Love Island winner Ekin-Su has revealed that she was asked to be the new host of Love Island, but turned down the gig.
The mega-popular reality star dropped the bombshell during an interview with PopSugar. “I did get offered,” she told the publication. “I would’ve loved to do it, but I can’t at the minute because of how busy I am.
“And I said I’m not ready for it… I want proper training. I’ve done presenting before, but not to the level of Laura [Whitmore],” she added.
Whitmore started hosting the popular dating reality show in 2019, after former host Caroline Flack stood down amid allegations of assault towards her boyfriend, Lewis Burton. Flack sadly committed suicide in 2020 and Whitmore continued as the host of Love Island.
However, she announced her resignation from the series in August via an Instagram post.
“Some news! 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,” she wrote.
Whitmore’s official replacement was announced as Maya Jama, who is a popular British host that has worked on MTV and The Circle.
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Ekin-Su told PopSugar that she believes Maya be great as a host of Love Island. “She’s funny, intelligent, smart, beautiful. ITV have made a good choice with picking her, I think,” she said.
Ekin-Su entered the Love Island villa on day three as a bombshell. Her quick wit, love for drama and tumultuous relationship with now-boyfriend Davide earnt her legions of fans and made her one of the most popular Islanders to ever come out of the show.
For more on this topic, follow the Reality TV Observer.
