When I left Paris to move to London, I was expecting an understandable culture shock. Pubs replaced bistros and Sunday roasts became my new weekend brunches. What I didn’t expect was how different UK television is compared to French telly. One night while I was flicking through channels I ended up on Channel 4’s dating game show Naked Attraction. It was 10 p.m. and I wasn’t expecting to see full-frontal nudity on one of the UK’s most popular TV channels. So what exactly is Naked Attraction about and what should we think of it?

To put it simply, Naked Attraction is a British television dating game show in which a person who is wearing clothes picks a potential partner out of six naked people, whose bodies and then faces are slowly revealed through successive rounds, from the feet up. Yes, the contestants are buck naked.

Once those six persons (men, women or both) have been whittled down to two, the person deciding then appears nude as well to select one of them for a—plot twist—fully clothed date. Naked Attraction then presents their feedback after the date. 

Presented by Anna Richardson, the show premiered on 25 July, 2016, and was renewed for a second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth series. It’s safe to say that Naked Attraction is a success on British TV.

The programme received numerous complaints from viewers due to the full-frontal nudity that is featured. The broadcasting watchdog Ofcom chose not to investigate as there is nothing that breaches their rules: the show is purely a dating show and doesn’t contain any sexual activity. Furthermore, it is shown after the ‘watershed’, which is the time of day after which programming aimed towards mature or adult audiences is permitted.

Just in case some of you still don’t get it (as was the case with my French friends when I told them about the show), yes, people really are fully naked on national telly.

The last episode of season 6 aired on 6 February 2020. Although season 7 has already been confirmed, it first was said to have its first episode airing on 24 August 2020, and its last on 21 September 2020. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, applications for the next series previously open in February and March were inevitably halted by lockdown. On 1 July however, the show officially restarted its search, taking to social media to look for singles brave enough to bare it all. In the meantime, Naked Attraction is currently airing classic episodes to fill gaps left by the coronavirus shutdown. Soon enough, we’ll be able to look at other people’s naked bodies and judge them based on their physical appearance only. Until then, feel free to watch previous seasons on Channel 4’s on-demand website.

Get it all out for love in 2020 – apply for the brand-new series of #NakedAttraction

Apply here: https://t.co/xV7V4kprvg@AnnaRichardso @Channel4 pic.twitter.com/gTBmyXZxFz

— Naked Attraction (@C4Naked) July 1, 2020

And, if you dare, get involved in the new season here.

A new show is coming to our screens, and this time, it’s about people competing to get funding for plastic surgery. Yes, you read that right. Channel 4 is currently working on The Surjury, a new TV series which will be hosted by Love Island’s Caroline Flack, where a 12-strong jury will decide if people get to undergo the cosmetic surgery they’ve always dreamed of—for free.

Naturally, the announcement of the upcoming show has caused quite a stir. Controversial ‘trash’ TV, be that ITV’s Love Island or Channel 4’s Naked Attraction, have a special place in people’s hearts (mine included), so it makes sense that The Surjury caused such excitement. Yet, people are on the fence about this one, understandably. Of course, people should have autonomy over their own bodies, and have the freedom to do whatever they wish with it, but watching these shows requires a level of great caution, as contestants are usually very vulnerable people.

Love Island has been criticised for failing to provide proper after-care and resources for their contestants’ mental health, with two previous islanders committing suicide. The Jeremy Kyle Show has been cancelled after a man who appeared on the show took his own life, and contestants on Naked Attraction are constantly criticised by viewers. For The Surjury, both the producers and the viewers will have to be very careful not to exploit the contestants’ vulnerabilities and insecurities. And, so far, neither have been doing a particularly good job at that. A Channel 4 spokesperson told Screen Shot that the contestants “will be psychologically assessed and supported regarding their involvement in the programme,” which sounds like just another vague quote from a press release, forcing me to anticipate that the show will cause just as much damage as previous ones.

The Surjury will be dealing with an already sensitive and controversial topic: plastic surgery, and this is not the first time British television is under fire for promoting various cosmetic surgical procedures. Over a year ago, during the run of Love Island 2018, ITV was urged to cancel running diet and plastic surgery ads. During that time, the show managed to increase its share of 16 to 34-year-old viewers by a fifth, with the numbers only growing this year. A study conducted by feminist group Level Up found that 40 per cent of women aged between 13 and 34 felt more self-conscious about their own bodies while watching the show. 1 out of 10 girls said they wanted to get lip fillers, while 8 per cent considered a breast enlargement surgery. Eventually, these ads were banned.

Even now, Instagram is removing all of its plastic surgery-effect face filters. While these filters were incredibly popular among users, a number of concerns have been raised over the impact that these have on our physical and mental wellbeing—there’s even a new phenomenon called ‘Snapchat Dysmorphia’, where people request plastic surgery to look like they do when wearing face filters. If there is so much evidence indicating how harmful the glamorization of plastic surgery is, is it really fair to air a show about it?

“The Surjury seeks to explore why so many people feel the need to change their bodies, and whether surgery actually makes them happier,” says a Channel 4 spokesperson. “All contributors featured in the series have actively been seeking surgery on their own accord. This new series allows them to consult with surgical teams and then to discuss their reasons for wanting it with a panel of their peers. The show will neither glamorise nor condemn their choices: the aim is instead to interrogate the realities of cosmetic surgery.” Even if the show exploits the way Instagram made us ‘addicted’ to digital filters and plastic surgery, and though people working on the show make it clear it is not their intention to ‘glamorize’ or make fun of cosmetic surgery, there is absolutely no guarantee that the series won’t be harmful.

“The Surjury plays on the vulnerability of its contestants, those who are unhappy with their appearance to such an extent that they are willing to undergo potentially dangerous and life-altering surgery to rectify their perceived problems,” writes Emily Baker for i news, condemning the show and its morals. A cosmetic surgeon that was first cast for The Surjury later refused to take part in it once he received more details about it, as he thought it would be unethical. But this raises the following question—isn’t it wrong to immediately assume that people seek plastic surgery purely out of low self-esteem and insecurity?

🤦🏾‍♂️I was cast as the doctor for this and declined after the press release told the full show premise - I can’t believe any ethical doctor would be involved

— DR ESHO MD (@DrTijionEsho) October 18, 2019

In a way, by condemning the show, aren’t we only creating more stigma around plastic surgery, while we should be doing the opposite? We should be allowing people autonomy over their own bodies, especially when women don’t have much of that in the first place. If plastic surgery makes someone happy, then why can’t we just let them be? After all, contestants have agreed to take part in this ‘competition’, and only their choice should matter.

But, in this case, it is also the jury’s decision to make. They decide if you get the funding or not, thus having the autonomy over your surgery. And somebody sacrificing their own self-esteem, sanity, and health, as well as the stress of being judged by the entire nation purely for the sake of our own entertainment (and in their case, a few thousands of pounds for their surgery) is messed up. If done right, the show has a good chance to fight stigma around cosmetic surgery. If not, it has just as big a chance to ridicule people and crush their self-esteem.