‘Too Hot to Handle’s’ Chloe Enters ‘The Circle’: “I’m Just Gonna Go in There and Smash It”

Since the debut of Queer Eye back in early 2018, Netflix has made a name for itself with ambitious reality TV content that totally captures the zeitgeist and gets everyone talking. Nailed It!, Love Is Blind, Selling Sunset, and now Marriage or Mortgage—these shows are peak TV’s version of peak comfort food. And of Netflix’s entire reality lineup, few are as unique as Too Hot to Handle and The Circle.

They’re about as far apart as two reality shows can get. Too Hot to Handle is all about getting close to people emotionally and physically—but not intimately or sexually lest you take money away from the collective prize. And then there’s The Circle, which isolates the competitors, hides them behind the anonymity of text in a chat room, and features players totally lying in order to get that dough. Each show draws upon a different set of skills, so who in the world could possibly be up for appearing on both??

The answer is Chloe Veitch, a favorite from Too Hot to Handle who won over viewers with her upbeat personality. She may not have left THTH with a man, but she left with lots of fans. Now she’s entering The Circle for Season 2 of the US series, where she’ll be playing as—come on, we can’t reveal that yet! All in due time. So, how did Chloe go from living in a beautiful villa to a funky flat? She spilled the tea to Decider.

---

Decider: Too Hot to Handle looked like it was set in paradise. It came out in 2020 right when quarantine started and we’re all just like, “I want to go to Mexico, too.” How hard was it to film in paradise?

Chloe Veitch: Do you know what? It wasn’t. I loved it. I loved every single minute of it. Just being able to wake up and eat a banana—I don’t eat bananas anyway, but just being able to eat it in a villa. Mexico is just stunning. The cast, the production, the whole aspect of Too Hot to Handle was just crazy.

Now Too Hot to Handle is returning for Season 2 in June. Do you have any advice for people that want to be on a future season of Too Hot to Handle?

Just break the rules. Just do it. Why not? I mean, to be honest, if you’re going to go on—I’m gonna retract that a little bit. I mean, don’t break the rules too much. But you’ve kind of got to kiss a couple of frogs in there, otherwise you’re gonna kick yourself when you get out. But just invest in the process. Sometimes you can feel silly in some of the challenges, but if you invest in the process, you make a couple mistakes on the way that you learn from and you come out a better person.

What was it like after Too Hot to Handle came out and you became a Netflix reality star? How did that change your life?

I mean, I used to work in a chip shop. So going from a chippy gal to a reality TV star that millions of people have viewed on Netflix—it’s just crazy. It’s just mind blowing. Like, I even have to wake up and pinch myself now. And to film The Circle—I’m just so grateful and so blessed to be able to just be on camera again, because I just feel like that’s where I belong.

Were you a fan of the original UK Circle before the US one debuted?

No, I didn’t watch any of The Circle and then when I got approached by Netflix, I thought, “Right, I’m gonna watch it. All my friends have seen it, my family have seen it.” But I’ve just never really been one to watch reality TV, believe it or not. When I saw the US Circle, the first season, I was in stitches. It was so funny. And I was actually scared to film [Season 2] because the first season was so good. And I thought, what if people hate me? What if I’m not as funny as the first cast? But we’ll see!

Did being on Too Hot to Handle prepare you for going into The Circle? Did you take anything you learned into The Circle experience?

Yeah, I did but I think it’s like—The Circle and Too Hot to Handle are two completely different shows. So Too Hot to Handle you’re in the sand in Mexico, you’re surrounded by people buzzing all the time. And then you’ve got that compared to The Circle where I’m isolated on my own for weeks, can’t talk to anyone. So I think one of the things that I did pick up on is just to be myself again, just be myself. And because I’ve been on TV and because I was loved on TV, it gives me the confidence to think, “You know what? I’ve got this. I’m just gonna go in there and smash it and just see what happens.”

You went from one show where you’re essentially wearing a swimsuit all day to the other extreme where you’re probably wearing pajamas all day. Was that a change?

I prefer the swimsuit to be fair because I could steal other people’s swimsuits and I could say to the girls, like, does this look good, can you help me out, and [I had] outfit choices. Whereas in the circle I think I wore the same dressing gown or loungewear set for at least a week And the producers actually told me, like, “Chloe, you need to change. You need to put a different set of pajamas on because obviously continuity.” I was like, I’m sorry.

I actually wrote a guide to all the slang on Too Hot to Handle. Did any of your UK slang confuse any of your Circle castmates?

Yeah, all the time—and I never understood them either. I was like, what are you saying? I don’t understand. So a word that I say a lot is “sort.” It means like a sexy guy. Everyone’s like, what’s that? In my bio, I explained, “looking for a sort” or “sorts come my way.” I can’t remember what I wrote. But everyone was like, what does this mean?

Do you have any other reality shows that you’d love to appear on?

I would love to go on I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of There. I love it. Could you imagine me eating a spider?

I want to see you as a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.

Oh my word! Yes! That would be amazing!

The Circle Season 2 premieres on Netflix on April 14

Stream The Circle on Netflix

Stream Too Hot to Handle on Netflix