Anna Williamson gives verdict on Naked Attraction's return as she lauds show for 'paving the way' for controversial series Virgin Island and Open House - despite both sparking swathes of viewer complaints

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

Anna Williamson has given her verdict on whether Naked Attraction will ever return to our screens as she admitted she thinks that the show has 'paved the way' for controversial series Virgin Island and Open House: The Great Sex Experiment.
The Channel 4 programme, which sees contributors bare all in a bid to find love, hit our screens back in 2016.
Naked Attraction aired 65 episodes across seven series, before wrapping up in March last year.
Many have wondered if the show will ever come back for an eighth series, and speaking exclusively to Daily Mail, she admitted: 'I am desperate for it to come back.
'I want a campaign that basically says "Bring back Naked Attraction".
'It is wildly popular. People absolutely love it. It is funny. It's about acceptance.
The Channel 4 programme (pictured), which sees contributors bare all in a bid to find love, hit our screens back in 2016
Virgin Island (pictured) premiered on C4 in May and viewers blasted the 'absolutely excruciating' dating show 'as a new low' for TV as it saw 12 singletons endure raunchy tasks in a bid to lose their virginity
'And I think at the moment, in a world where we're all actually a bit p***ed off and we feel ground down in this country, you know, there's a huge amount of division and anger.
'I think Naked Attraction brings a bit of levity.
'So the fact is, the truth is, I have no idea whether it's coming back.
'I really hope so, because it's a fun show to do, and it does very well, but I have no idea about about the politics of whether it is or not, but let's keep our fingers crossed.'
When the show aired its first episode nine years ago, it certainly shocked viewers with the format.
The single person picks their dream date while standing next to host Anna, while their potential lovers are standing in different coloured pods totally naked.
Their potential match's reveal a part of their body during each round and the single person sends one person, that they are least attracted to, home at the end of each one.
At the end of the segment, they reveal their faces and their voice is heard and the person picking also strips down to reveal all, so everyone has seen each other naked.
They then pick between the remaining two people and they go on a date with clothes on.
Since Naked Attraction hit our screens, other more controversial shows have gone on to air on Channel 4, including Virgin Island and Open House: The Great Sex Experiment.
Virgin Island premiered on C4 in May and viewers blasted the 'absolutely excruciating' dating show 'as a new low' for TV as it saw 12 singletons endure raunchy tasks in a bid to lose their virginity.
It has since been confirmed for a second series.
Meanwhile Open House has been on our screens since 2022.
The programme follows couples who are interested in opening up their relationship - and they definitely don't hide anything during filming.
It saw a woman break down in tears after begging her boyfriend for an open relationship and it backfired at a sex-filled party.
While another couple left the experiment after a group romp ended in disaster.
The views of sex and nudity has definitely changed over the years, and Anna believes that Naked Attraction 'paved the way' for programmes like those.
'Everybody had a breakdown when Naked Attraction was announced. And, you know, the press went absolutely crazy... "this is a new low for, you know, new low and moral standards on British television."
'And of course, we were trailblazers, so now we've paved the way to things being more open and talked about and accepting.
'I've watched both Open House and Virgin Island, and I think they're both incredible formats.
'In terms of Open House, what they're doing, very cleverly, is just merely reflecting the fact that polyamory is on the rise, people are sexually open and curious.
'And why not with Virgin Island? I think that's an extraordinary idea, that there are sex therapists out there that ultimately are prepared to have sex with people who have psychological issues around their virginity.
'Again, what you're dealing with here is issues of being vulnerable and people being human. Yeah, so I think they're both fantastic formats.'
She added: 'The thing that I do question sometimes, you know, as a producer and a format creator, I do question, where are we going next?
'Because the more extreme we're becoming, ultimately you're going to hit a brick wall in the end, if you can't get any more extreme and with acceptable television, but, but I'm curious about it.'
Anna recently joined forces with iD Mobile, who have recently found out that more Brits than ever are dating abroad.
She told us: 'I'm a journalist by trade, and also people very much view me, with the shows I've done, people view me as a bit of a relationships expert, a sex and dating expert.
'I am a qualified cognitive hypnotherapist.
'So I'm interested in human behavior. I'm interested in our dating landscape. I'm interested in connection and how we're not doing it very well at the moment in the UK.
'So this really piqued my interest. When I was approached by ID mobile, I thought this is an interesting survey, actually, journalistically, in terms of the fact that people are now starting to look worldwide to connect more authentically, it sort of piqued my curiosity in terms of why we're not doing it in the UK.'
Anna explained: 'This is actually a really fascinating campaign that's come off the back of a survey that Id mobile have launched, where they interviewed and surveyed 2000 British singles and discovered that more Brits than ever before are dating abroad.
'So they're looking for love abroad, which I thought was really, really interesting, that obviously the dating, the dating field, I suppose, or landscape in the UK, is becoming more diminished, and people are going abroad.
'Off the back of that, they are then offering inclusive Data Roaming to 50 different countries that people can find love worldwide, basically with ease, without landing a huge bill at the end of it.
'But the the survey results are very, very interesting, just just given the fact that we know that 45% of people say that their best romantic experience happened abroad. Most of us have had a holiday romance.
'We know that around a third of people use dating apps when they go abroad to hook up with locals, but also because they're saying that actually, they get a more authentic experience of the town or the city that they're in if they use a language app or dating app.'
Anna Richardson has partnered with iD Mobile to explore the rise in overseas dating and highlight how roaming charges are preventing millions of Brits from making meaningful connections abroad.