Chinese in Britain - Miss Naked Beauty 2008

All made up or au naturel?

British Channel 4 reality series Miss Naked Beauty has six episodes that were broadcast in October and November 2008.

Both the name and official description of the series may be misleading if you do not read carefully:

Presenters Gok Wan and Myleene Klass join forces in Channel 4's nationwide search for the ultimate modern British beauty.

Miss Naked Beauty is the definitive hunt for a woman who embodies the confidence, sex appeal, spirit, brains and true natural beauty of a modern-day Eve.

The show sets out to challenge conventional notions of what is 'beautiful' by turning the traditional beauty contest on its head.

Forget the fakes and size zeros, the winner will possess natural beauty, but also have the brains and balls to tackle some of the uglier sides of the beauty industry.
Ch 4 website

Miss Naked Beauty series was nothing like a regular beauty contest hunting for the ultimate British beauty.

It indeed turned the concept of beauty contents upside down and presented viewers with a powerful real life study of eight lovely but - let us face it - quite ordinary looking young women. The series gives a rich and horrific description of the technical means placed at their disposal by modern cosmetics industry and advanced medical technologies in order to look even more beautiful.

Actually, the description is so realistic that I would probably have fainted in the hospital together with one of the contestants watching the operation in action.

And yet, the most touching part of the entire episode was so delicate, just a simple woman in simple tears (which probably brought her the victory).

The question presented to viewers was "do you like made up or "natural?"

To understand the point, let us imagine a young gentleman who finally gets to dance with the girl of his dreams. And in the romantic darkness with a true life Lady in Red he suddenly realizes... "these contain silicon".

Ask the young man how he feels ... and ask the over one billion dollar breast implant industry is the business profitable.

British Chinese fashion consultant, author and TV presenter Gok Wan (born 1974)

In the final episode even the forever smiling Gok Wan was rather quiet and seemed subdued, perhaps even surprised by the humanity these eight ladies had brought to his show. These were genuine human beings and no Stepford wives. They participated in the strangest kind of competition ... looking for naked truth ... and won his and our hearts and respect just by being who they are.


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As for a second opinion from an influential Australian conservative journalist working for Daily Mail:

His next series Miss Naked Beauty, which he co-presented with Myleene Klass, was broadcast in October and November 2008. The series attracted controversy after Wan hosed semi-naked women, causing critics to question the motives behind the series; Amanda Platell described it as "vulgarity masquerading as self-help"
wikipedia

IMHO Platell's choice of word vulgarity indicates that her evaluation may be based on hearsay - anyone who actually has seen these women talking and acting in the series know that they are the opposite of vulgarity.