By Dawn Chmielewski
(Reuters) – A new addition to streaming service Max strips the reality dating show genre down to its bare essentials.
“Naked Attraction” features six nude contestants in glass booths whose body parts are gradually revealed, “bit by lovely bit,” until a single contestant is chosen for a date. The show promises, in its introduction, to start “where a good date … often ends.”
Casey Bloys, chairman of HBO and Max content, said on Wednesday the dating show adds to the streaming service’s breadth of programming.
“I will remind you that HBO is the home of ‘Real Sex’ and ‘Cathouse,’” Bloys said at the Vox Media’s Code 2023 conference, referring to other explicit shows. “You need an entire mix of programming.”
Discovery+ acquired all seasons of “Naked Attraction,” in a 2021 deal with Britain-based distributor All3Media. The series was quietly added a week ago to Max, a re-launched version of Warner Bros Discovery’s streaming service that combines HBO’s premium scripted shows, reality programming from Discovery and, as of Wednesday, news from CNN Max.
“Naked Attraction” debuted in 2016 on Channel 4 in the U.K. and has been adapted for other markets, including Italy, Sweden and Singapore, though it is new to North American audiences.
A warning alerts the uninitiated that the show features full-frontal nudity and graphic discussions of the human body. That hasn’t scared viewers away. As of Wednesday, the show was the most popular series on the streaming service, a week after its launch.
The show’s unabashed embrace of the human form has sparked controversy in the U.S., where full nudity is prohibited on broadcast television. Streaming and cable services like Max have latitude to show explicit content.
Ana Navarro, co-host of ABC’s morning talk show “The View,” said the program was “even worse” than “Naked and Afraid,” a U.S. reality series that follows nude pairs who try to survive three weeks in the wilderness. “It’s ‘Naked and Well Lit,’” she joked earlier this week.
One online commenter compared it to Skin-a-max, a joking moniker given to HBO’s sister network Cinemax for its explicit content.
A person close to the situation said the streaming service was re-named Max, dropping the prestige HBO brand from its name, in part to encompass wider programming that stands apart from is Emmy-winning dramas.
(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Dana Point, California; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
