{"id":28307,"date":"2023-01-08T14:14:20","date_gmt":"2023-01-08T13:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1765343"},"modified":"2023-01-08T21:41:00","modified_gmt":"2023-01-08T20:41:00","slug":"love-island-host-maya-jama-says-age-may-have-stopped-her-landing-job-sooner","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/love-island-host-maya-jama-says-age-may-have-stopped-her-landing-job-sooner\/","title":{"rendered":"Love Island host Maya Jama says age may have stopped her landing job sooner"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By David Craig\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Sunday, 08 January 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

Love Island presenter Maya Jama<\/a> has speculated that age may have been a factor in her losing out on the high-profile gig in previous years.<\/p>\n

The television host and DJ, who has previously fronted Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer and Glow Up: Britain\u2019s Next Make-Up Star<\/a>, was announced to be taking over from Laura Whitmore on the ITV2 reality series in October.<\/p>\n

Whitmore had presented the show since the late Caroline Flack stepped down in 2020, although at the time, Jama was a name that had been suggested for the job by fans.<\/p>\n

In an interview with The Times<\/a>, Jama said that her age may have blocked the opportunity until now, suggesting that producers felt she had been \u201ctoo young\u201d to take on such a major gig.<\/p>

\u201cOnce you start doing TV, you meet a lot of producers through different shows, and the heads will be aware of talent,\u201d she began. \u201cThat\u2019s weird to call yourself talent, isn\u2019t it? I talk for a living. It\u2019s not exactly tap dancing everywhere or performing a ballad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jama continued: \u201cSo I think I\u2019ve always been in their eye line, but I was super young when the presenter shifts were happening in the past. They knew about me but I was always a bit too young, and obviously, there were previous hosts anyway.\u201d<\/p>