German TV channel RTLZWEI has launched an experimental dating show Maison Tabou. Its participants spend the night together at first, concealing their identities, and get to know each other only the next morning over breakfast.
Filming, writes BILD, was organized in a converted hotel. For private conversations they prepared six rooms and two suites. Cameras operate in every room, however sexual intimacy is not mandatory: participants decide for themselves whether to engage in sexual relations.
The format is built on anonymity. Before checking in, participants leave their real names and biographical information at reception, after which they receive new names and personas, and their faces are covered with masks. They disclose their sexual preferences in advance, spend time together, and only in the morning learn who their partners really are.
Throughout the program participants are accompanied by a host known as Madame. The creators of Maison Tabou explain that they aim to explore attraction, intimacy, desire and fantasies, and to raise the issue of taboos in relationships. The central question of the project is whether an encounter that began with physical intimacy can develop into a romantic relationship.
German media received the concept ambivalently. Some outlets criticize the format for excessive attention to participants’ bodies and adult products. At the same time BILD notes that the show’s creators want to use it as an occasion to talk about sexuality and relationships.
Some comments concern the commercial aspect. The production company retains the rights to the Maison Tabou brand and plans, together with a manufacturer of adult products, to release its own product line.
Previously we wrote:
- “Massage parlors” and sex on the front lines: how the war changed the market for intimate services in Ukraine
- What technologies help long-distance relationships
- First sex toy for couples: how to choose and not make a mistake
- In Kyiv, “businessmen” who organized group sex parties were put on trial
- “Torture room, queen’s boudoir, gynecologist’s office”… A sex hotel opened in Ukraine
