Love Island presenter Laura Whitmore took to Instagram to share a video addressing nasty comments she receives about her job ahead of the new series starting tonight (Monday June 6) on ITV2. The 37-year-old star, who has hosted the show since 2020, wrote: "Shall we get this out of the way, then we can enjoy the juicy bits! See ya Monday."
Laura, who is married to the show's narrator Iain Stirling, clapped back at viewers calling for her to be 'sacked' and labelling her 'boring.' She also addressed her pay and another message branded her 'too old' to present the dating show which sees singles couple-up in the sun while living together in a villa in Mallorca.
At the start of the video, to a soundtrack of the Fatboy Slim song Love Island while sipping from one of the show's famous water bottles, she wrote: "Shall we chat Love Island? These are all actual things that have been written or said." Laura started with a comment that said: "I think its ridiculous that Laura flies back and forth - send the guests there!"
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And Laura, who also hosts the spin-off Aftersun which has celeb fans discussing the show, responded: "The villa is Mallorca and Aftersun is London. This is the situation for any host, always has been. If I could stay in Mallorca I would.
"But at the moment flying me back is more efficient than bringing out new guests and audience every week. I have it in my contract to offset my carbon footprint."
She touched on what she is paid for hosting as another viewer said: "Laura has the easiest job on the telly! She gets paid £50k a minute. It's an outrage!" And Laura, who has a daughter with comedian Iain, replied: "'Firstly, Iain has never had attention on money he earns. Why don't we like women earning money?"
She added: "I b****y wish I earned what was written in the press! I only get paid on days I work." And to a call for her to be 'sacked' saying 'she's never in there!' she replied: "Producers can mix up when I go in as a surprise."
Laura then shared the hurtful comment: "She's so boring. Why doesn't she ask more? What's with all the pauses!?'" And her response was: "Drama baby! If I wasn't on hosting duties with time limits I would be having full on banter.
"But I can't I need to stay as impartial as possible and trust the process. Last year with social distancing I couldn't even give them a hug! And I am a hugger."
Finally she addressed the ageist comment "you're too old for Love Island you have a child now" saying: 'I don't plan to date the Love Islanders. I am the HOST. Age means experience and it's a privilege.'
To mark the new series Laura unveiled her outfit for the opening night, a reworking of her stunning red love-heart detail three-piece suit from the final of the winter series in 2020 in Cape Town, South Africa.
The suit has been re-fashioned into a waistcoat and shorts as she welcomes the latest batch of dating hopefuls to the Mallorca villa. And Laura added towering wedge heels and heart decorated pink and red nails.
