It’s like being on Tinder, but it’s much worse. One of the U.K.’s most infamous dating shows was recently added to the Max streaming service, and it’s already stirring up problems. The streaming service quietly 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 examining their fully nude bodies, which are gradually revealed one part at a time, leaving the faces for last. When only two potential dates are left, the chooser strips out of their clothes too, allowing the remaining two contestants to critique them. The final couple then goes on a date with their clothes on.
The episodes on Max are uncensored but have an added warning at the beginning of each episode: “The following series is intended only for mature audiences. It contains full frontal nudity, coarse language, and graphic discussions about the human body. Viewer discretion is advised.” The show comes across as brutally honest in the contestants’ graphic analysis and dismissal of dates based on their most private parts, with some being dismissed for every superficial reason you can imagine, like not liking someone’s feet.
Simultaneously, each episode contains interstitials of informative sex education, and the show tries to promote body positivity and confidence amid all the “hot or not” judgments. The show also includes contestants of diverse sexual orientations. U.S. viewers are starting to stumble across the series, which was released without media fanfare or a trailer. One viewer wrote, “My sister just put me on to this ‘naked attraction’ show, and this is the craziest thing I EVER watched on T.V.” Another wrote, “There is something so cringe about watching the body language of a naked man who has been rejected.”
They continued, “I kinda hate the way things are and shouldn’t be watching this (I’m contributing to the demand), but I’m fascinated by this.” Syndicated radio host Bert Weiss called it “the most shocking show I’ve ever watched.” However, many are defending the show. One Reddit user wrote, “It’s nice to see because the media and xxx have conditioned us to see bodies in a certain unrelatable way, usually too perfect/airbrushed.” Still, a conservative watchdog group, the Parents Television Council, slammed HBO for the show.
In a statement, the group said, “’Naked Attraction’ should not exist on the Max streaming platform, and HBO should immediately remove this exploitative, pornographic program.” It should be noted that the show is on Max, which is the streaming home of HBO content, but HBO doesn’t make the show. The group added, “HBO gives the appearance of a trusted family brand by hosting ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Sesame Street,’ but HBO has now lifted its own veil, revealing that it is and always was a pornography channel.”
U.S. reviewers haven’t weighed in yet, but in the U.K., T.V. critics blasted the show, with The Telegraph writing: “How low can this dating show go?” And BuzzFeed U.K. declared it “the most utterly stupid dating show on T.V.”