The finalists of last summer’s Love Island
(Picture: ITV)Love Island is back with its second winter series and travel agents everywhere are going to be licking their lips as we furiously book Maya Jama-inspired trips to South Africa.
That’s right, the beloved reality TV show has secured Maya Jama as its newest host.
The radio presenter, DJ, and famous ex of rapper Stormzy has been tipped to host the show for years (arguably, since Stormzy himself made an appearance on the show in season three) and now she’s finally jetting off to the island of dreams — except, this time, it’s not the usual Mallorcan paradise.
Here, we break down everything we know about the newest series, from its newly announced cast to its new glamorous host. Let’s crack on.
Maya Jama is hosting
National treasure Maya Jama has been a favourite for Love Island’s next host since, well, we first knew about Maya Jama. The presenter is a long-time fan of the show and back in the day, when she was dating Stormzy, the two used to be very vocal about their Love Island opinions on Twitter.
In 2017, during season four, Maya first confessed her love for the series, tweeting: “Anyway Love Island is the only show my short attention spanned ass can watch and I'm hooked.” How far she’s come!
Anyway love island is the only show my short attention spanned ass can watch and I'm hooked.
— Maya Jama (@MayaJama) June 20, 2017
In fact, Maya and Stormzy’s Love Island Twitter antics became such a talking point, they actually landed Stormzy on the show before her. The rapper made a brief appearance in season three, when he surprised a rapping trio of Kem Cetinay, Chris Hughes, and Marcel Somerville in the villa via Zoom for a quick chat.
As for the presenter, she explained in an interview with Style why her Love Island debut took longer. “Once you start doing TV, you meet a lot of producers through different shows, and the heads will be aware of talent,” she said. “I think I’ve always been in their eyeline, but I was super young when the presenter shifts were happening in the past.”
But last October it was confirmed that the 28-year-old had been selected as the next host, with fans and former contestants alike praising the decision. “I think she’ll be brilliant. I think Laura [Whitmore] had that same thing about her when she signed on,” said tweeted former Love Island winner Finley Tapp. “Everyone was thinking that [Laura] was going to be brilliant and she did an amazing job. So, I can only think that Maya is going to be brilliant at the job too.”
Maya has already landed in South Africa, informing her followers that she took a red-eye flight last night to commence preparations for the series. Tune in on Monday, January 16, where she’ll introduce us to a whole new crop of attractive Islanders looking to graft, gas, and generate millions of viewing figures for ITV.
It’s the second winter series, after the first was hit by tragedy
Love Island has historically been held over summer, but in January 2020 reality TV bosses decided to double down on the drama by hosting the UK’s first winter Love Island. Despite being beset by controversy (more on that later), the series attracted record-breaking viewing figures, becoming the most-watched series on ITV Hub, amassing over 269 million streams.
During its debut season Laura Whitmore presented for the first time, in lieu of Caroline Flack, who was in the midst of an assault trial alongside ex-boyfriend Lewis Burton. Eight days before the Love Island finale aired, it was announced that Caroline had died by suicide, and the show was rocked to its core.
Laura went on to replace Caroline for a further two series, until she passed the baton to Maya due to motherhood commitments. This upcoming series marks the first time Love Island has returned to South Africa since the pandemic, and since Caroline’s death.
Paul Mortimer, director of reality commissioning and controller at ITV, explained the decision of having two helpings of the show in 2023. “Love Island has once again proved itself to be the nation’s favourite talking point across the summer, and we’re always blown away by the show’s ongoing impact and talkability amongst our younger audience,” he said. “So, rather than just serving up a Summer of Love, we thought we’d make 2023 the Year of Love with two full seasons of the show.”
On location in South Africa
Love Island’s core series, which airs over the summer, is set in Mallorca and has utilised the same villa for the past five summer seasons. The 2020 winter series, however, needed to send Islanders somewhere warm so they wouldn’t freeze in their tiny bikinis and swimshorts, stuck on a Balearic Island in the middle of January. So they opted for balmy South Africa, which can reach heights of 32° C over January.
The 2020 villa, located in Cape Town, was a vast mansion set across many levels, worth an estimated £5.3million. It was also used for the filming of Black Mirror season five, during the episode in which Miley Cyrus plays mysterious pop star Ashley O.
And, if you were a particularly big fan of Love Island’s 2020 digs, you could even stay there yourself - for the budget price of £3,000 a night.
The 2023 villa
The new villa is a supersized eco retreat based in the Franschhoek wine valley, an area often referred to as South Africa’s “millionaire’s row”. It’s been reported that Love Island bosses are spending a staggering £8,000 a day on the 17-bedroom estate worth £1.2 million that spans 25 acres. Named Ludus Magnus after Rome’s ancient gladiator school, it features a T-shaped pool, 400m running track, state-of-the-art rugby field, zip line, view of Drakenstein Prison, where Nelson Mandela served the last 14 months of his sentence, and a private lake.
“The challenges on Love Island always make for fun TV and this place is a producer’s dream,’ a source has said of the villa. ‘It’s absolutely stunning and has so much going on. It will set the standard for future series.”
Moreover the popular Casa Amor segment, which occurs halfway throughout the season and sees the couples being split up and tested by being sent to a different villa full of bombshells, will be extra scandalous. That’s right — the Casa Amor second villa will be just metre away from the main villa, meaning contestants will be able to overhear any wrongdoings.
A fresh crop of singletons
All 10 new Islanders have been announced and they’re as Love Island as they come, with names like “Tanyel”, “Tanya”, and “Anna-May” populating the line-up. Look out for TV salesman Haris (one r, not two), ring girl Olivia, airport security officer Shaq, hairstylist Tanyel, payroll assistant Anna-May, financial adviser Ron, makeup artist Lana, science and PE teacher Kai, biomed student Tanya, and finally, a TikTok famous farmer. Yep. Ticking all the boxes.
TikTok farmer Will is already well known for his livestock updates on the video-sharing app, where he films himself shearing, feeding, and mucking out his sheep, which he refers to as his “yummy mummys”, to which he is their “baby daddy”. We are not making this up.
Islanders will be kitted out in second-hand eBay looks
Following the success of last year’s switch to pre-loved outfits for the Islanders, eBay has secured the deal to dress this winter’s Love Islanders once again, which means we can hopefully expect Tasha Ghouri-levels of looks, and maybe even some vintage Versace and second-hand Jacquemus sightings.
Its sustainability impact last year was impressive, with the resale site reporting a 1,600 per cent increase in searches for ‘pre-loved clothes’ between May and November 2022 compared to the year before, and an estimated 2.7 million people saying they are “making more effort to shop sustainably”. So we can watch our Islanders looking stylish and sustainable. Ah, guilt-free reality TV bingeing.
The controversial new social media rule
Perhaps one of the biggest changes this year is the new rule which forbids contestants from having active social media accounts. Although phones are banned in the villa, the contestants’ social media handles are traditionally handed over to friends and family who run them in their absence. This year contestants will be asked to pause their accounts and not post anything while they are in South Africa. This is to protect both the Islanders and their families from “the adverse effects of social media”.
The decision has been praised, because although having an active social media has enabled the contestants to build huge digital followings in the past, it has also opened them up to online trolling and abuse. Former 2021 islander Faye Winter discussed the new rule during an Instagram Q&A, where she said that it’s a “bloody shame” but a good move for contestant’s loved ones.
Dr Matthew Gould, chartered clinical psychologist and consultant forLove Island’s duty of care team, said of the rules: “The enhanced safeguards introduced for Love Island 2023 demonstrate ITV’s commitment to evolve Duty of Care protocols to minimize harm, where possible. The bold decision to pause Islanders’ social media activity during the new series is testament to ITV’s serious intent, especially as this input provides both a benefit to the appeal of the program and a potential source of mental health problems.”
In addition, ITV has also said that ahead of entering the villa, Islanders will “receive guidance and training around mutually respectful behaviour in relationships.”
