Rylan is baring it all

Saws are whirring and there’s a sort of hammering in the background as Rylan’s voice filters through the speaker: “Hey, babe. How are you?” It’s the British version of an American southern drawl — honeyed, twangy and charming. He tells me the noise I’m hearing in the background is his latest construction project — his fourth fixer-upper property. This one is going to be a sort of central London work-flat. The one before was for his mum, the Insta-famous Linda Clark, known solely for being ‘Rylan’s mum’. We both agree he’s a very, very good son, and she’s a very, very lucky mum. But to me, their relationship is just another example of how love exists in Rylan’s life: grand, kind and inordinately public, even when it comes to something literally concealed behind four walls.

British households — a familiar face smiling back at you from your TV screen, whatever side of the watershed it may be. We’ve come to know Rylan right from the X Factor contestant in 2012, where he placed fifth, then the winner of Celebrity Big Brother in 2013 and now, the host of MTV’s Dating Naked, as well as his podcast series, How To Be In Love. “Luckily for me, I never stopped,” Rylan tells me. And it’s true — he went from contestant to host practically overnight. Ideal as it sounds, though, ‘lucky’ hasn’t always been the appropriate adjective — there’s also been a fair amount of drawbacks. “I hit a hard point four years ago when I went through my divorce, and had to sit there and really think about what had happened to me,” he says. “I started looking back and thinking why I’d been hit so hard by this break-up.” As we likely all know, break-ups hurt, whether it’s the (supposed) love of your life or a three-month situationship. But for Rylan, it wasn’t just the break-up itself leaving him high and dry — it was the whole reality TV industry, and the lack of care for contestant welfare.

Rylan’s latest television project, Dating Naked, is one that needs a hefty dose of that welfare available. It’s as naked as it sounds — nothing blurred out, everything bared. For those of us still going on first dates, putting your best foot forward usually entails a cute outfit (whatever puts your best assets on display, and hides the rest), but on Dating Naked, there’s nothing between the daters and all of Paramount+, which, for those baring it all can be quite daunting. “I think people are waking up to contestant welfare,” Rylan says, “but I also think there’s a difference between publishing how much welfare you put on a show to actually giving that welfare. We’re still in touch with our daters from season one even a year on. And that’s purely because we want to make sure they’re okay, because that show is still playing around the world.”

At the end of each episode, a disclaimer briefly outlines the show’s hygienic practices on set, as well as explicitly stating that their contestants are well taken care of — not just fed and villa’d, but genuinely supported. “You have to remember, I come from shows like this — this is where I started,” Rylan effuses. “So, if anything, it’s even more important on a show that I host because I’ve been on the other side. I understand, you know, not being naked, but what these people are going through from my experience of being a contestant back in the day.” He pauses, before adding: “For me, contestant welfare is paramount.” (Pun not intended).

On a show where any kind of physical contact could result in an accidental violation of personal space or safety, knowing the right way to approach someone naked (as, let’s be honest, how often do any of us approach large groups of naked people?) is key. “The first thing I asked the guy that was training us was, I’m the sort of person, if someone’s upset to put my arm around them — can I do that?” he recalls. “And I remember he said, Look, you’re going to do what you’re going to do, but remember these people are at a disadvantage; so let them initiate a hug, and if you’re comfortable with that, that’s fine because they’ve obviously consented.” It’s not something Rylan had to worry about for long, though — as one might expect, the contestants warmed up to their host pretty swiftly. “When I first meet them all I’m very professional,” he says, “but after two days they’re all running up to the villa, hugging me, and I’m fine with that.”

But even in 2025, where these conversations and practices seem commonplace, true support for reality TV cast members can still slip through the cracks. Rylan and I are speaking in the final week of Love Island Season 12, for which over fourteen thousand OFCOM complaints have been filed for allowing misogyny, bullying and racism to find a home in the Majorca villa. Whether or not they’re justified, they paint a picture of how difficult the world of TV continues to be for a contestant’s emotional and mental wellbeing. And that’s something Rylan never wants to exacerbate. “I always make sure that the contestant comes before making good TV,” he says. “If someone sat there and said to me, I don’t want to do this, or, I don’t want this shown, that comes out of the episode.” It’s not about giving contestants a creative carte blanche — it’s about humanisation. “I’m always cautious about what is going to make someone feel like shit,” he says. “There’s a fine line between what makes good TV and what’s taking advantage of a situation someone’s in.”

Between Dating Naked and the newest season of How to Be In Love, it seems that Rylan’s found his niche in the relationships and self-development market. I ask what his takeaways are from these latest forays into the land of love — especially with a rare bird’s-eye view of people navigating dating. “Do you know what? I think just the way that this generation is quite relaxed,” he says. “I grew up in a day and age where, if you were with someone and said, Oh he’s good looking, that was offensive. How dare you say that! But actually, now it’s not a problem to sit there and say someone is good looking.” 

Dating Naked isn’t just about initial attraction, though. As the season progresses, you realise it’s just as much about the things that come after — and for different people, that means different things. “If you want an open relationship, that’s up to you,” Rylan says. “I don’t want that, but [it’s great] to not be frightened to have those conversations with the person you’re choosing to spend your time with. Because our naked daters are in an environment that’s all about exploring if you’re with the right or the wrong person, I think it’s actually nicer to be open.”

The show has, in turn, opened Rylan’s own mind up to different perspectives on relationships. While, of course, soul-mates and best friends are two different kinds of tea, who’s to say they can’t be brewed in the same pot? “I never really understood when people said, My partner is my best friend,” Rylan admits. “Because I thought, Well, my partner is not my best friend — my best friend is my best friend. I didn’t get it. But I’ve realised that your partner can be that. Telling them everything and not being frightened to say something to the person you’re choosing to share your life with is beautiful.”

While Rylan is keen to keep his own dating life private (he, giggling, coyly describes his current status as “content”), his podcast allows fans, watchers and listeners to learn more about their own relationships through his guests and stories, providing a toolkit for braving the dating world. “I’ll be honest, the whole point of How to Be In Love was to take a tool from every single person that I interviewed,” Rylan confesses. “Imagine I’ve got the Rylan Tool Kit, and from Stephen Fry I’ve taken the screwdriver, from Philippa Perry I’ve taken the hammer, and it’s putting all those things together to say, Okay I’m ready to go out there now and meet someone.”

It’s well known that getting back into the swing of dating post-break-up isn’t easy. But, maybe, we just bought the wrong spirit level and screwdriver. “I’ve obviously been single for a long time and that toolkit makes me feel more comfortable because I’ve spoken to so many different types of people — experts, not experts, people that are in the same boat as me, and people that have studied this all their life,” he says. “They’ve given me the best advice I could ask for, so really I’m prepped and primed now. This is a completely selfish podcast…”

Self-deprecation aside, though, we’ve learned more from Rylan’s career than a lot of other reality TV hosts. And that’s because, in his own unique (and unique it certainly is) way, he’s bared it all. He’s allowing fans to learn life lessons alongside him — which, if you think about it, isn’t selfish at all. And speaking of baring things — “Would you ever go on a naked date, Rylan?” I ask. “Yeah, with the right person…”