'Too Hot To Handle' Was Inspired By a 'Seinfeld' Masturbation Contest

For those of you unfamiliar with Netflix's latest offering, the popular reality series brings together ten of "the hottest, horniest, commitment-phobic swipesters" to see if they can abstain from anything sexual in exchange for cold, hard cash. And while that may make for fascinating television, it turns out the concept itself is far from new.

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That's right, according to the show's creative director and show developer Laura Gibson, Too Hot To Handle's premise was directly inspired by an old Seinfeld episode called "The Contest," in which Jerry and his pals abstain from masturbating in order to win a cash bet.

"None of them can actually do it, and so they actually all lose the money," as Gibson recently told Oprah Magazine. "And I thought, 'There's a TV format in that. Why don't we get some of the hottest people on planet to try and see if they can hold themselves back for cash?'"

Talk about a mind-blowing, cross-cultural revelation. And though it's hard to believe this is the state of pop culture in 2020, the proof is in the clip — which you can watch for yourself, below.

Photo courtesy of Netflix