Maya Jama has announced she is leaving her role as presenter of Love Island after three years in the job, according to the BBC. The 32-year-old revealed the decision in an Instagram post on Sunday, sharing a montage of moments from her time on the show. She wrote that the moment had come for her to move on to a new challenge.
Jama said she had spent an "unforgettable time" fronting the programme and thanked both its audience and the people who make it. She described starting the job at 28 and said she had met "the most wonderful humans" across the nine series she presented. She also said she had enjoyed every part of the role, from the slow-motion walks to the fire pit and the live shows.
In the same post, she explained her reasoning: she has always held the view that real growth requires taking a leap from time to time. She added that although her own run with the show is over, she will be supporting it from a distance and hopes it and its team continue to do well.
Why it matters
Love Island is one of ITV's most prominent reality formats, and its host is one of the most visible presenting jobs in British television. Jama took over in 2023 from Laura Whitmore, and the BBC notes it was the biggest presenting role of her career to that point. Her exit therefore leaves a high-profile vacancy at the centre of a show that depends heavily on its host's public profile.
The timing also draws attention. Her announcement came shortly after she appeared as a contestant on Celebrity Traitors, a run that drew praise and prompted press speculation about her earning power. According to the BBC, the Times suggested she could command as much as £1m per deal on the back of that success. That figure is the newspaper's speculation rather than a confirmed arrangement, but it indicates how her standing has shifted.
ITV responded to the news with a statement praising her tenure. A spokesperson called her a fantastic and much-loved host and said the broadcaster thanks her for what she brought to the programme over three years, while wishing her continued success, the BBC reports.
From radio to one of TV's biggest stages
Jama's career path has been steady rather than sudden. She built an early following through stations including Rinse FM before joining BBC Radio 1 as a presenter in 2018. Television work followed, including Channel 4's Stand Up To Cancer and ITV2's Don't Hate the Playaz. In 2021 she became host of BBC Three's Glow Up: Britain's Next Make-Up Star, and two years later she landed the Love Island job.
The format she leaves behind pairs contestants into couples who then take on a series of tasks while occasionally swapping partners, with the hope of finding a lasting relationship. It is a show built on recurring rituals, and Jama's farewell note name-checked several of them, suggesting she saw the role as more than a links-and-links job.
Her recent turn on Celebrity Traitors placed her in a different light. She competed in the final as a traitor alongside actor Richard E Grant, YouTuber King Kenny and comedian James Acaster. She did not win, but one commentator quoted by the BBC argued she came away with something more useful: a chance to be seen as a versatile television figure rather than simply the face of a dating show.
What to watch
No replacement has been announced, and neither Jama nor ITV has indicated what her next project will be. The immediate question is who takes over a format that has now changed hosts twice in four years, and whether Jama's post-Traitors momentum turns into the kind of deals the Times speculated about.
