'Naked Attraction,' a Dating Show Featuring Full-Frontal Nudity, Is Max's Most Popular Show

By Dustin Rowles | TV | September 28, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | September 28, 2023 |

Naked Attraction, a British dating series that features full-frontal nudity, has become quite the hit on Max during these otherwise lean weeks in which AMC+ series continues to dominate. The British import is currently number one among their television series. I probably wouldn’t have given it a second thought but for its popularity. I skimmed through a few episodes (out of six seasons), and I’m left with mostly mixed feelings.

The premise is this: A clothed person is asked to choose one date among six people based almost purely on physical attraction. The six dates are behind a screen, and in the first round, the clothed person sees only the genitalia and backsides of each potential date. One person is eliminated based on those factors. In the next round, another person is eliminated based on their chest (although some can be eliminated based on hands or feet), and then two more are eliminated based on their face and their voice. Two naked people are left, at which point the clothed person undresses and chooses a winner. A date follows the next morning, and a few weeks later, the two return to the studio to discuss whether the date was successful and if they are still together (they usually are not).

It sounds like one of those creepy, misogynistic ’90s late-night dating shows on MTV, and while it is superficial, weirdly, it is not gross. I don’t know if I’d call it body-positive, but it is frank. There are different body sizes, different penis and breast sizes, some with or without pubic hair, etc., etc., and host Anna Richardson encourages everyone to be candid about their attractions. These are also not the sort of people we usually find on American dating shows — perfectly sculpted bodies, lots of orthodontics, hair product, and hairless bodies. They are mostly normal-ish twenty-and-thirty-something-year-olds, although there are some episodes with older people, including one I skimmed with an older breast cancer survivor. She was a hoot.

It’s almost but not quite clinical in its approach, and there are even a few facts about bodies that are mixed into the proceedings (people who shave their pubic hair, for instance, are more likely to get STDs because the nicks and cuts are more hospitable to infection). Each episode I have seen has two dates — one male and one female — although I understand that some episodes feature same-sex pairings, as well.

I also understand that Naked Attraction is popular enough to have a number of international versions, but Americans are still fairly prudish about nudity, even in sterile settings that are not particularly sexual. It is, however, a fairly interesting show to watch out of curiosity, but once the novelty of naked people with normal-sized bodies wears off after two or three episodes, there’s not very much to it. It’s kind of boring, in fact, but I do appreciate the teenagers who sneak a glimpse at the series while their parents are asleep will at least be exposed to body types they are more likely to encounter in the real world. I am also kind of in awe of the people who have enough confidence to appear in the series, and while they are all being judged based on their physical appearances, it never feels malicious or mean-spirited. Just as we all have different body types, we are also attracted to different body types, and I don’t hate that Naked Attraction explores that with genuine earnestness.