'Too Hot to Handle' Season 3 Was Filmed in Actual Paradise

A.k.a. Turks and Caicos.

too hot to handle filming location
(Image credit: Netflix)

Don't get me wrong, the Mexico villa from the first season of Too Hot to Handle was gorgeous. But season two and season three of Too Hot to Handle look like they're filmed in actual paradise, from the sparkling blue sea to the white sand and lush landscape. Who needs sex—or kissing, or heavy petting, and so on—when you have a 4.5-acre compound on a peninsula of your own worth $10,000 a night? (Well, if anyone, it's these people. But I digress!)

Where is 'Too Hot to Handle' filmed?

Seasons two and three of Too Hot to Handle were filmed back-to-back in Turks and Caicos on the island of Providenciales. Specifically, the Too Hot to Handle villa is the Turtle Tail Estate, which costs $10,000 per night to rent and is a 4.57-acre peninsula, per Caribbean Journal, worth a casual $20 million. Walk, don't run! As long as you have $10,000 kicking about! (And another $10,000 for the security deposit!)

So, why the venue change from the first season? Well, first of all, the contestants of seasons two and three were tricked into thinking they were on an entirely different show—Parties in Paradise, for season two, and Pleasure Island for season three—and walking into the villa made famous from Too Hot to Handle season one might have been a giveaway. Second, and more urgently, COVID-19 safety protocols forced the move from the original villa Mexico.

Previous guests of the Turtle Tail Estate have included Rihanna and Diddy (formerly P. Diddy), according to the Radio Times. Booking the private peninsula also gets you your own private chef and butler, in addition to full access of the entire resort. It's managed by Edge Retreats, a luxury vacation rental platform that boasts more than 20 private islands across 50 countries.

Per the Caribbean Journal, the Turtle Tail estate "has a gym, a wine cellar, a game room, an ocean-facing office, a lighted tennis court, a hardwood beach-facing deck and top of the line video and audio systems." The Journal called it "one of the most spectacular homes in the Caribbean."

too hot to handle island

The Turtle Tail Estate.

(Image credit: Netflix)

too hot to handle

(Image credit: Netflix)

too hot to handle

(Image credit: Netflix)

too hot to handle

(Image credit: Netflix)

How long did the contestants spend at the Too Hot to Handle villa?

Seasons two and three are thought to have taken about two months to film apiece. The cast of season two have said that they were there for about eight weeks in total, with longtime cast member Chase DeMoor confirming: "We were there all of November and all of December, basically." (Also, I must note here: If that's the resort in the winter, can you even imagine it the rest of the year?)

In the ultimate Netflix crossover, Selling Sunset's Christine Quinn narrated a tour of the estate:

More photos from the show, you ask? Behold:

too hot to handle island

(Image credit: Netflix)

too hot to handle island

(Image credit: Netflix)

too hot to handle island

(Image credit: Netflix)

too hot to handle island

(Image credit: Netflix)

too hot to handle island

(Image credit: Netflix)

And the cast, casually hanging out in their very own $20 million paradise:

too hot to handle

(Image credit: Netflix)

too hot to handle

(Image credit: Netflix)

too hot to handle

(Image credit: Netflix)

Per Edge Retreats' website, this is what the compound looks like outside of the Too Hot to Handle universe:

too hot to handle

(Image credit: Edge Retreats)

too hot to handle

(Image credit: Edge Retreats)

too hot to handle

(Image credit: Edge Retreats)

too hot to handle

(Image credit: Edge Retreats)

too hot to handle

(Image credit: Edge Retreats)

too hot to handle

(Image credit: Edge Retreats)

Sooo. Anyone got a spare $10,000 lying around they want to lend-slash-give me for my new dream vacation?

Jenny Hollander
Digital Director

Jenny is the Digital Director at Marie Claire. A graduate of Leeds University, and a native of London, she moved to New York in 2012 to attend the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She was the first intern at Bustle when it launched in 2013 and spent five years building out its news and politics department. In 2018 she joined Marie Claire, where she held the roles of Deputy Digital Editor and Director of Content Strategy before becoming Digital Director. Working closely with Marie Claire's exceptional editorial, audience, commercial, and e-commerce teams, Jenny oversees the brand's digital arm, with an emphasis on driving readership. When she isn't editing or knee-deep in Google Analytics, you can find Jenny writing about television, celebrities, her lifelong hate of umbrellas, or (most likely) her dog, Captain. In her spare time, she writes fiction: her first novel, the thriller EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD, was published with Minotaur Books (UK) and Little, Brown (US) in February 2024 and became a USA Today bestseller. She has also written extensively about developmental coordination disorder, or dyspraxia, which she was diagnosed with when she was nine.