount of money.
Find out if any of the THTH season 5 cast are still together after the show.
