Plot Twist: 'Too Hot To Handle' Stars Nicole & Bryce Are Dating Now

Fans of Netflix's Too Hot To Handle are demanding justice for Nicole. Nothing bad happened to her or anything; it's just that she didn't really get all that much screen time. The friendly Irish lass had more of a supporting role while her fellow cast members found love (or at least lust) with one another on the Netflix reality dating series. But it turns out, her time to shine did come after all, because Nicole reveals she started dating Bryce after Too Hot To Handle filming ended.

Nicole was basically a saint on the show. She didn't get into any big fights. She didn't partake in any rule-breaking, money-losing hookups. She mainly just hung out, made friends with her co-stars, and gave everyone major swimsuit envy. One thing fans defintiely didn't see her do was make a romantic connection with anyone. But it wasn't her intention to lie low.

"Straight away, I really fancied David, but then he was really taking the whole Lana thing serious from Day 1," Nicole tells Elite Daily. "So I was like, 'OK, I can just throw that out the window because there's no way I'm going to crack him if he's not going to do anything.' Other than that, that was the only guy straightaway who caught my eye."

Things didn't magically change when Bryce arrived at the retreat in Episode 3, either. "I didn't really think Bryce was [right for] me — I thought he was not really my type," Nicole says, explaining that before Too Hot To Handle, she based her dating decisions on the "70% looks, 30% personality" rule.

Timing played a role as well. Not only was Bryce pursuing a connection with Chloe (who, coincidentally, is now one of Nicole's besties) for a while on the show, but he and Nicole just didn't get that much quality time together. "When you're in there, it's so weird because sometimes you don't see one or two people and for a day or two at a time, because people are doing different things and around the retreat. So we didn't get to know each other on a really deep level."

It was a different story once cameras stopped rolling and the cast had a few days of downtime in Mexico. "After we were finished filming and stuff, I actually got really close to Bryce," Nicole says. "We just got to know each other and had one-on-one alone time with no one else around — no cameras, no nothing. I got to see him in a different kind of light and then I just found him really sexy."

Nicole says she and Bryce took things slow after leaving Too Hot To Handle in the spring of 2019, but their relationship has progressively gotten more serious. "It is kind of like boyfriend-girlfriend, but it just doesn't have that official label," she explains. "We're just trying to make it work with this whole quarantine thing ... I don't plan on dating anyone else and I know that he feels the same. So hopefully we'll have that official label soon."

Luckily, Chloe is super on board for her friend and her former fling's romance. "She loves it because she didn't really see Bryce in that kind of way. She's so supportive," Nicole says, also adding about Chloe: "I'm so, so lucky to have someone like that, who I can genuinely call a best friend for the rest of my life."

Nicole attributes the relationships that have come from her time on Too Hot To Handle — both platonic and romantic — in part to the wild rules put in place by the show.

"It opened my eyes to so many things deep down in myself that I didn't know were issues in terms of relationships — deep trust issues that I had, which I really pushed to the side and didn't take notice of. I'm happy I had that personal growth and development," she says. And bonus? "I now go for 70% personality, 30% looks."