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Too Hot to Handle is a popular reality show on Netflix that challenges conventionally-attractive singles to keep their hands off each other in order to win a cash prize

The show is made even more entertaining by narrator Desiree Burch. Before being a part of Too Hot to Handle, Burch actually worked as a virgin dominatrix.

‘Too Hot to Handle’ narrator Desiree Burch once worked as a virgin dominatrix

Desiree Burch does a standup comedy routine onstage in 2019
Too Hot to Handle narrator, Desiree Burch, during a standup comedy routine in 2019 | Ollie Millington/Redferns

Burch is a comedian and actor. Although originally from the U.S., she is now based in London. In her 20s, when Burch was living in New York City, she worked as a dominatrix, though she did not have sexual contact with clients.

“I got paid to beat guys up like every woman wants,” she joked on The Jonathan Ross Show in 2019. Burch shared that her coworkers in the field had various day jobs, including nurses and actors. This work allowed the women to make decent money on the side.

“I was just like, ‘I’m going to roll up my sleeves and jump right in and learn all about men and their proclivities by finding out what they do behind closed doors,’” Burch said.

Desiree Burch has talked about feeling undesirable by society’s standards

Burch has been open about not feeling desirable by society’s standards. She had a comedy show, Unf***able, which addresses this issue.

“Growing up, I was always fat. We were the only black family in my neighbourhood,” she told The Guardian. “And all that was against the backdrop of Hollywood, where everyone just wants to be attractive and get some sort of Hollywood validation.”

As an adult, Burch learned to reclaim hurtful words people might throw at her. In fact, her comedy show was a way to do just that. In a 2022 interview with Jezebel, she explained:

“If something’s been leveled against you in a way that is meant to cut you down or to hurt you, after a while you go, ‘F*** it, I’m going to take that kind of thing on.’

There isn’t anybody who is unf***able, as anybody who was born into a woman’s body understands. There’s always someone. You could smell like a trash bag and be coming out of a gym, and there’s always someone who’s like, ‘Hey.’”

Burch added, “I came from a place of being Black, fat, a virgin, all of these things where I was just like, ‘I don’t know how to do it, and no one wants to do it with me.’ And I was super born-again, raised that way. You spend so much time worried about if you belong as a human being that you don’t think about what it is that you want. And I think the same is true for extraordinarily attractive people, especially at the age where everyone wants them, and they also want to belong.”

Desiree Burch feels ‘protective’ over the ‘Too Hot to Handle’ cast members

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According to her Jezebel interview, Burch had not met any of the cast members of Too Hot to Handle in person. Still, she admitted to feeling “protective” over them, especially because she is older than they are and can relate to some of their experiences.

“From a distance, I feel like this sort of maternal, like, ‘Oh, these sweet kids,’ over what they’re doing,” she shared. “Everybody’s been 20-nothing and just been like, ‘I can have sex now.’ I have this very sort of protective feeling about them that I probably wouldn’t have if I were closer to their age.”