‘Love Island Games’ Host Maya Jama Is Navigating the Dating Chaos
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It’s been a busy year for Maya Jama. The British television host and radio personality took over hosting the popular reality dating series Love Island UK at the beginning of the year, following in the footsteps of Laura Whitmore.
While Jama was already famous for her other roles and her social media following, Love Island propelled Jama to new heights of popularity. Not to mention, the general public took a real interest in her personal life and her relationship with rapper Stormzy, especially after the two recently reportedly rekindled.
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Now, Jama is gearing up for Love Island Games, a superfan’s dream spinoff from the original series featuring cast members from past seasons of Love Island UK, USA, Australia, France, Sweden, and Germany. The series will exclusively stream on Peacock and will show fan favorites coupling up and competing in challenges in order to stay in the villa; there won’t be any public voting. It’s a first for the reality series and out of all the other series hosts, Jama is at the helm.
After spending about a month filming in Fiji, Jama says production on Love Island Games was a quick turnaround, having just returned to the UK a couple of weeks ago with the show streaming next week. While Jama is accustomed to being in the spotlight, she’s trying to navigate how to maintain a semblance of privacy.
“There’s more interest [in my life] than there was before,” Jama tells Rolling Stone. “I was way more open when I was younger when I did my first interviews and just spilled my whole life story. Then you’re like, “Oh no, headlines are going to say this and maybe I need to not tell them about this bit of info because they’re going to dig into this.” I think it’s just trial and error, really, and just growing up.”
With the premiere of Love Island Games coming up on Nov. 1, Jama opened about filming in Fiji, how she thinks she manifested this gig for herself, and her desire to keep some things about her public life private.
You started hosting Love Island UK earlier this year. Can you walk me through how you got the gig?
I’ve been a massive fan of Love Island since series one. I was part of the audience. I watched every episode, every series, and I guested on the spinoff show. They were looking for a new host and I put out into the universe many times that I wanted it, subconsciously, then they pretty much just called and said, “Hey, would you be up for it?” and I was like, “Yeah.” It just happened really fast.
It sounds like you may have manifested this for yourself.
Yeah, maybe. I think so.
How was working on Love Island Games different from other seasons of the show that you’ve hosted?
It was so different because there were Islanders from all over the world, so I got to meet the Australians, the Americans, and there were some French, German, and even Swedish Islanders. It was nice to see that dynamic and just how all these big characters from all over the world come together, how they mesh, and who’s going to get on with who and how that person is going to act in that situation. Just kind of watching them as a social experiment and seeing how these people blend was really fun, and also seeing who ends up with each other as well, because there is still a love element.
But the main change was not having to go in [to the villa] on such a serious vibe every time because I’m usually there to send them home. I always want to talk to them normally and be like, let’s have a laugh, but most of the time when I go into Love Island, someone’s going home and there’s this really serious undertone. So [on Love Island Games] it was nice to actually have a laugh with them and cheer them on and also just see them get physical — some more physical than I thought. The challenges were tough. I’m hoping that it will translate how serious the competition actually got. Some people were in tears, people were breaking up friendships and all of this kind of stuff.
That’s true that when cast members see you enter the villa, they associate that with a negative connotation because you’re probably there to send someone home. How does it feel to know that’s the role you’re playing on the show?
There are some days when I know it’s going be really sad if someone special goes or whatever. I’m always like, “I hope you guys are alright,” and I do little notes that won’t get included on camera. We have our moments, mostly because I know that when they get dumped from the island they’re going to come back to the UK and do the live show, which I host, and then that’s usually when I get to actually speak to them properly and be like, “I hope you’re alright and I really wanted to speak to you about this but I wasn’t allowed.” That’s usually when we get our bonding time, me and the Islanders. On the first day when I go in, it is a bit more lighthearted. That’s when I’ll have little chats with them. The people above like to keep it quite separate, like don’t break the drama by having too many little conversations in between, but I definitely add little bits that you weren’t seeing. We have a rapport that won’t always get shown.
Love Island doesn’t seem to break the fourth wall as often as other reality shows. For viewers who are already Love Island fans and are excited to watch this new iteration, what do you think will surprise or interest them?
Me, as a fan, I would mostly be excited just to see who ends up coupling up with who and what romance sparks between these Islanders because they’re such a wild bunch and they’re such big characters. They’ve all grown up from the time that they were on their separate series and have learned from their previous experiences and stuff. Some have come in [to Love Island Games] and are like, “I want to do everything the opposite of how I did in my series and I’ve learned this time” and coupled up straight away. Others were like, “I actually want to play the field.” Just seeing their growth and seeing how that plays out and who they are now is so entertaining. Also the challenges, I think, and the arguments that come from the challenges because they’re all competitive. There’s no public vote so it’s literally just down to how they do in the competitions so they take it seriously.
What’s something that happens behind the scenes and people don’t see that you wish made it to camera?
You know, on Big Brother they have a livestream that goes on 24 hours. I think that could be great. I just think for the super Love Island fans, that would be funny to watch them for 24 hours. The producers watch all of it but I don’t know how they’d get around that logistically if they aired it all.
Love Island has become such a major obsession and part of pop culture. Why do you think so many fans gravitate toward the show?
I think it’s just what we do as humans. We watch couples. I will sit at a restaurant with my friends and look at couples and be like, “How’d you reckon they met? Or what do you think their situation is?” And we just like to speculate and gossip about relationships and love as it is, and having a show where you get to watch different characters fall in or out of love or be betrayed and go through these situations that maybe we’ve experienced a little bit in our lives that we get to sit and watch every day, I think naturally it’s just addictive. You just want to have your opinion on it, you want to root for certain couples, and it just gets you involved. I think I love Love Island for that reason. You can choose your favorites and watch their journeys in real time when they come out [of the villa] and see how long they last, if they get married and have kids. It’s just being a fly on the wall into people’s intimate moments, which is fun.
I went to New York a couple of months ago and the immigration lady didn’t even ask me any questions. She was just like, “Let’s talk about who’s going home and who’s coupling up with who.”
What do you like about being a part of the show?
The Islanders are usually pretty much my age so I feel like we’re siblings most of the time. Sometimes I act like the older sister, or most of the time I take on the older sister role even if I’m the youngest. And I also just like the drama. I like the love [between couples]. I like having an opinion on what you think someone should do in a situation even if you do the absolute opposite. Really it comes down to how I like the drama and I like the romance.
How is hosting shows in the Love Island franchise different for you compared to other jobs you’ve worked on in entertainment?
It’s been wild. Even though I’ve done many other TV shows before, this is definitely the one with the biggest audience and it’s been a surprise of how worldwide it’s been as well. I went to New York a couple of months ago and the immigration lady didn’t even ask me any questions. She was just like, “Let’s talk about who’s going home and who’s coupling up with who.” It was a surprise to me because I didn’t realize how many Love Islands there were around the world. I didn’t even know there was a Swedish-based one. Understanding how massive it is has been incredible as well as all of the opportunities that have come from it. I just think it’s been a good platform for me and also something that I feel like makes loads of sense.
Since the show does have a global reach and worldwide impact, that means there are a lot of viewers and fans paying attention to you and your personal life outside of the show. How do you grapple with being a public figure on that level and with people taking such a significant interest in your personal life?
I don’t know. I think it’s kind of just up to you how much you share, always. There’s more interest [in my life] than there was before. I was way more open when I was younger when I did my first interviews and just spilled my whole life story. Then you’re like, “Oh no, headlines are going to say this, and maybe I need to not tell them about this bit of info because they’re going to dig into this.” I think it’s just trial and error, really, and just growing up. I’ve been lucky, you can say, because it hasn’t been a throw-yourself-into-the-media [situation]. It’s been slow steps toward getting to this point. I’m probably a bit more trained in it, maybe, and now I’m aware of what I want to share and how much I want to share. But yeah, it’s difficult. I think if you’re an open person in real life, then being in a position where people want to know your personal life but you can’t really share all of it all the time is tough because you have to self-mute that. Nobody’s got it completely figured out. You just kind of go with it and share what you like to share and try and keep as much private as you can. But if that comes out, fuck it. I’m doing my best. I always say when I’m older or when I’ve had all my kids and I’m chillin’ out, then I’ll share everything. But who knows.
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