New Love Island host Maya Jama has said agreeing to host the popular ITV2 dating show was a “no-brainer” as she has been a massive fan for years. The TV and radio presenter has taken over the role from Laura Whitmore who announced she was stepping down from the role after the summer series in August.
Maya takes on presenting duties as the reality series returns for its second winter series, set in South Africa, and the first since the coronavirus pandemic. She will also present the usual summer edition in Majorca later in the year.
She admitted that not all of her Love Island wardrobe is sorted yet, noting that her look for the famous slow-motion entrance is the one she has found most challenging.
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She said: “The biggest pressure is the slow-motion walk to enter – so much pressure. (The outfit) has to look good in the wind, you have to be able to move in it, you’ve got to be saucy but not too saucy.”
Maya, 28, who presented BBC One's Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer alongside footballing star Peter Crouch, said she did not want to do too much research for Love Island, which was originally presented by the late Caroline Flack from 2015 until 2019, as she feels you need to “still be yourself” in the role.
“You ask the questions you want to know. But as a fan of the show, I feel like I’m just going to approach it how I’ve screamed at the telly for years!,” she explained to ITV’s This Morning on Friday, December 6.
Former Big Brother presenter Davina McCall, 55, recently called for a middle-aged version of Love Island, which Maya would welcome. She said: “I think all ages, get them all in, get the nans and grandads… maybe next time!”
She will be joined by other new additions to this series, Made In Chelsea star Sam Thompson and last year's finalist Indiyah Polack, joining as regular panellists on Love Island’s spin-off Aftersun programme.
For the first time, contestants will this series have to disable their social media accounts during their time on the show in a bid to protect both themselves and their families from online abuse. They will also receive “guidance and training” around “mutually respectful behaviour in relationships” after the last series prompted thousands of complaints to broadcasting watchdog Ofcom. These are in addition to other duty-of-care measures introduced for previous series.
Reflecting on her reaction to being offered the job, she said: “It was a no-brainer, obviously, because I’m a massive fan of the show. I was like, ‘OK, when does it start?’… It’s all a bit of a blur, to be honest. But I found out and said, ‘Yes, absolutely!’ and now we’re off to South Africa.”
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