By now, you've probably binge-watched, Insta-stalked, and Reddit conspiracy-theoried all in pursuit of the answer to one burning question: Are Rhonda Paul and Sharron Townsend from Netflix's Too Hot To Handle still dating?
Hold on to your bikinis, all you naughty little possums, because Rhonda just set the record straight in a new interview with Women's Health. "Unfortunately, we are not [together]," she says. "We are the best of friends; we still do talk, as far as helping each other out, talking to each other, and things like that." (FYI: The other Too Hot To Handle couple, Harry and Francesca , are still togetheryes, really.)
That said, Rhonda clarified to OprahMag.com that their relationship is a "work in progress." Sharron also told the publication that meeting Rhonda on THTH was "one of the greatest things that has happened" to him. "She's been a gem in my life," he added.
The couple were going strong for a few months after the show ended, but their breakup was eventually "due to long distance," Rhonda explains to Women's Health. Sharron lives in New Jersey near his single mom and five brothers and works as a wrestling coach, per OprahMag.com, while Rhonda lives in Atlanta with her son. "With everything that's going on now, we actually haven't even had the time to meet since the show," she adds. "It's been very difficult with that space between us... so we kind of just agreed to be friends for now."
The physical distance between them turned into emotional distance as, Sharron told OprahMag.com, he "ended up closing off again" due to family issues. "My mom was sick," he explained. "...Not intentionally, but I found myself distancing from [Rhonda]."
Whether or not a reconciliation is in the couples' future is still TBD, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic has indefinitely put their travel plans on hold. "Right before coronavirus happened, I planned to fly out, or she was going to fly to Jersey. Coronavirus halted our plans," Sharron told OprahMag.com.
"The quarantine is another hurdle that we have to get over," Rhonda added to the publication.
Still, as the cast's transformations on Too Hot To Handle have proven, anything's possible. (Just as long as Sharron gets approval from Rhonda's son, Amare, first.)
Though Rhonda and Sharron's relationship has ended, she doesn't regret a thing about it or her overall experience on the THTH retreat. "I feel like I went in there with an open mind and an open heart," she says. "So, I really wouldn't change anything, because I always feel like no matter what happens in life, good or bad, it kind of builds a stepping stone to your future. So I never regret anything."
And that includes what Rhonda and Sharron did in the private roomsomething that has baffled viewers, thanks to Lana's infuriatingly well-timed bleeps.
To answer that burning question, all Rhonda can say is: "Sharron and I definitely had connected at that point in time, but with everything that we were learning throughout our time there, we still did not ultimately destroy Lana's rules. So, we still have not had sex."
"I don't think I would've given anybody an opportunity to get as close to me as Rhonda did [if it weren't for] our circumstances at the retreat," Sharron noted to OprahMag.com.
To that end, he believes they may eventually find their way back to each other. "Hopefully there's still a chance that we can still make something work. I got a lot of love for her," he told the publication. "You know what they say. A blessing comesbut if you let it pass you by, it may not come again. I know what I have in front of me. I don't want to let it pass me by."
The Too Hot To Handle crew agrees that these have two have something special, even if it didn't work out in the end. "Have you seen a relationship like Sharron and Rhonda's on a reality show before? I have never seen that," creative director Laura Gibson told OprahMag.com. "The growth that those two go through together, the genuine emotion at the end of it, was heartbreakingly gorgeous."
As for Rhonda's current love life, well, you might just see her looking for a new beau on season two of Too Hot To Handle (if that happens). "Hopefully, there'll be more of me somewhere, you know, in another season of finding love for Amare and Rhonda," she says.