'As TV dating shows become more extreme, an alternative has emerged'

I saw Dating Naked UK so you didn’t have to. And as everyone in this show is naked, I saw more than even I wanted to. At the start of Dating Naked UK, Britain’s first full frontal naked dating show, there’s a disclaimer: "This programme contains full frontal nudity." Thanks for that.

The Paramount+ show, hosted by Rylan, consists of singles heading to a Love Island style resort and dating each other, after taking off and dumping all their clothes at the front door.

Why? Well, according to one of the participants "if everyone is naked I think they will be a lot more vulnerable." Or cold, I was thinking. Possibly cold.

Filming this show also throws up unexpected issues. As the contestants don’t wear clothes, there’s nowhere to hide their radio mics, so they have to wear them round their necks. Dating Naked UK also reflects the bizarre trend taking place on British television right now. As Love Island falls from its commercial peak, and broadcasters are clearly seeing an opportunity for a new bonafide hit, the genre is heading in two completely different directions at the same time.

In one direction, dating shows are becoming more nuanced, heartfelt and reflective of our lives than ever. BBC Three’s LGBTQ+ dating show I Kissed a Girl and Boy are recent examples of this, featuring daters casually discussing a myriad of different issues, from body dysmorphia to homophobia.

And as these shows feature same-sex partnerships, the contestants have been carefully chosen to reflect LGBTQ+ lives across the country, rather than inadvertently reinforce the idea that being involved in a certain scene or living in a certain part of the country is the right one.

Meanwhile, on Netflix there’s The Boyfriend. Japan’s first gay dating show, it features single men living in a house together trying to catch feelings. The show lets the action unfold naturally (the first couple doesn’t become evident for several episodes), with presenters in another studio analysing whether someone glancing at another guy over the breakfast table for longer than usual is because he’s fallen for him.

The show itself feels like an attempt to challenge attitudes within Japan, as the country is the last G7 nation not yet legalise same sex marriage.

It’s not just the LGBTQ+ community featuring more realistic portrayals. There’s also My Mum, You Dad (although half the time I get the name mixed up and call it My Dad, Your Mum), where middle-aged single parents on ITV1 go on dates with each other, and their kids make the shots on who they date next.

The series manages to tap into issues of divorce, grief and loss. And as it features older contributors than on other dating shows, it casually reinforces the idea that life and love isn’t over once you are over a certain age, or if a long term relationship has come to an end.

And these shows clearly seem to be resonating. My Mum, Your Dad is returning later this year, along with I Kissed A Boy series two for BBC Three.

Then, in the complete opposite direction, there’s dating shows that claim to be "experiments," when in fact they are ridiculous stunts to lure in viewers. Dating Naked UK is one such show. Channel 4’s Naked Attraction, consisting of naked in boxes as potential suitors observe their genitalia, fits into this category too.

So do Married at First Sight and Love Is Blind, two shows where people marry each other not long after meeting for the first time. Their hook is the sheer absurdity, the idea that there is a quick fix for the often tediousness of dating apps.

Stunt shows are not entirely new. Dating Naked started on US television a decade ago, along with other concepts like Dating in the Dark, which is a name that speaks for itself. And sometimes, the hook does bring in viewers. Love is Blind UK is currently the third most watched Netflix show in the UK, and the fifth globally, thanks to high production standards, interesting storytelling and people you either hate to love or love to hate involved.

But sometimes the ‘experiment’ just doesn’t work… and the quick fix for dating doesn’t land. That seems to be the case with Dating Naked UK. Once everyone is naked and meets each other (a lot of them awkwardly hug each other from the side) it becomes evident that there isn’t that much for them to actually do.

They imply that being naked will cause contributors to become more vulnerable, but within minutes contestants are chatting the same banal conversations like on any other show. There’s one scene in the opening episode where everyone, completely naked, is chatting about how fresh the air is in Canada for some reason.

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Such ‘experiments’ also make you wonder whether going on a television dating show can actually get in the way of finding love. Sure, you might get cast with other equally engaging people, but you are also at the mercy of producers and stunts rather than letting feelings develop naturally.

I recently made a podcast about I Wanna Marry Harry, the surreal 2014 US dating show where 12 American women thought they were dating Prince Harry, when in fact it was a lookalike (yes, I know this sounds like a plug for my podcast The Bachelor of Buckingham Palace, available on all podcast platforms, but hear me out.) The hook was whether they would fall in love with the real person pretending to be Harry, rather than the fame of Prince Harry himself.

One of the most surreal things I found from making this series was finding out that the person who won the dating show with "Harry", was then separated from him after the cameras stopped rolling and put back on a flight to the US. This was to ensure that nobody saw them together and with that, spoilers were not revealed to viewers.

We all watch these dramatic television ‘experiments’ thinking that there’s a quick fix for dating. But perhaps, alas, there isn’t one. The tediousness, the blocking, the ghosting in dating are just the way it works. It’s just life. But so is the thrill when somehow, you do meet someone you connect with, not long after you think your chances are over.

But TV will still make these shows, and we’ll still end up watching them anyway.

This article originally appeared on Yahoo TV UK at https://uk.news.yahoo.com/tv-dating-shows-extreme-alternative-083104395.html