So perhaps last year I had my head too far into work that I didn’t even hear about this programme, Naked Attraction. It was only when one of my clients told me about it that I decided to look it up. I then became hooked. I’m not entirely sure what I find most interesting…the social experiment of choosing a partner based purely on their physical attributes; the confidence in these young people to expose themselves on national television; or the intrigue of scrutinising someone else’s body – after all how often do you get to see naked people apart from yourself and your partner?
The programme caused some controversy with many saying that they thought the TV channel had sunk to its lowest level. But then these people were still watching the programme. They were still as intrigued as I am.
Some of the couples seemed to get on well together, others didn’t have much in common or when they saw how they dressed…it put them off too. This is where the whole mix of what makes us attracted to someone comes into play. My own opinion is that it is a mix of physical attraction, personality, style, interests, ambition, humour……and I could go on…..I don’t think one element is enough. For instance, the male who had the nicest body in the eyes of one contestant didn’t live up to her expectations when he arrived on the date in ripped jeans whilst she wore a dress.
Likewise the programme where people date in the dark (I guess similar to the old Blind Date) doesn’t always work as you could love the sound of their voice, love what they are saying, but when you see them in the light if you don’t get that physical connection will the relationship work?
People don’t like to say that it is about the physical side of things…but I don’t believe that. I do believe that everyone has their own version of what is ‘beautiful’, ‘handsome’….for instance not all of us want to go for the person that has the most amazing body. After all, whose opinion is it that that body is amazing. Surely we all have our own likes and dislikes. Some of us like eyes, some of us like smiles, some of us like a toned body, others like someone we can cuddle up to….some like short people, others like tall….we are all so different…but I do think we all find certain physical attributes more attractive than others.
Do these dating programmes review individuals’ personalities as they are choosing candidates? Do they try to match up people based on personality? The Naked Attraction programme certainly said they had matched people to contestants based on maybe one or two physical attributes that they had said they liked, but had they already done a personality check? Or is that the point of the programme to decide whether physical attraction is enough?
I find all of these social experiments absolutely fascinating, possibly to the annoyance of my husband…but life is interesting….people are interesting…and how we make choices in life is perhaps the most interesting.