Anna Richardson has said she would not have the courage to be a contestant on her show Naked Attraction.
The controversial Channel 4 programme sees male and female contestants bare all in the hope of being picked for a date.
Talking about whether she would go nude on the show herself, Richardson said: “As a 49-year-old, I probably wouldn’t, just because of my generation I don’t think I would have the nuts.
“I’m a really confident person, but I don’t think I would have the nuts to do it.
“If I was 20 and living as part of this generation that was all about Instagram and social media, maybe I would. But no, I am very happy in my spanx – I’m not taking them off any more.”
The show has sparked complaints in the past but Richardson said it is actually a “massive celebration” of different bodies while other similar programmes focus on perfection.
“When you look at other reality shows and other reality dating shows, they tend to focus on perfection, youth, beauty, everything that is really transient and fake in the world,” she said.
“And so with Naked Attraction, we are as real as real can be, and I think that’s why cross-generationally, people really enjoy it.”
She went on: “The very fact that we were able to create a show that is absolutely about acceptance and accessibility – and there’s nowhere else on television that you’re going to see naked trans people talking about their bodies.
“So it’s actually a massive celebration, and that’s why I think it does really, really well. And even though it’s controversial, I think it’s also really celebrated, because even though it’s about nakedness, it’s actually about acceptance and inclusion.”
Richardson said the show is inundated with applications.
“I think people watch the show and say, ‘This is so diverse’,” she said.
“You’ve got fat, you’ve got thin, you’ve got old, you’ve got young, you’ve got trans, you’ve got gay…
“It’s everybody, so it just reflects everyone.”
The next series will see a new crop of people stripping off and looking for love.
Contestants include a celebrity, a man with HIV who wants to show that the illness is not a death sentence, and a trans female who was born into a strict Muslim family.
Naked Attraction returns to Channel 4 on August 21.
