Maya Jama’s new era sees her swap the
Love Island villa for The Traitors’ castle
Maya Jama is feeling rough, but there’s no time to slow down. ‘I’m actually really sick,’ she says as she sits down post-shoot, a mug of Lemsip clasped between her hands. A bout of tonsillitis has turned her already husky voice even more sultry, but the fact she didn’t cancel this cover shoot in favour of staying in bed feels emblematic of the woman who has become one of British television’s most recognisable faces. The 31-year-old is gorgeous, glossy and glamorous on the surface, but there’s a deep-rooted grit underneath it all that has propelled her from Bristol’s suburbs to the height of British entertainment.
That’s maybe why, when we start talking about beauty – she is a Rimmel London ambassador and has her own skincare line, MIJ – she doesn’t immediately get into the technicalities of looking good and instead talks about how much more comfortable she feels within herself now she’s hit her thirties. ‘I think when you get a bit older you sort of just accept everything you used to complain about,’ she says. ‘You’re like, “This is me, this is my face. I’ve had it for long enough, I’m used to it.”’
Today, she’s known for her clear, glowing skin and a pared-back approach to make-up, but her relationship with beauty used to be far more experimental. Growing up, she idolised Naomi Campbell, ‘and I loved Iman, because she’s Somali as well. I always thought we had similar cheekbones so I’d look at what she was doing with her skin and her blush and think, “Yeah, I can look like that.”’ She didn’t quite hit the nail on the head when it came to emulating the supermodel, however. ‘I used to do the biggest eyeliner. It would cover my whole eyelid, which made me look like I had the tiniest eyes. And I’d do these really heavy, thick eyebrows when mine are actually quite small, and strip lashes that were way too long. They dragged my eyes down and changed my whole face. I was very about chasing and trying to fit in with trends.’
Cut to 2026 and Jama has stripped away all the excess and realised that her winning formula is pretty much just being comfortable in her own skin. But, she admits, she likely wouldn’t be considered an angel by her aesthetician. ‘I’m actually quite a tramp when it comes to taking my make-up off,’ she laughs with zero shame. ‘If I’ve gone out-out, 85% of the time I’ll wake up with half my face on the pillow. It’s a little wet flannel stroke at best.’
PHOTOGRAPHS THERESA MARX
STYLING GEORGIA MEDLEY
WORDS EMMA DAVIDSON
Published on 3rd August 2026
Hair: PATRICK WILSON AT THE WALL GROUP
Make-up: HILA KARMAND AT ARCH THE AGENCY
Nails: Emma Welsh at SB Collective
Shoot Producer: Anna Dewhurst
Photographer’s Assistants: TOM PORTER, JODY EVANS
Fashion Assistants: AMBER BACKHOUSE
Editor-in-chief: HATTIE BRETT
creative director: carolyn roberts
Deputy editor: hanna woodsidE
Style Director: Molly HayloR
That straight-up, untamed honesty is precisely why audiences have embraced her as the host of Love Island, which she’s been presenting since 2023; you get the impression that, on a night out, she’d be the one in the bathroom telling you how fab you look, doling out pep talks to the recently dumped. Part of Jama’s magic as host is balancing the producers’ directions with genuine warmth, and she’s actively encouraged to go off-piste. ‘They encourage me to use my own words and just say what I want now.’ While viewers analyse her every facial expression to try to figure out her true feelings for the Islanders, she’s conscious of what a mad situation they’re all placed in.
‘Off camera, I’m always very kind to them,’ especially given, as much as she loves guiding them through their villa experience, there’s not a chance in hell she’d ever want to be sitting on the other side of the fire pit. ‘I think what I’d find hard is not being able to have a lie-in, and I’d want four glasses of wine instead of one,’ she laughs. ‘And what about when you’re too hot and you’ve got to flirt and kiss? “It’s boiling, can we not do that right now? I’m sweating!” The girls always look amazing, but I’d definitely be at the fire pit in a T-shirt and shorts with my hair in a bun on top of my head.’
Not that she’s not used to scrutiny. Being the face of the nation’s biggest guilty pleasure comes with relentless speculation from the media, including the perpetual rumours that she’s hanging up her hosting duties. ‘Every year the press says I’m leaving,’ she says. ‘But it’s fake news – they’re always just clutching at straws.’
If she were to part ways with the show any time soon, she’s got plenty to keep her busy: stepping out of her comfort zone is a big objective for her thirties. First up, a pivot into acting. Her debut role comes in season two of Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen, a Netflix gangster romp with Theo James, Ray Winstone and Joely Richardson. Undertaking it was thrilling and terrifying in equal measure. ‘When I got on set, I was super-shy and starstruck, like, “What the fuck? These people are massive,”’ she recalls.
CONSISTENCY SEPARATES THOSE WHO MAKE IT FROM THOSE WHO DON’T
MAYA JAMA
Dress, price on request, Jil Sander
Top, £261, Extreme Cashmere; skirt, price on request, Stella McCartney; earrings, £171, Misho
Left: Top, £420, skirt, £395 both Sportmax; earrings, £3,000, ear cuff, £4,220, and ring, £9,440 all Tasaki
Right: Skirt (worn as dress), £850, George Trochopoulos
Read more in the latest issue of Grazia magazine
The drive to navigate tough environments stems from her upbringing. She was raised in Bristol before moving to London at 16 with zero industry connections and very little cash in her account. She knows how inaccessible creative careers can feel, which is why she launched her MIJ mentorship initiative to help women from similar working-class backgrounds get their foot in the door.
‘When I was younger, having these dreams and passions but not having any beginning point was so overwhelming,’ she reflects. ‘Now that I’m in this position I wanted to offer some guidance, because it can be so wild and confusing.’
Thinking back to her years hustling in the industry, her advice is simple: keep going. ‘All the things I didn’t get led to things that were way more suited to me. Everyone I know who is in a great position had a million nos before the yeses. Consistency is what separates the people who make it from those who don’t.’
For Jama, the hustle finally pauses – for a few months. With the Love Island finale behind her, she’s taking a well-earned summer off to visit family in Sweden and celebrate her birthday in Ibiza. After that? It’s straight back to business and the release of The Gentlemen, The Celebrity Traitors and, if there’s any justice in the world, a future starring role as the Grinch. On anyone else, it might feel like saturation point. But with Jama, we just can’t get enough.
M A Y A
Working with Ritchie was also a baptism of fire. ‘Everyone says he has a different way of doing things – he’ll change lines at the last minute, for example, which he did with me,’ Jama says. ‘I did this internal scream at the time, but it made everything flow so much better.’
Don’t expect her to play it safe when it comes to future roles. Jama isn’t interested in playing the predictable love interest. ‘I really want to steer clear from the typical roles people would think I’d play because of Love Island.’ Her dream role? ‘The Grinch! I’d love to be the first woman Grinch. I want to be that weird character. It would be so fun for me.’
While she wouldn’t survive the Love Island villa, Jama did agree to put herself under the reality TV microscope for the second series of The Celebrity Traitors, which airs this autumn, alongside the likes of Jerry Hall, Richard E Grant and James Blunt. Stepping into an environment where she had zero control of the edit was a daunting proposition. ‘And no glam!’ she laughs, feigning horror at the idea. ‘I had to do my own hair and make-up. I didn’t wash my hair for – well, I can’t tell you how long or I’ll be in trouble. But yeah, just keeping my blow-dry going with dry shampoo and a bonnet.’
Appearing on the show also raised the question: who am I on camera when I’m not hosting? ‘In Traitors you don’t have your outside life, so you’re completely consumed by it. I’m quite an unserious person, so trying to remain serious in that intense situation was hard.’ Stripping the teleprompter away forced her to lean entirely on her instincts. ‘The only thing you can do in that environment is be yourself and hope it reads well,’ she says, adding that her poker face is ‘not great’, although whether she’s trying to throw me off the scent of her being a Traitor over a Faithful remains to be seen.
Top, £3,295, and skirt, £5,550, both Tod’s
‘I’D BE AT THE FIRE PIT IN T-SHIRT AND SHORTS WITH MY HAIR IN A BUN’
While she wouldn’t survive the Love Island villa, Jama did agree to put herself under the reality TV microscope for the second series of The Celebrity Traitors, which airs this autumn, alongside the likes of Jerry Hall, Richard E Grant and James Blunt. Stepping into an environment where she had zero control of the edit was a daunting proposition. ‘And no glam!’ she laughs, feigning horror at the idea. ‘I had to do my own hair and make-up. I didn’t wash my hair for – well, I can’t tell you how long or I’ll be in trouble. But yeah, just keeping my blow-dry going with dry shampoo and a bonnet.’
Appearing on the show also raised the question: who am I on camera when I’m not hosting? ‘In Traitors you don’t have your outside life, so you’re completely consumed by it. I’m quite an unserious person, so trying to remain serious in that intense situation was hard.’ Stripping the teleprompter away forced her to lean entirely on her instincts. ‘The only thing you can do in that environment is be yourself and hope it reads well,’ she says, adding that her poker face is ‘not great’, although whether she’s trying to throw me off the scent of her being a Traitor over a Faithful remains to be seen.