Nude auditions and psychological tests: What it’s like to go on Naked Attraction

Let’s get straight to it here, Naked Attraction is one of the less conventional dating shows out there. You literally have nude people in boxes slowly being revealed to someone, who at the end gets naked too. So you might not be all that surprised to learn that some of the production secrets behind Naked Attraction are a bit strange as well.

From getting to the studio bright and early, not getting paid to appear and an awkward date at the end – a lot goes on behind the scenes to put a show like this together. Here are all the juicy (and kind of weird) production secrets behind Naked Attraction and what it is like to go on it, from people who have.

You arrive on set at 7am and each episode can take 12 hours to film

Stripping off at breakfast time might seem quite out of the ordinary, but anything goes on the set of Naked Attraction. One ex-contestant called Gavin told iNews that the day is gruelling to say the least. He said: “It’s a long day. They start filming at seven o’clock and I went in really hungover to the studios down in Manchester. They do some hair and make-up and then you get to meet the people you’re up against.”

He said that there isn’t much competitive tension between the people who are standing in the boxes, effectively competing with one another, adding: “It was all very good fun, good banter. It’s sort of what you get in a football dressing room, everyone taking the piss out of themselves. Most of the people who appear on the show are quite like-minded.”

According to Huffington Post, each episode can take up to 12 hours to film, and yep the people are naked for most of this time.

If you’re one of the people in the boxes, you stand in there for hours

You might think that the show films quite quickly, to avoid people standing around cold and naked for hours. Wrong! Gavin said: “You’ve got about two hours of standing in a box until it all starts. It ended up being from seven in the morning to three in the afternoon to film half an hour of television.They come round and take loads of pictures for the mash ups. It was quite a lengthy process, but enjoyable.

“You were sweating because there was a light shining on you, but there was a draft so it was a bit cold, so there was quite a lot of shaking going on by the boys. Whenever the camera wasn’t on, everyone was shaking themselves to try and make themselves look bigger. I don’t feel like I put in a bad performance.”

However, if you’re “the picker” you’re only naked for about 15 minutes. Easy.

You only get paid if you DON’T end up on the show

Plenty of ex-contestants have revealed you don’t get paid to appear on the show, but some have said you do get travel expenses paid for. But Gavin has said those who end up with the most money are the ones who effectively waste their time and don’t get chosen. He said: “If you’re on standby and you don’t appear on the show then you get paid £75 for being in the room.”

If you get to the audition stage you stand naked in there for about an hour

Before your audition you are asked to fill in a short questionnaire and answer some basic questions about yourself over the phone. Then you’re called up to Manchester for a face-to-face interview with a producer and camera man. Millie Norris, who appeared on the show in 2018, told Fabulous magazine: “It was me and two people in the room, one was a man who filmed me to see how I was on camera. They asked me some questions then asked me to get unchanged. Then they ask you more questions while you’re sat there naked.”

She added: “I hadn’t expected them to ask me to get naked on camera in the interview, I don’t think that was mentioned to me before. I was happy doing it, I’m not a shy person, but it was weird.”

And the producers have asked contestants if they have any ‘special talents’

Millie added that at the end of her face-to-face audition she was asked if she had any “special talents” and the producers told her a lot of people “do handstands” naked in front of them. She didn’t do that, in case you’re wondering.

After the audition you do an in depth interview, which includes being asked about your preferences and family life

The intense naked in-person audition isn’t even the end of it, because after then you’re asked to do another interview over the phone, which gets pretty in depth. An ex-contestant told The Tab you’re asked about all sorts of things from your sexual preferences to your family life. They said producers asked about siblings and if their parents were still together, and if their family life has affected their outlook on relationships and how they treat people.

Millie added that in her in-depth interview she was asked about sexual preferences, turn-offs and turn-ons and embarrassing bedroom confessions. She was asked everything from if she liked feet, to who her celebrity crushes are.

The turn around between audition and filming is very quick

If you’re successful, the turn around is very quick. Ex-contestant Millie told Fabulous magazine she only had about a week’s notice before going ahead and filming her episode.

Each contestant is chaperoned around the studio

The big reveal of the faces at the end is the real turning point of the show, so it’s quite safe to say it would be a pretty big anti-climax if all the contestants had run into one another backstage before filming. A show representative told Bustle that there are plans in place to stop this from happening. They said contestants are chaperoned by members of the production team to ensure the pickers and their potential dates do not meet ahead of filming. According to Huffington Post, each contestant is given two members of the team to follow them around for the day.

Contestants are prompted on things to say

The whole show seems completely unhinged, but there is actually quite a lot of structure to how the filming goes down. Each episode isn’t scripted, but the contestants are told by producers to bring up certain interesting things they may have mentioned about themselves, when it comes up.

Millie said: “Before you go on as the picker, they run through the points they want you to mention and the questions they’re going to ask you on TV, but it’s not scripted. They said prompts like ‘can you remember to bring up someone’s wrist size so we can talk about how you like handcuffs?’

“At one point, I complimented everyone’s body apart from one, so they stopped the show and said ‘can you make sure you talk about his penis?’”

You bring your own clothes to the studio, but the producers might not like them

Savage, but if the producers don’t like the clothes you’re wearing then they’ll give you something else to wear. Millie said they didn’t like any of the options she came with, so they provided her with a playsuit instead.

Contestants get £50 for the date at the end

The date, which viewers see at the end of the show, takes place just hours after the pair first meet (naked, if you missed that). Each person is given £50 to cover their part of the date and if you don’t spend it all you can keep the rest, says Millie (who pocketed £40 after only buying one round of drinks at a bar).

You have a psychological test to make sure you are prepared for the response afterwards

Getting naked on national TV comes with obvious risk of people online making comments about your body. Mille told Fabulous magazine that there is protocol in place to prepare the contestants for this. She said: “You have a psychological test to make sure you can handle the response afterwards. They say ‘after the show you’re probably going to get a look of negative comments about your body, can you deal with that?’”

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• I applied for Naked Attraction and this is what they asked me

• I’m A Celebrity production secrets: The gruelling schedule filming the show in Wales

• An ex-contestant has revealed what it’s really like to go on The Chase