Love Island's Maya Jama is a fan-favourite host, but here's who presented the show before her

Love Island has brought together many a couple over the years. The ITV reality series that focuses on finding true love owes a ton of its success to its presenters. Over the years, Love Island, be it winter or otherwise, has seen some great women who host the show and help love find its course. From Laura Whitmore to Caroline Flack, to a former Love Island star Maya Jama, the fans of the series have seen some varied formats of hosting. While some hosts have done well for themselves, some stories went south and ended tragically.

With yet another new season that has started, it is clear to the fans that the presenter does just so much more than hosting. They weave a story of love every season, as a friend, presenter, and host, to share success stories that have resulted in marriages. Here is the list of ITV Love Island hosts over the years, who have gone on to become a star themselves and have created a niche in the field of hosting.

Caroline Flack

Caroline Flack was announced to be the next big thing when she was confirmed as the host of the first ever season of Love Island back in 2015. She is one of the reasons Love Island formed a huge fan following at the time, be it on Instagram or otherwise. She helped form the image of the show to its viewers as one where true love finds its way. It was also announced that she was nominated as the best television presenter at the National Television Awards four times. But unfortunately, things soon went south for Caroline Flack as left the show in 2019 and ended up taking her own life in 2020.

Viewers were shocked at this news, and little did they know about her struggle. It is said that she was charged with assault for a tiff with her then-boyfriend, which did not end well. Fans did not see this assault charge coming as this was a first time incident.

Laura Whitmore

Laura Whitmore took the place of Caroline Flack for the role of the host of Love Island. The presenter was well-loved by the ITV series fans as she hosted the first-ever Winter Love Island, which was the 6thseries of the show. Being a regular face on MTV at the time, she made news when she got the job of presenting Love Island. Whitmore laid the foundation for the new and improved Love Island, as her presenting skills for the show have received critical acclamation. Laura Whitmore is married to the presenter of the series Iain Sterling. Iain and Laura share a child together and are said to be going strong as a couple.

After year 3 as the Love Island host, Laura Whitmore stepped down from her role as host and gave way for Maya Jama to take charge. Whitmore said that she found 'certain elements of the show' difficult, and that it was hard to coordinate Love Island with other projects. She said, at the time:

I won’t be hosting the next series of Love island. There are certain elements of the show I’ve found very difficult that cannot be changed some due to the format, including the flying back and forth to South Africa along with my new conflicting projects.

I wish it was still possible but know you’ll be in safe hands. I was only planning to fill in for Caroline for a series and it turned into 3 series. I hope I did you proud Caroline

Read more: This is why Laura Whitmore quit Love Island

Maya Jama

Maya Jama's popularity and fan following on Instagram and in real life are massive, and it became a big deal when it was decided that she would be presenting the season of the popular ITV hit show.

She started her Love Island journey in 2023 hosting the second Winter series and is currently hosting series 10 of Love Islandand killing it! She has quickly earned her spot as a fan-favourite.

She has a good understanding, know-how, and image of what it is like to be a contestant on the show and a friend to the islanders, from the inside. Her story is said to be nothing short of successful, as she made everyone around her proud.

Read more: Maya Jama's salary for Love Island: Does she really earn £600K as a host?

Sources used:

Edinburgh News: 'Love Island 2023: Maya Jama becomes third host - who were the previous hosts Caroline Flack & Laura Whitmore?'