Queer TV host Rylan has shared his first reaction to being approached to host revealing new reality TV show Dating Naked UK, and has spoken about how the behind-the-scenes team dealt with contestants getting a little too, umm, excited during filming.
In Dating Naked UK – a spin-off of American and German programmes – 10 couples arrive at a villa with the intention of bonding, getting intimate and, eventually, finding love.
Although it sounds like any other dating reality series out there, there is one stark – well, starkers – difference: all the contestants are completely naked. That’s nude, as in, no underwear, no blurring, no censorship: in the “all-together”.
The contestants have to spend the entire duration of their stay that way, which means making dinner naked, sleeping nude, and having deep and heartfelt conversations in the buff. Are you getting the picture yet?
In the first episode, This Morning host Rylan introduces the singletons: five men and five women, but no LGBTQ+ contestants. New arrivals will shake things up later.
For British TV lovers, it doesn’t sound completely outlandish. We are, after all, the home of Channel 4’s controversial Naked Attraction. But Rylan thought he was being trolled when approached to host the gig (which he does clothed, we might add).
“I laughed and hung up the phone,” he told TV presenter Jamie Laing at a launch party on Thursday (22 August), attended by PinkNews.
“The first thing I was pitched was: ‘Oh, it’s a show, everyone’s naked and… it’s basically like a naked Love Island. You’re going to be hosting it and it’s going to be completely unblurred’,” Rylan said. “I was like, ‘Well, we can’t do that because we just can’t’. I rang [broadcasting watchdog] Ofcom and they were like: ‘Yeah, you can’.”
Despite his initial trepidation, the former X Factor star said that he “had a feeling” that the show would be done well, with sensitivity and care.
After watching the opening episode, that seems correct. During one scene, contestant Rico gets very up-close-and-personal with fellow contestant Lauren which, as is to be expected, leaves him with an issue that was, umm, well, hard to hide.
Rylan and the production team were standing by to give the boys a helping hand – behave yourselves, no sniggering at the back – when they faced such a stiff situation.
“We have a protocol,” he revealed. “If any of our boys especially got excited, we like to call it ‘down time’. And the boys are offered 10 minutes… to sit down in the bedroom and have a moment.
“With the boys, it’s absolutely natural. We’re talking about a naked body which is something we’ve all got underneath these clothes. Of a morning, some boys will wake up, like myself, and you might be: ‘Good morning, let’s sail the ship!’ But these things happen. This is natural. This is our bodies.”
Rylan went on to explain that, as filming took place in Colombia for a month, the women were offered “modesty pants” in case they began their period. However, because the crew made then feel “so comfortable”, none of them felt the need to accept.
“So, all of those things are in place and no one was ever made to feel embarrassed. You just saw it there with Rico in the first episode. He got a little bit excited because he was kissing the girl he liked. I don’t mean to be rude, [but] if I’m kissing a boy, I’m going to get a semi!
“These things are gonna happen and we’re not there to go: ‘Oh look, ha, ha, ha’. That’s not what we do. It was a really comfortable set and that is really a massive shout-out to the crew.”
The first two episodes of Dating Naked UK are available to stream on Paramount+ now. New episodes will be drop every Friday.
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