Rylan Clark has joked he "didn't know where to look" whilst presenting new show Dating Naked UK.
The This Morning presenter hosts the new reality show which drops on streaming service Paramount+ today (August 23) and sees a group of singletons bare all in a tropical paradise location in the hopes of finding love.
In an exclusive interview with Digital Spy, Rylan shared his initial reaction to the show's nudity element and why he thinks dating naked actually works.
Related: Rylan Clark picked up dating tips from Dating Naked UK
"The best way to describe this show is Love Island without the bikinis," he told us. "There’s that initial shock factor of all of our contestants are fully naked.
"There’s no camera shots that are a little bit tricky with a plant pot in the way, there’s no blurring. It is fully uncensored. But what’s crazy about the show itself is that after the first 5 to 10 minutes, you sort of start to see past that."
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"I remember they did a German version, so when Paramount+ came to me with the idea for this, I took a look at the German version and like everyone who is probably going to watch this show, for the first five minutes I was like, 'Oh my God, I don’t know where to look'.
"And then about 10 minutes in, I was like, 'I can’t believe he’s talking to her and I can’t believe she’s just said that about him', and it just becomes so addictive."
Related: Rylan Clark reveals why Alison Hammond was his "worst houseguest"
Despite an initial "awkward moment" when meeting the cast, the TV presenter revealed that he and the contestants got on so well during filming.
"The first time I met all the contestants, I’d already seen them all naked in their profile VTs and stuff like that, but I’d never seen them in real life," he told Digital Spy. "They were all lined up in front of me when I walked into the house, and they were all excited to see me and I was excited to see them.
"A couple of cameras had to move, and then there was this awkward moment where they’re all standing in front of me in a line and I'm standing opposite them fully clothed, and I just went, 'I’ve got to break this ice somehow'.
Related: Rylan Clark shares rare photo with brother to mark mum's birthday
"Because I want them to trust me, I'm on their side," he explained. "And I just went, 'Right, I’m just going to get this out of the way now', and I looked down and sort of swooped along and they all laughed.
"From that moment on, we were fine. And I’d walk into the house, they’d walk up to me and cuddle me, so it worked out lovely."
Dating Naked UK comprises 10 episodes, with the first two episodes available now. Two new episodes will then drop every Friday going forward.
Dating Naked UK launches on August 23 exclusively on Paramount+.
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Emily is an experienced freelance entertainment writer and editor, reporting on all things TV, film, soaps and showbiz. An NCTJ-qualified journalist, with a First Class Honours degree in Journalism from the University of Sussex, Emily is a former Deputy News Editor and Evening News Editor at Digital Spy. She has previously worked at Hello magazine, BBC South News and GoodtoKnow.
A small and big-screen obsessive – with subscriptions to every TV and film service under the sun – Emily knows her movie stars from soap stars, and is always clued up on the latest reality show dumping, just-dropped trailer or off-screen spat. She's interviewed a number of celebrities over the years, with highlights including The Masked Singer host Joel Dommett and GMB's Kate Garraway (who "loved" her trousers).
Emily counts Sharon Horgan and Julia Davis as her TV heroes, and is a loyal Wes Anderson fan. LinkedIn
