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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Ashleigh Rainbird

Love Island host Maya Jama's debut show outfit as she arrives in villa by helicopter

Love Island’s new presenter Maya Jama shone in a purple dress as she made her first appearance in the sun-drenched villa.

She will roar on to TV screens as the series launches – by arriving in a helicopter.

It will be the biggest budget opening in the programme’s history. Producers have promised her debut will be “epic”. Maya takes over from Laura Whitmore.

Maya will fly between London and Cape Town throughout the series to host dumpings from the island and the show’s spinoff Aftersun, which will feature her interviewing the contestants’ families.

It's been a long build up for Maya from when she was told in New York that she had bagged the role, and she previously said how excited she is to get started.

Maya Jama made her fist appearance in the Love Island villa wearing a purple dress with a floral design (ITV)
The star is excited for her new role (ITV)

The new host also revealed she kept her new gig a secret from her mum.

When asked if it was hard keeping her role a secret, Maya said: "Really hard, especially when there’s loads of rumours flying around. I’m not a good liar. Even my mum I didn’t tell because she’d get too excited and tell people. So I had to not even tell my close family."

She added: "It feels amazing, it’s really, really exciting. It’s been a weird feeling because you find out and then it’s the wait and the build up.

The Love Island villa is ready for a batch of new singletons (ITV)

"I just can’t wait for it to start. I’m counting down the seconds and the days to get to South Africa.

"I was in New York [when I found out]. The first person I told was my best friend in Bristol. She swore loads."

The star celebrated the news many times, saying: "I celebrated with different people each time. I celebrated with who I was around when I found out, then I celebrated when I got back to London.

"I feel like I’ll celebrate more after it’s done, then we can be like, ‘Yay we did it!’ rather than getting too excited before it’s happened."

Maya also loves how the show can bring everyone together - young and old.

She explained: "I’ve been a fan for years. It was the first reality show, other than Big Brother, that I made sure I was back at a certain time to watch and all my friends and family were speaking about.

Love Island returns this Monday with a new cast (ITV)

"Everyone gets involved, everyone has opinions - from the older people in your family to the younger ones. It’s just fun, it’s fun to see how people play out in different situations and wonder what you would do if you were in the same position.

"Most of us have had a bit of a holiday romance before and it’s like watching that on telly."

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