‘Naked Attraction’ boss reveals nude casting process, wants celeb version

He’s baring it all. 

The boss of the popular Max reality show, “Naked Attraction,” has revealed the casting process for the controversial nude dating show. 

“What’s happening in the States right now is [like how the UK reacted] seven or so years ago,” executive producer Darrell Olsen told The Hollywood Reporter.

“You have ‘I can’t believe this is on screen’ — shock and outrage — mixed with ‘This is quite amazing.’ The show isn’t for everyone, but everyone is interested in it. I think what will happen with you guys is, hopefully, what happened over here, where the ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe this is on TV’ turns into ‘It’s a pretty good show.’”

“Naked Attraction” is a British dating show that first premiered in the UK in 2016, but landed on Max on Sept 20. 

In the NSFW series, singles make a choice between nude contestants who slowly get revealed from the feet up – before they go on a date (wearing clothes). They can eliminate dates if their nude bodies are not up to their standards. 

The show was quietly added to Max with little fanfare or advertisement from the service. 

“My fkn sister just put me on to this ‘naked attraction’ show and this is the craziest sh-t i EVER watched on tv,” one viewer wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter). 

By Sept. 27, “Naked Attraction” became Max’s most popular series, rising to No. 1 on the streamer’s top 10 list. 

No trailers promoted the show, but viewers seemingly discovered it themselves, and the growing discussion on social media has only generated more interest. “The View” hosts have discussed it, and Kelly Ripa discussed it on the Sept. 27 episode of “Live with Kelly and Mark.” 

The morning show host, 52, talked about it with her co-host and husband Mark Consuelos, 52, and joked that he had nothing to worry about regarding his downstairs plumbing, compared to contestants on the show. 

“I could tell you were starting to feel really good about yourself,” Ripa told her husband in front of a live audience, implying that his family jewels surpassed those of the contestants.

Olsen told THR that it hasn’t been easy to find contestants for “Naked Attraction.” 

“Casting is a tough job… But we have a brilliant team, and they always managed to find great people. Everyone thinks everyone coming on is a naturist or massive extrovert who just runs around naked. Some of the people are quite shy. It’s just about finding people who have enough body confidence to come on the show. 

“Being naked on national TV is a huge deal for people,” he added. “The point of getting naked during the audition is if you can’t do it in front of a couple production people, you’re going to have a really hard time on the actual show. Also, part of it is for people to be able to describe their own bodies and what they like and dislike about themselves. Also, for us to get a sense of their energy and if they can make jokes. So if they’re too reticent, they’re not right.”

He said that contestants sometimes get cold feet and drop out of the show.  

“The number is probably a bit higher than other dating shows. We do take seriously the care and the welfare and background checks of our contestants. And they have to tell their place of work. By the time they actually get to the studio, the drop out rate is minimal. It’s not like, ‘Oh, we’re starting in 10 minutes and six bodies just ran out of the studio in dressing gowns.’”

Now that the show has taken off in the US, he dreams of doing a celebrity version. 

“If you can round up enough celebrities, that would be a great way to launch a US season, wouldn’t it?”