HOST LOOKING IN THE ALTARGETHER
After 5 years of hosting Naked dating show, Anna is hoping for the first wedding
AFTER five years and 40 episodes, it looks like Anna Richardson will finally get her dream – a Naked Attraction wedding. And while the 50-year-old may be dreaming of buying a new hat for the big day, she probably won’t need anything else if the series is anything to go by.
The presenter said: “We’ve got our Naked Attraction engagement. That’s Josh and Rob, from series two.
“They were both in the pods and hit it off backstage. So, we are desperate for a Naked Attraction wedding – a naked wedding.”
During Blind Date’s run, there were three weddings and host Cilla Black was a guest at them all. While Paddy McGuinness’s Take Me Out boasted eight weddings.
Of course, Naked Attraction is very different to both of those shows. For a start, the hopefuls see people’s bits before they see their faces or even speak to six of them in the buff in the show’s pods.
It’s caused controversy and it’s often not just tongues that are wagging.
While Anna is serious about the idea of the show and helping outsiders and those who struggled to find love, there are moments where it’s hard not to laugh.
She has been a professional since the series started on Channel 4 in 2016.
But in the eighth series, kicking off tomorrow, she finally cracks over a pro wrestler from Manchester called Iain who goes by the name of Jet Fashion.
Anna said: “There is a moment where I properly lose it... I do have to bite my cheeks to stop myself from laughing.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Glow? Iain comes into the studio with his gloves on and this unitard and super boots and his pro wrestler name is Jet Fashion.
“He’s Jet because he’s fast and nimble, and he’s Fashion because he’s always in style – or so he thinks. He reckons his wrestling moves are always a winner with the ladies in the bedroom and he’s mastered things like the tombstone piledriver that he likes to demonstrate in bed.
“But normally, I’m quite good at sort of keeping some journalistic composure. It’s about respect. So I’ve also genuinely got to be aware of boundaries and trying to be respectful.”
If you haven’t seen it, you may have caught a glimpse of Naked Attraction on Gogglebox when, last month, it showed a clip from 2019 of Judith – a breast cancer survivor, who played The Lord Is My Shepherd to the six naked men on her little Casio organ and baked them a Victoria sponge.
Anna said: “She broke the internet. My dad’s a vicar, so you can imagine, I grew up in a church.
“So, when Judith came on, I was like, ‘What was the vicar going to say?’.”
After the five episodes of the new series, there will be five more, Naked Attraction Best Naughty Bits, from mid-May showing past contributors. This includes Tracy from series one who had a designer vagina and turned her labia that had been removed in surgery into a little pendant around her neck.
No wonder Naked Attraction is like Marmite.
Applauded by many for normalising the human body in all shapes and forms, it has also been labelled controversial
It is a joyous exploration of the human body
for its frank approach to full frontal nudity.
But journalist Anna is defensive of what the show achieves for those that go on it.
From fearless cancer survivors to transsexuals mid-transition, it’s a show that embraces diversity – complete with a handful of wince-inducing moments.
Anna, who has been dating Sue Perkins since 2014, said: “I’m just really proud of all the transsexual people that come on. It is a privilege for us to be able to see people who are not hetero normative, who are going, ‘This is my struggle and I deserve to be loved’.”
This year is no different and there is a heartfelt moment when the series welcomes the oldest ever picker, Ian, 75.
Anna said: “Ian has realised he is bi-curious. He comes across as this chap who is on the parish council, he does the gardens round the church.Then he whips his kit off and he has this 8mm Prince Albert piercing in his willy and is well up for exploring his sexuality.”
Born in Shropshire, Anna began her
TV career when she presented Channel 4 breakfast show, The Big Breakfast.
She went on to host hit shows like You Are What You Eat as well as The Sex Education Show.
But Naked Attraction holds a special place in her heart. She said: “This is my favourite show I’ve ever worked on. It makes me laugh and it’s also a joyous exploration of the human body.”
Naked Attraction returns tomorrow, Channel 4 at 10pm.