SHOW-ER ME A GOOD TIME
I'M A Celeb's sexy jungle showers have become one of the show's steamiest traditions - yet they're not the only TV scrub-downs setting our pulses racing.
Fans of the hit ITV series have been left fearing for the iconic waterfall scenes as filming moves from the Australian bush to the chilly UK this year.
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But they don't have far to look for other racy shower action - as a new study reveals a plethora of TV bathing scenes are getting Brits excited.
Viewers who watched one sizzling scene while hooked up to a heart rate monitor saw their pulses soar by a whopping 22 beats per minute (BPM).
Other scenes, featuring prison romps, dirty daydreams and caresses through a shower curtain, also caused viewers' tickers to thump harder.
Relationship expert and psychotherapist Neil Wilkie tells Sun Online: "Sex on TV has become more common and more predictable.
"What will get our pulses racing the most is when the sex is different, surprising but also something that we really desire."
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The research for online bathroom supplier was carried out on 3,078 UK participants with an average resting heart rate of 81 BPM.
Here, we reveal the top ten sexy shower scenes that made viewers’ pulses rocket, and the average heart rate recorded for each one:
Dark Desire
Scene: Dirty shower daydreams
BPM: 103
IT'S the new Netflix erotic thriller that promises to leave you "guessing… and sweating".
Dark Desire follows married law professor Alma Solares (Maite Perroni) as she becomes sexually obsessed with mysterious younger hunk Dario Guerra (Alejandro Speitzer).
The pair's illicit romance is filled with dangerous passion, sexual stimulation and dramatic twists - with a murder thrown into the storyline for good measure.
Debuting in July, Dark Desire is said to have "seduced" 35 million homes worldwide in its first 28 days - with some viewers comparing it to “watching porn”.
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And now, an X-rated scene showing Alma having a dirty daydream in the shower has been officially named as telly's steamiest bathing scene.
In the clip, she seductively runs her hand over her own cleavage before stepping under the water, where she has flashbacks of sex with Dario.
And it's not the Mexican drama's only saucy bathroom scene.
Another clip shows Alma's best pal Brenda (Maria Fernanda Yepes) moaning with pleasure as she romps in a bubble bath. And a third depicts two characters lying naked together in the tub.
"Dark Desire is rated as Netflix’s steamiest series ever," says Neil, adding of Brenda's romp: "[There's] a lot of mystery of what is really under the bubbles."
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Orange Is the New Black
Scene: Prison shower kiss
BPM: 101
NOT the sort of lockdown we've seen recently.
The women in hit US drama Orange Is the New Black are caged for their crimes - but that doesn't stop them from getting hot and heavy with each other.
Among the countless sex scenes are romps between prison guards and lags, a drug-fuelled threesome and a butch, middle-aged lesbian pleasuring herself.
Middle-class lag Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) and her on-off girlfriend Alex Vause (Laura Prepon) aren't shy about having sex behind bars.
But it's actually a much earlier romp between the amorous pair, outside of prison walls, that sent viewers' pulses rocketing by 20 BPM.
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In the eye-popping scene, future convict Piper is showering naked when tattooed Alex moves towards her and they kiss.
It's followed by another explicit scene, in season five, showing the lags kissing and touching each other in the jailhouse shower.
"The shower scenes with Alex and Piper were intense, unexpected and, as it was lesbian sex, even more unusual on TV," explains Neil.
"It was a shock, so they really got the pulse racing."
Piper also hooks up with Stella Carlin (Ruby Rose) in the show - which ran for seven seasons, with its final one premiering last year.
Why do TV shower scenes increase our heart rate?
PSYCHOTHERAPIST Neil Wilkie explains what happens when we watch TV shower scenes:
"When we are sitting in front of the TV, we are normally comfortable, relaxed and safe.
If there is a gradual build-up to a sex scene, the heart rate may rise gently if we are feeling sexually interested and aroused.
It is only when there is something very unexpected that there will be an adrenaline rush in the body and the pulse will beat faster to awaken our 'caveman' response of fight, flight or freeze.
I think that there are a number of things happening when we are watching a shower scene:
- It is unusual and unexpected.
- We may be having fantasies of wanting our own sex to be different and exciting.
- The feeling of touching, or being touched by a warm, wet body gives a very strong physical connection. It can be very erotic, particularly if we are being soaped or rubbed all over.
- It feels safe but also exciting and pleasurable.
- There is an interesting dissonance between the cleansing effect of the water and the sinful feelings of doing something ‘wrong.’ Good and bad in direct conflict."
Neil is the author of .
Containment
Scene: Kiss through the shower curtain
BPM: 98
ITS plot is eerily reminiscent of the past six months.
American drama Containment, which aired in 2016, follows a novel and deadly virus that hits Atlanta, Georgia, leaving part of the city quarantined.
But it isn't the terrifying scenes in the show - which was adapted from the Belgian series Cordon for The CW network - that's got Brits het up.
Instead, it's a passionate kiss through a shower curtain that left viewers' hearts thumping faster, taking their pulses to an average of 98 BPM.
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The scene sees teacher Katie Frank (Kristen Gutoskie) slowly approach her love interest, police officer Jake Riley (Chris Wood), as he takes a shower.
Yet because they can't touch each other, she stays on the other side of the curtain, caressing his body through the waterproof fabric.
What follows is a tantalising 30 seconds before the pair share a sweeping kiss through the curtain.
Quantico
Scene: Steamy shower visions
BPM: 96
SHE'S the former Miss World now married to singer Nick Jonas.
And stunning Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra certainly set pulses racing with her shower scene in the US drama Quantico.
Priyanka's character, FBI recruit Alex Parrish, gets hot and heavy with fellow agent Ryan Booth (Jake McLaughlin) in the daring clip from season one.
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As Ryan takes a shower, joined by his then-partner Natalie, he starts fantasising that Alex is there instead. The pair kiss and push up against a wall as steam rises around them.
According to Indian media, footage of the X-rated scene went viral on social media within days of it being aired in 2015. One news site dubbed it Priyanka's most "intense love-making scene" to date.
Riverdale
Scene: Foggy kissing
BPM: 95
TEEN drama Riverdale also left viewers hot and bothered with a particularly saucy scene in the first episode of its second season.
In the clip, young beauty Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes) strips off her clothing before joining boyfriend Archie Andrews (KJ Apa) in the shower.
"Thought you might want some company," Veronica teases, as she steps under the running water to share a passionate kiss with Archie.
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While the scene caused viewers' tickers to race by an extra 14 BPM, it wasn't exactly a romantic - or easy - moment for the actors to film.
"It was pretty slippery in there," KJ Apa told Entertainment Tonight.
"They had a fog machine in the actual bathtub."
Unsurprisingly, the water also made kissing a bit trickier.
"We just wanted to spit it all out, but we had to make out, so we were just like plegh! [It was] the funniest moment," added Camila.
White Lines
Scene: Kiss in the rain
BPM: 93
NOT exactly a bathing scene - but a shower of sorts.
White Lines's intense kissing in the rain scene also ranks among the hottest TV shower clips, sending viewers' pulses soaring by 12 BPM.
It sees grieving sister Zoe Collins (Laura Haddock) and Portuguese bad boy Boxer (Nuno Lopes) kiss fiercely while kneeling on the muddy ground.
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Caught up in the moment, Zoe ends up climbing on to Boxer's lap, before they fall back onto the ground, still kissing, their bodies caked in dirt.
All the while, rain pours down around them.
"The scene in White Lines with Laura and Nuno where they kissed in the rain and mud is wonderfully tender and passionate," says Neil.
"Maybe we are seeing a couple that we had been wanting to connect, finally break through the barriers and let the rain wash away their fears."
Grey's Anatomy
Scene: Doctors' steamy session
BPM: 92
GREY'S Anatomy is no stranger to shower sex.
In season six of the US medical drama, surgeons Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) and Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) are caught in a compromising position in the shower by Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh).
Then, in season seven, it's Lexie's turn as she gets hot and heavy in the shower with her lover, Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams).
But it's the session between lead characters Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) that got viewers' hearts pounding the most.
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In the season 11 scene, a grinning Derek famously tells Meredith, "I could use a shower too," before the pair romp naked under the water.
As top doctors, there's no doubt they knew their way around each other's bodies.
Queer as Folk
Scene: Gay shower sex
BPM: 91
NINETIES UK drama Queer as Folk sparked controversy with its graphic gay sex scenes at the time - but is now considered groundbreaking.
The show - which charts the lives of three gay men living on Manchester’s Canal Street - even inspired a US-Canadian series of the same name.
The later series, set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is just as raunchy as the original, with a steamy shower session between two young men in episode one.
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And it isn't long before the characters - Justin Taylor (Randy Harrison) and Brian Kinney (Gale Harold) - go from getting clean to getting dirty.
In the scene, Brian sensually rubs soap over Justin's neck and back, before warning him: "Don't get smart or I'll have to spank you."
The pair then kiss and romp up against the side of the shower.
The heated clip saw viewers' pulses shoot up to 91 BPM.
The Witcher
Scene: Chatting in the bath
BPM: 90
IT'S one of Netflix's most popular fantasy dramas.
And The Witcher certainly sparked fantasies among flustered viewers with its bathtub scene between Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) and Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra).
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Unlike most of the other top-ranking shower scenes, beast-slayer Geralt and his beloved sorceress Yennefer don't actually kiss or romp in the tub.
Instead, the naked pair engage in deep conversation while sitting back-to-back.
The intimate scene in the Polish-American show - based on author Andrzej Sapkowski's book series of the same name - caused Brits' hearts to race by an extra nine BPM.
Stranger Things
Scene: Post-gym class shower
BPM: 88
IT'S not one of the dark supernatural scenes Netflix cult hit Stranger Things has become known for.
Yet the shirtless shower session between Billy Hargrove (Dacre Montgomery) and Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) has become a fan favourite.
The scene, from season two, sees troubled school bully Billy and bad-boy-turned-good-guy Steve take a shower together after gym class.
And while there's no intimate action between the pair, the sight of water running over their naked bodies caused viewers' pulses to rocket.
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Most read in Drama
"Don't take it too hard, man," Billy tells Steve, who has recently split from girlfriend Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer), as they shower.
"Pretty boy like you has got nothing to worry about.
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