Love Island's Maya Jama on new role: ‘I’m really excited. It was a no-brainer!'
Get ready for lots of cracking on, grafting and putting all your eggs in one basket as new lovestruck singletons prepare to enter the South African villa - yes, Love Island is back! And, it’s got a brand new host.
After record-breaking figures saw the show become the most-watched series ever on ITVX, hostess with the mostess Maya Jama joins us to tell us why this job is her type on paper, what we can expect from the new winter series.
Maya said, “I literally go tomorrow! It's been a massive countdown because you find out ages ago and it’s like ‘not this month’, ‘not the next month or the next’ and now it’s one day away! But I’m really, really excited. The biggest pressure is the slow walk to enter - so [the outfit] has to look good in the wind, you have to be able to move in it, saucy but not too saucy…”
After Maya surprised the hosts with some Love Island merchandise - including bath robes, water bottles and suitcases with their names one - she went on to explain her reaction to being asked to front the popular ITV2 show. She said, “It was a no-brainer because I’m a massive fan of the show and I was like, ‘Yeah, 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.”
Alison said, “As soon as I heard it was you Maya, I thought what a great fit.”
On preparing for the series, Maya admitted, “I have always been a big fan but I tried not to do too much research because you want to still be yourself don’t you? And ask the questions you want to know… I’m just going to approach it how I’ve screamed at the telly for years!”
Following earlier comments on This Morning during the news review on how Davina McCall would like to see a middle-aged Love Island, Maya said, “I think it should be all ages, get them all in, get the nans and grandads… maybe next time!”
When Maya asked if Alison would go in it herself, Alison smiled, “I don’t know… maybe I would. It is lovely weather…”
Love Island returns Monday 16 January on ITV2 and ITVX!