One of the major reasons Laura Whitmore was slammed last series was due to her very low airtime. Up until the fourth week of the show, Laura Whitmore had only appeared on screen for 14 mins. That meant Laura got paid some £744 a second for hosting the show.
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On the other hand, Maya has been featured for 19 minutes and 55 seconds in just the first week of the show. According to The Sun, show bosses are giving her 50 per cent more airtime than former host Laura Whitmore.
The host’s airtime has always been an issue for the viewers as they love seeing glamorous stars. Love Island’s voiceover artist Iain Stirling also joked about Maya’s increased airtime. Ian – who is Laura Whitmore’s husband – joked about the airtime during Maya’s second appearance. He said:
She could’ve just sent a text, but we wanted to get our money’s worth out of that return flight to Cape Town.
Here’s why there’s more airtime
Love Island bosses have already given Maya some 6.9 per cent of the show’s total airtime. Comparatively, Laura had only gotten 4.6 per cent of airtime by this time. A TV source claimed:
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.
Maya has promised to travel to the villa as often as possible, however, she’ll always be in London on Sundays to host the spin-off show Aftersun.
Source Used
The Sun: Maya Jama winning battle of Love Island presenters with 50 per cent more airtime than Laura Whitmore already
