Channel 4 accused of hitting rock bottom with nude dating show
‘Social experiment’ featuring graphic scenes of naked contestants described as being like Blind Date in a brothel
A NEW Channel 4 dating show in which participants bare all for the cameras prompted a wave of complaints yesterday, as critics described it as the “Mariana Trench of television lows”.
More than 40 viewers complained to Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, about Naked Attraction, which featured repeated close-ups of male and female genitalia, and was described by one critic as “Blind Date in a brothel”.
Each round of the Channel 4 programme, which began at 10pm on Monday, features six naked people, each of whom stands inside a glass box.
As the programme progresses, their bodies are revealed from the feet upwards, with another contestant taking time to analyse the merits of their sex organs.
Monday’s programme featured a discussion about the length and girth of one contestant’s manhood, while another participant had a tattoo of an elephant’s ears and face, located directly above his penis.
Channel 4 insists that the programme is a social experiment, examining “whether or not we can rely on our primal instincts to find a suitable partner”.
In a statement issued when the show was commissioned, the broadcaster said: “For thousands of years finding a mate was a decision based solely on raw primitive attraction and animal magnetism, but over time social and cultural shifts have eroded our ability to depend on this. Now our choices are influenced by peripheral factors such as dress sense and occupation.
“However, in an increasingly complicated dating world, some evolutionary psychologists and sexual scientists believe that our bodies alone may still project the best information for us to select a successful partner.”
Critics, however, accused the broadcaster of a shameless attempt to use nudity to attract viewers.
Gerard O’Donovan, The Daily Telegraph’s critic, said the programme “es- sentially reduced human attraction to a kind of game show meat market”.
He added: “Naked Attraction is in the schedules because Channel 4 wanted a quick and easy ratings boost.” The ploy seemed to have worked, as the show picked up 1.4 million viewers, comfortably above the average for the slot, and more than the 1.2 million who watched Big Brother on Channel 5.
Mediawatch UK, the pressure group, said the show represented “the Mariana Trench of television lows”.
Sam Burnett, the organisation’s acting director, said: “It’s like Channel 4 has gone out of its way to make the worst programme possible. There’s no way that the channel can justify this sort of output within its public service broadcasting remit.”
Ofcom said it received 45 complaints yesterday, and was weighing up whether to launch a full investigation into the programme.
A Channel 4 spokesman said viewers had been warned about nude scenes before the programme began.
‘It’s like Channel 4 has gone out of its way to make the worst programme possible. There’s no way the channel can justify this’