Don't Carve The Sausage!

This Morning has had hundreds of guests over the years — but not many of them have graced the famous sofa completely naked. Four naturists appeared on the ITV1 show today — with just some cleverly placed baubles and stickers to keep the show pre-watershed appropriate — and told hosts Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes that there is nothing sexual about being a nudist and how they will be spending Christmas day in the buff.

Tim Higgs, 56, and his team from the Clover Spa in Birmingham joined the breakfast show's sofa to reveal their plans for a very naked festive season. To much guffawing from the seemingly tickled This Morning hosts, the naturists explained their decision - and told the nation it is 'liberating' to go without clothes at Christmas. Higgs, who opened the Clover Spa, a seven-bedroom retreat for naturists, in 2011, says he will be enjoying turkey with all the trimmings unclothed - along with guests who have booked to stay over the festive period.

Of course, the hosts couldn't resist asking the question on everyone's lips: what happens if one guest is attracted to another, and there is a 'physical reaction', as Langsford delicately puts it. "It doesn't happen," Higgs reassured his host. "There is fear, but it doesn't happen when it comes to it. You are fully exposed but it doesn't happen. Maybe one time in 10,000. But you can just go off and have a cold shower."

"At least you know what you're getting,' added Ruth helpfully.


Higgs was joined on the This Morning sofa by his hotel receptionist Vicki Hinks, guest Emma Stokes and Andrew Welch, who has been a naturist for over twenty years. Welch said: "Most people can't separate sex from nudity, that is not what it's about. Years of social conditioning have made people feel awkward and embarrassed about a naked body, and we all have one. We are having fun and frolicking around but not in that way it's just normal people not in their clothes." Thinking about it further, Stokes added: "There is nothing to hide behind in a naturist environment." It has allowed me to be happy and comfortable in my skin."

In reply to Holmes quizzing her on whether she felt vulnerable naked, Stokes declared: "Absolutely not," before saying that being a naturist has in fact helped her grow to love her body. "It all started a while ago when I went along with a friend to a convention and I decided that 'what was it about those people that they were so happy about their body and I hated mine so much?' So off I went back to university and started doing some research and from there I decided to give it a try myself. And it's the best thing that I ever did because it allowed me to finally be happy and comfortable in my skin."

Higgs, whose four children and wife prefer to live a clothed existence, says he loves to go naked, and will be holding four Christmas parties in the run up to the big day. "It is liberating," he said in an interview earlier this week with Closer magazine. "Everyone has lumps and bumps - clothes are a disguise." He stresses that his hotel is not a venue for swingers, but rather a place that offers visitors the freedom not to wear clothes. "As a naturist, you don't look at people's bodies in a sexual way, you just see the people." But as with all things, there are health and safety concerns surrounding the naked Christmas party. "I have to be careful of the sausages when I'm carving the turkey!" he laughs.

Higgs confirmed that while all the rooms at his nudist hotel have already been reserved for the big New Year's Eve party they are still taking bookings for the evening event.