Maya Jama: who is the Love Island presenter and who is she dating?

Love Island 2023 is just around the corner, with 10 new islanders set to head to the Spanish island of Mallorca for a dose of summer sun and romance.

For series 10, the hit ITV reality show welcomes back Maya Jama, who took over from Laura Whitmore following the Irish presenter’s surprise departure in August 2022. Jama beccame the third presenter to have hosted the programme since it launched in 2015 with the late Caroline Flack at the helm.

So, who is Maya Jama - and what other TV shows is she famous for? Here’s everything you need to know.

Who is Maya Jama?

Maya Jama, 28, is a radio DJ and TV presenter who originally comes from Bristol. She started her career at several small TV channels and media organisations, before getting her first major break on ITV in 2017 when she co-presented Saturday night game show Cannonball.

In 2018, she joined BBC Radio 1 and hosted her own show on Fridays and Saturdays until 2020. The BBC then made her a co-presenter of Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer - a show that was originally meant to accompany Euro 2020 but became a standalone show when the football tournament was delayed for a year due to the Covid pandemic.

Jama recently fronted BBC reality show Glow Up: Britain’s Next Make-Up Star and regularly appears on panel shows and on BBC coverage of major public celebrations.

How did Maya Jama become Love Island presenter?

Love Island had been presented by Laura Whitmore since 2020. She took over from former host Caroline Flack, who died in February 2020.

But in August 2022, just weeks after the end of the summer 2022 series of Love Island, Whitmore announced she would be stepping down. In a statement, she said she was leaving because of “certain elements of the show I’ve found very difficult that cannot be changed some due to the format”.

She also cited travelling to and from South Africa and clashes with other projects as reasons why she would no longer front the hit ITV show.

After months of speculation, it was announced in October 2022 that Maya Jama would become the new Love Island host. Paul Mortimer, ITV's director of reality programming, said she would be a “great addition to the Love Island family” and that he was “very pleased” to welcome her to the show.

Who is Maya Jama dating?

Maya Jama’s love life has been the focus of tabloid attention for several years as a result of a high-profile relationship with the rapper Stormzy. The couple were together between 2015 and 2019.

In an interview with The Times, she said of their relationship: ''We were so young when we met, just beginning our careers. I was starting at MTV. He’d not even released a single at that point. We were just little babies.”

She added: “I don’t think either of us knew it was going to be such a big thing. We were just: we’re young and in love and we’re going to go for it and work really hard. We’re just together. We never really did red carpets. We didn’t do any of that stuff.”

There had been rumours earlier in the year that the couple had rekindled their romance, but Jama insisted that she is “really, really single right now”. One of her representatives also told the Daily Mail that she “remains great friends” with Stormzy.

It comes after the TV host had a relationship with Australian basketball star Ben Simmons, 26. Simmons is a member of NBA team the Brooklyn Nets.

After getting engaged on Christmas Day in 2021, it was confirmed the pair had split in September 2022 as a result of their busy schedules and the distance between their homes - Jama being based in London. Sources described the split as amicable but “heart-breaking” for the pair.

Jama was also romantically linked with Hollywood star Leonardo Di Caprio after the pair were reportedly spotted together in London and New York in March 2023. However, the following month, Jama shut down the rumours, saying: "I’ve been minding my business on holiday and said I wouldn’t respond pay attention to any of the silly stories anymore but you need to stop now”.