Maya Jama winning battle of Love Island presenters with 50 per cent more airtime than Laura Whitmore already
MAYA Jama is winning the battle of Love Island presenters — with bosses already giving her around 50 per cent more airtime than former host Laura Whitmore.
After four episodes, Maya featured for 19 minutes and 55 seconds of the hit ITV dating show.
At the same point in the last series, Laura had clocked up just 13 minutes and 26 seconds.
The debate over the host’s time on set has raged since the late Caroline Flack first began presenting Love Island in 2015, as fans have always been keen to see the glamorous stars.
And it is a topic even voiceover act Iain Stirling — Laura’s husband — mocked this series.
When Maya, 28, returned to the villa to make a second appearance in episode one on Monday, Iain, 34, joked: “She could’ve just sent a text, but we wanted to get our money’s worth out of that return flight to Cape Town.”
Show bosses have handed Maya some 6.9 per cent of the total airtime so far.
By the same point in series eight, long-running host Laura, 37, had some 4.6 per cent.
Maya has said she intends to visit the new South Africa villa as often as possible, but will be in London each Sunday to present spin-off show Aftersun.
Show time
MAYA: 19 minutes screen time in four shows
LAURA: 13 minutes screen time in four shows
A TV source said: “For whatever reason, viewers always note how often Love Island’s host appears and for how long.
“Laura really came under scrutiny because during the first four weeks of series eight last year, she only featured for that 13 minutes.
“Of course it remains to be seen how often producers will call on Maya, but so far viewers seem thrilled by the extra airtime for the host.”
The hours were a struggle for new mum Laura, who cited the travel as part of the reason she quit after three series.