It’s like being on Tinder, but so much worse.
One of the U.K.’s most infamous dating shows was quietly added to the Max streaming service last week.
The streamer has imported six seasons of Naked Attraction, a game show that promises to “start where a good date often ends — naked.” In each episode, a single “chooser” critiques and eliminates six potential dates standing on a stage by scrutinizing their fully nude bodies, which are gradually revealed one part at a time (faces are revealed last). When only two potential dates remain, the chooser strips out of their own clothes too, giving the remaining two contestants the opportunity to critique them. The final couple then go out on a date, with their clothes on.
The episodes on Max are uncensored, but have added a warning at the beginning of each: “The following series is intended only for mature audiences. It contains full frontal nudity, course language, and graphic discussions about the human body. Viewer discretion is advised.”
Naked Attraction can come across as rather jaw-droppingly brutal in the contestants’ graphic analysis and dismissal of people based on their most private of parts with contestants being dismissed for every superficial reason you can imagine (“I don’t like her feet” … “His member is too small,” etc). At the same time, each episode contains interstitials of informative sex education, and the show clearly tries to promote body confidence and positivity amid all the “hot or not” judgements. The show also includes contestants of diverse sexual orientations.
Here’s a censored version of the trailer from when the show was brought to HBO Asia earlier this year:
U.S. viewers are just starting to stumble onto the series, which was released without a trailer or media fanfare (Max listed it among dozens of titles coming to the streamer in September). “My fkn sister just put me on to this ‘naked attraction’ show and this is the craziest shit i EVER watched on tv,” wrote one viewer. Wrote another: “Naked Attraction is an interesting show cuz you see all types of bodies, male & female, & each section of their body is shown & discussed. It’s nice to see cuz the media & xxx has conditioned us to see bodies in a certain unrelatable way, usually too perfect/airbrushed.”
U.K. critics blasted the show, with The Telegraph writing: “How low can this dating show go?” Buzzfeed UK declared it “the most utterly stupid dating show on TV.”
U.K. broadcast regulator Ofcom received more than a thousand complaints about the show’s nudity, but ultimately ruled the footage “was justified in the context of the program.”
The show, hosted by Anna Richardson, first debuted in 2016 and has aired six seasons, with a seventh currently airing on Channel 4.
