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‘How the hell did this get on tv?’: Naked dating shows as the final taboo on mainstream TV

2019; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 22; Issue: 5-6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/1367549419847107

1460-3551

Angela Smith,

Humor Studies and Applications

There is a long history of dating shows on TV, most famously in the United Kingdom in the form of the long-running ITV show Blind Date, which ran from 1985 until 2003; its re-boot has returned to ITV1. The game-show format continues in shows such as Take Me Out (also ITV1) and Dinner Date (More 4). Elsewhere, the make-over shows that dominated the schedule in the late 1990s and first decade of the century morphed into relationship/dating shows, such as Gok’s Fashion Fix (Channel 4) and Snog, Marry, Avoid (BBC3). However, another relationship/make-over show, How to Look Good Naked (2006–2012, Channel 4) seems to have heralded a further development of this. While How to Look Good Naked never showed full frontal nudity, with participants always expressing the empowering nature of their ‘naked picture’ finale, in recent years there has been a further development of the nakedness theme across several dating shows that have a game-show format. The one that has caused most comment is Channel 4’s Naked Attraction, with The Guardian commenting that ‘the bottom of the barrel has been reached’. With full nudity, lingering close-ups and graphic descriptions, this show drove many viewers to Twitter to express dismay that this show has made it to mainstream TV, and led to The Guardian referring to this show as being symptomatic of dystopian TV since 2016. This article will explore how the shock of graphic nudity is ameliorated by the linguistic strategies of positive politeness with which all participants seem to collude and engage. Such amelioration would appear to be a defence against accusations of voyeuristic and pornographic content on mainstream TV.