We knew Naked Attraction would be controversial but as long as it’s controversial for the right reasons I have absolutely no problem with it
FROM PAGE 25 week with the controversial dating show Naked Attraction, said: “I would love to but Sue is a little bit more reticent, just because she’s got more to lose in a way, I suppose.
“I also think she feels that she works with Mel, so it would be a little bit disingenuous if suddenly she and I were doing something,
“She’s kind of professionally married to Mel, so I think she feels she’d be cheating if she did something with me.
“But yeah, don’t rule it out. We’ve always said if the right thing came along, then we would definitely consider it.”
For the time being though, Anna continues to carve out a solo career which began in the 90s with The Big Breakfast.
While that had its controversial moments, there was nothing like the backlash Naked Attraction has had.
Since its launch in 2016, the Channel 4 dating series has raised eyebrows – and a fair few heartbeats – by asking its hopefuls to strip off in the quest for true love.
But Anna insisted the programme has, more importantly, opened up a conversation about gender, sexuality and body confidence.
So much so, in fact, that people now can’t get enough of the discussion. Even in the most unlikely of places.
“Last weekend, I was doing some charity work for an orchestra who work with underprivileged kids and I was attending something with the household cavalry,” said The Sex Education Show star, 47.
“Somebody within the band came up and said, ‘Oh, we’re not going to be performing naked...’,” she laughed. “I just thought, ‘Oh my God, this is somebody who works for the royal household and even they’re watching Naked Attraction.”’
“That’s what surprises me,” added Anna, who says much of the feedback comes from middle-aged or older viewers. “Everybody secretly watches it. They might make out that they don’t but everybody has seen it.”
For the handful of people who haven’t, however, we should really recap how the daring show works.
Each week, one person – dubbed “the picker” – whittles down a group of six naked potential suitors, one body part at a time, based on what they find least attractive. Only when they’re left with the final two will they bare themselves, and make a final decision as to who they will whisk off on a fully-clothed date.
Think that’s a lot to digest? The latest series – the third to date – promises to deliver a bigger and better run than ever.
Anna, who revealed Naked Attraction is her favourite presenting job, added: “We’ve moved it on in terms of contributors and the picker.
“So, as always, we’ve got people of all shapes, sizes, genders and sexuality but, get this, we’ve also got a non-binary pansexual picker round.
“In this day and age of everybody being gender and sexually fluid, you’ve got to start getting your head around people not wishing to be labelled,” she added.
“We’ve also got someone who’s got cystic fibrosis; we’ve got somebody with excess body hair, which is quite unusual in this day and age.
“We’ve got an older guy who has found his wild side as a new single man; we’ve got a virgin who is looking to pop his cherry on the series,” she goes on.
“And then, really interestingly, we’ve got a polyamorous couple
looking for a third person to join their relationship.”
Confessing nothing shocks her any more – “I’ve done a lot of shows around sex and relationships; you just become inured to the whole thing” – Shropshire-born Anna is the ideal choice for the forward-thinking edit.
But she’s more than aware others don’t always share her liberal views – at least not without question.
Anna said: “We knew that Naked Attraction was going to be controversial but as long as you’re being controversial for the right reasons, I have absolutely no problem with it.
“The reason I agreed to do it was because it opens a conversation about sex, sexuality and identity and that’s really important.”
She added: “Every person who has taken part in Naked Attraction has come off set and said, ‘I really enjoyed that. That’s made me feel a million dollars’, because if you can stand naked in front of an entire crew and three million people watching you, then you can rule the world.”
Anna wouldn’t consider baring all in the name of love, though.
She said: “Do you know what? It just says something about my age maybe, because I haven’t really been single for any length of time.
Anna – who has been in a relationship with Sue since 2013 and had an 18-year relationship with film director Charles Martin – added: “I’ve been fortunate enough to have always been in a relationship and I think back to when I was 18 and there just wouldn’t have been this kind of show,.
“Culturally, I can’t conceive of it, whereas I think if I was a millennial, maybe I would.”
Living out her private life in the public eye, meanwhile, can be tricky.
She said: “You forget that people know who you are – I forget that all the time.
“And I’m a real one for sitting around in my pants and wandering off to the local shop with no make-up on, so you do get taken by surprise that people will stop you.
“I love the fact people feel that they can come and say ‘hi’ to us both and I would never want that to change.”
Anna’s always been a presenter who likes engaging with socially conscious programmes. After The Big Breakfast, she appeared in sex education show Love Bites, You Are What You Eat, The Sex Education Show and Secret Eaters.
She said: “I’m in the middle of Supershoppers, which I absolutely love and Naked Attraction is about to come out. “The other thing that takes up a lot of my time is my mental health website Mindbox, which offers therapy and support for people with anxiety and depression.
“I spend an awful lot of my time doing that,” she added. “So I am very busy.” ●Naked Attraction returns to Channel 4 on Friday, at 10pm
I agreed to do it is because it opens a conversation about sex and that’s really important