As the age of television advances into the future, reality television grows with it, building connections with viewers who feel impacted by the show.
“Too Hot to Handle” is a Netflix original series that follows young adults and keeps track of their interactions with each other in their secluded villa, but with a challenge, in which they must refrain from engaging in any inappropriate behavior such as kissing or any other forms of physical intimacy.
In season six of the show, viewers watched as SHS alumnus, DeMari Davis, competed for the grand prize of $125,000.
Reality TV was never in Davis’s agenda, but his brother, a fan of reality shows, signed him up for the show. Nevertheless, Davis jumped on the opportunity once he heard the show’s casting crew was interested in him.
“My brother was the one that reached out to them,” Davis said. “He’s a huge fan of reality TV, and he’s always told me ‘If you went on one of these shows, I think you’d kill it.’”
The story behind Davis’ rise to fame in reality television is one he considers unconventional, especially with how he grew up in a low income part of the state.
Throughout his high school years, Davis took it upon himself to stay involved with SHS athletics, maintaining both a strong physical shape and mentality to progress his performance.
As a player for both the SHS basketball and football teams, he was very motivated to become a professional athlete for the NBA, a dream that almost came true in the minor leagues.
“Anyone who knows me knows I’m almost delusional, so I definitely thought ‘Alright, we’re definitely going to try to make it to the NBA as best as I can … ’” Davis said. “But it always is dreaming that’s bigger than anything … I’ve always been that guy.”
In his professional life, Davis finds success working as a stockbroker at a high profile investment firm. In addition, Davis pursues a side career in modeling, attending events whenever he can find time.
Despite his busy life, Davis makes sure that he still finds time to manage other aspects, like his physical health and social media, while being able to tackle two jobs at once.
“Luckily, I had a really good 9-5 job which would just allow me to take days off work if I needed to … ” Davis said. “It was tough. (There were) a lot of nights where I probably slept three to four hours so I could do stuff since I am an influencer as well.”
Growing up small never had a negative effect on how Davis viewed his potential, but rather influenced him to be the best version of himself.
Davis says how pop culture figures like Mike Epps and Baby face showed him how people can grow to change industries, even if they had to leave small towns like he did.
“If you aspire to do things more out of your comfort zone like going and getting a good job, then you have to believe in yourself outside of that normal level,” Davis said.
