Netflix has gone fully off the rails. The streaming service dropped its latest dating reality show, Too Hot To Handle, just in time for quarantine. You've probably already watched the whole thing and gotten up to speed on couples like Francesca Farago and Harry Jowsey and Rhonda Paul and Sharron Townsend.
However, more shocking than who is and isn't still together is this fact Netflix just revealed about Lana, the sentient AI robot who guided the contestants on their no-sex journey. While the exact identity and origins of the robot are still unknown, we got some insight into her name. Is it a reference to perhaps some type of goddess as a nod to Greek and Roman mythology? A computer-generated name based on human brain chemistry and emotion? Or is it simply "anal" spelled backward? It's that one.
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In a behind-the-scenes video posted by Netflix UK & Ireland, viewers can learn all about how the contestants got to the retreat, where the cameras were hidden during filming, and what their living situation was like, but nothing has shocked me more than this news about Lana, who I thought was a prim and proper AI lady.
"The cast were genuinely obsessed with Lana," the video narrator says after revealing her anal origins.
While the origins of Lana's name may be crude, showrunner, and executive producer Viki Kolar told Refinery29 she actually has a really thoughtful purpose.
"As British producers we noticed Americans are used to having human contact with the cast. But then we were like, we want to focus on the people that are on the journey," she explained. "One of the producers was like, 'Do you know who I talk to all the time? My Alexa. I feel like I've got a relationship with my Alexa. Sometimes she judges me, sometimes she says stuff I don't agree with.' And we all just realized that the world is basically being governed or in some way connected to AI and to make it a dating show for 2020 you need to bring AI into it."
And in 2020, that AI can be named after anal sex, dammit.