With Regis Philbin now absent from morning TV, programmers have had to get a little creative in featuring new kinds of sex robots for early rising viewers. Enter Samantha, the rubbery-faced, blank-stared creepshow who, going by her recent appearance on This Morning With Phillip And Holly, is designed as much for stomach-churning “companionship” as, well, stomach-churning talk show guesting.
Samantha The Sex Bot was joined by her human co-creator (and current boyfriend) Arran Squire to gaze dreamily at show hosts and guest psychologist Emma Kenny while the group discusses literal objectification, sex aids, and that classic conversation starter, synthetic skin textures.
Hold on tight for moments like Squire detailing Samantha’s “family mode,” which allows the sex doll to tell jokes and talk about animals or philosophy to his young children. Wince into a curled ball as the discussion moves to Squire incorporating Samantha into his own sex life and the camera shifts to his wife, standing uncomfortably in another part of the studio before assuring viewers that she, too, is down with having a highly sophisticated fuck puppet as part of the family.
“I believe the world’s changing,” Squire says toward the end of the segment. Looking at Samantha, sat corpse-like on the guest couch next to her loving human companion, that’s a sentiment we can probably all agree on.