Love Island is back with a brand news series, hosted once again by Maya Jama.
The new series starts at 9pm on ITV on Monday June 9 with a host of twists already promised.
Maya is the third presenter of the show but has plenty of other jobs and accolades under her belt, among them being named on the Standard’s list of the 100 people shaping London in 2024.
Having risen to stardom, Maya exemplifies an impressive story of resilience. When she was growing up, her father was in and out of prison for a series of violent offences and she cut ties with him altogether when she was 12.
Read also: Meet the hopefuls heading into the villa for Love Island 2025
Shortly after moving to London, her boyfriend Rico Gordon was shot dead while on the phone with her, caught in the crossfire of a gang shoot-out in Bristol.
Nonetheless, Maya stayed in the capital to pursue her dreams, telling the Standard: “I decided to stay in London and try to make it work.”
Jama has since become one of the UK’s biggest stars, previously earning her place on our list of the top 100 people shaping the capital, alongside Bukayo Saka, Louis Theroux and Dame Tracey Emin.
Here are some key details you should know about Maya Jama.
Who is Maya Jama?
Maya Jama, 30, is a presenter of Somali and Swedish descent, who was born in August 1994.
Her parents chose the name Maya, after the civil rights activist and poet Maya Angelou, because her mother read the poem I know Why the Caged Bird Sings during her pregnancy.
Maya moved from Bristol to London aged 16, in order to pursue a career in broadcasting, setting up her own YouTube channel, which got her a role as a presenter of JumpOff TV. After that, she became the host of MTV’s The Wrap Up, before she moved to host MTV Essentials and MTV News.
Other projects over the years included a travelogue called Copa 90’s Maya’s Fifa World Cup Cities, during the 2014 World Cup, according to the Sun. Her career advanced further when she hosted BBC3’s Glow Up, taking over from Stacey Dooley.
Elsewhere, she hosted the Friday and Saturday slots on BBC Radio 1, as well as presenting the first series of Channel 4’s The Circle, alongside Alice Levine.
Hosting Love Island
Jama now presents Love Island, taking over from previous host Laura Whitmore, who quit after three years.
The Independent’s Elise Bell said of Jama’s first Love Island is that “Quite simply, it feels like she’s always belonged here.”
“After years of prompting from fans, it looks like the producers have finally taken the hint, with Jama’s easy charm and affability reminiscent of Caroline Flack’s much-missed warmth.
“Quite simply, it feels like she’s always belonged here, and regardless of who triumphs as the final couple, I suspect that the real winner of winter Love Island will be Jama.”
Paul Mortimer, the director of reality programming and acquisitions at ITV, previously said: “Finding a new host to follow the wonderful Laura Whitmore was never going to be easy. In Maya Jama, though, we have another high-profile fan of the show who’ll be a great addition to the Love Island family.
“Cool, charming, and charismatic, I speak for us all when I say Maya will also bring a unique presenting style to the show, as did Laura and, of course, the very much missed Caroline Flack. We’re very pleased to have her on board.”
Maya had such success with Love Island that she now has filmed multiple seasons, including two All Stars and another debuting imminently.
Who has Maya Jama dated?
Maya has hit many headlines over her own love life.
She very recently went Insta official with her new beau, Manchester City ace Ruben Dias. The pair first met while attending the EMA's in Manchester and kept their budding romance quiet at first, but now are very much out in the open about it.
Before this, the Love Island star had a very public on-off relationship with rapper Stormzy.
The pair were together for four years and began dating back in 2016 when she was 20 years old.
They first broke up in 2019, and were then on and off - officially giving it another proper go in 2023.
But after a year together the pair announced their split, saying "We've been laughing whilst drafting this because we never, ever, in a million years thought we'd be the couple announcing a breakup, but for the sake of clarity and, more importantly, to allow us the space and grace that's needed for us both to be able to navigate this next bit of our lives with peace, we thought it might be best to."
"We decided to try for the final time in August 2023, and we've spent this past year trying our best to make it work; however, we recently decided to call it quits.”
During an off spell with Stormzy, Maya and basketball player Ben Simmons dated for around a year and a half before splitting in August 2022.
It was rumoured the pair had gotten engaged during Christmas of 2021 but eventually called it off having realised it was too difficult to make the distance work.
