If you’ve been on TikTok, you may have seen reactions to Sex/Life‘s penis scene. If you haven’t, here’s a recap as to what happened.

In episode 3 of Sex/Life, Netflix‘s new drama series about a housewife torn between her husband and her ex-boyfriend, Cooper (Mike Vogel) stalks his wife Billie’s (Sarah Shahi) ex-boyfriend Brad (Adam Demos) to a gym in New York City. Cooper watches Brad work out and follows him to the locker room shower. At around the 19:50 mark, Brad turns around to reveal that he’s been blessed in his nether regions (a.k.a. he has a very, very large penis.)

Since Sex/Life‘s premiere, the scene has gone viral on TikTok, with hundreds of people reacting to the moment for the first time on camera. For the most part, the reactions are the same: There’s the jaw drop, the laugh and the disbelief.

So how real is the Sex/Life penis scene and did Demos use body double and prosthetics or was it au naturel? Well, let us explain just how authentic that shower moment was.

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Was the Sex/Life penis scene real?

So…was that Adam Demos’ real penis in Sex/Life? The answer is complicated. In an interview with Collider, showrunner Stacy Rukeyser confirmed that the show didn’t use a body double for the shower scene. “No. That’s not a body double. I mean, people usually ask is it real or is it a prosthetic?” she said.

Demos also hinted in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that that was the real him in the scene and that he has no issues with going full frontal. “I was OK with it because you read the script and know what you’re getting yourself into from the start, so I don’t think you would sign on to a show after reading the scripts and then say no last minute,” he said.

He continued, “We would have an intimacy coordinator and everyone would speak about it and their comfort levels. You would rehearse it so much that by the time you did it, it was a lot more comfortable than you’d assume. You discuss everything: hand movements, everything down to the breath. In sex scenes, the breathing is an emotional thing, so you’re discussing that journey, but then you’re also discussing each individual’s comfort level.”

Though there wasn’t a body double for the scene, Rukeyser couldn’t confirm or deny whether a prosthetic was used. “And I can tell you what Adam Demos says about it which is, a gentleman never tells. So, we are leaving that up to the viewer’s imagination,” she said.

So was the Sex/Life penis a prosthetic? Sadly, yes. Newsweek confirmed that Sex/Life had hired a prosthetics team for the show. A member of the prosthetics team also confirmed to the magazine that the scene, in fact, includes a prostheses. But it’s not the only prosthetic in the show. According to Newsweek, there were several prosthetic sex parts in Sex/Life, and the hired prosthetic team has extensive experience with creating fake penises, including much larger than Brad’s.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Shahi confirmed that another scene that involved prosthetics was where Billie had to breastfeed. For the scene, Shahi wore prosthetic breasts. “Something like Billie’s boobs, in the past every time you see my character with Brad, that’s me. Then because I do play a breastfeeding mother, I can’t have the same boobs in the present. So yeah, I had to sit through three hours of prosthetic boob application to get those suckers on,” she said.

According to IMDb, Sex/Life‘s prosthetics were created by Tenille Shockey and François Dagenais. Dagenais, who has also worked on Hannibal, told Newsweek that Sex/Life was “a bit different than what we usually do but hey! We were also involved with changing Sarah’s breasts through the flashbacks.”

Source: Instagram

What size is the Sex/Life penis?

So how big is Brad’s penis in Sex/Life? Well, according to Netflix, it’s way above average. In July 2021, Netflix posted a video on its UK and Ireland YouTube channel that answered that question. The video cited research from the National Health Service, which found that the average size of a flaccid penis is 9 centimeters, and from Brad’s Sex/Life scene, his member seems to be a lot bigger than that.

“According to the NHS, the average penis is 9 cm when not erect,” a voiceover in the video said. “There’s a lot of variation to either side of that, but the bottom line is that Cooper’s not wrong to be intimidated by the competition. Take note, everyone: we’re in the presence of a natural wonder.”

The video cited a study of more than 15,000 men in 2014 at King’s College London. The study found that the average size of a flaccid penis is 3.6 inches or 9.1 cm, and that the average size of an erect penis size is 5.2 inches or 13.2 cm. As for the circumference (or girth) of the penis, the study found that the average circumference of an erect penis is 4.6 inches or 11.6 cm, while the average circumference of a flaccid penis is 3.7 inches or 9.4 cm.

While the video didn’t reveal the exact size of Brad’s penis, it did confirm that it’s above average and a  “natural wonder” to both Cooper and viewers.

Sex/Life is available to stream on Netflix.