Maya Jama

Maya Indea Jama is a British broadcaster and media personality. She rose to prominence as a presenter on MTV and BBC Radio 1. She has presented television shows including The Circle, Glow Up: Britain's Next Make-Up Star (2021–2022), and Love Island (2023–present). Since 2025, Jama has appeared as a panellist on The Masked Singer. She hosted #DriveWithMaya on Rinse FM from 2014 to 2017, and co-presented Radio 1's Greatest Hits and presented her eponymous show, Maya Jama on BBC Radio 1 from 2018 to 2020.

Early life Jama was born and raised in Bristol, where she attended Cotham School. She is of Somali descent on her father's side, while her mother is of Scottish and Swedish descent. Her mother, Sadie Li Hadden, was 19 when she gave birth to Jama, and she named her after the US author and poet Maya Angelou. She also has a brother.

Jama's father was in prison for most of her childhood, for violence-related crimes such as pub brawls and fights. Aged 12, she decided to stop visiting her father in prison and for a decade blocked him from her thoughts. While working on the documentary When Dads Kill in 2017, which dealt with young people's experiences similar to her own childhood, she relented and examined her relationship with her own father, by then released from prison, meeting with him in an attempt to elicit answers directly from him; "nothing he said, and nothing his family told her, gave her any real insights" into why he had ended up in prison.

Career

Television In 2012, Jama moved to London to pursue a media career, first as an actress, then as a TV presenter and fashion model. Acting had been Jama's first ambition, but she realised that becoming a presenter might suit her better. Her early role models included Davina McCall and June Sarpong.

In 2014, she hosted Maya's FIFA World Cup Cities for Copa90, a travelogue covering the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. She also co-hosted the Copa90 nine-part World Cup Taxi series dedicated to the event. In August 2014, Jama joined MTV as a presenter for The Wrap Up.

In February 2017, she worked closely with Brit Awards, hosting their 2017 Pre-Brit Awards Party and hosting a Facebook live stream from the red carpet. In September 2017, she co-presented the Saturday night game show Cannonball on ITV with Andrew Flintoff, Frankie Bridge, Radzi Chinyanganya and Ryan Hand. In September 2017 and February 2018, Jama was a guest panellist on ITV's Loose Women. In November 2017, she became the youngest person (then 23) to co-host the MOBO Awards on Channel 5 with fellow presenter Marvin Humes.

In September 2018, Jama co-presented the first series of The Circle on Channel 4 with Alice Levine. In October 2018, she co-presented Stand Up to Cancer with long-standers Alan Carr and Adam Hills, and became the team captain on ITV2 rap panel show Don't Hate the Playaz presented by Jordan Stephens. In 2019, she appeared on A League of Their Own Road Trip alongside actor and comedian Tom Davis. She appeared on Channel 4's The Big Fat Quiz of the Year in 2019 and 2020.

In early June 2020, she presented the Saturday evening BBC One TV programme Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer. Later that year she co-presented BBC One's New Year's Eve programme The Big New Year's In. In January 2021, the BBC announced that Jama would be the new presenter of Glow Up: Britain's Next Make-Up Star, replacing former presenter Stacey Dooley, who presented the first two series of the programme. In February 2021, Jama appeared as a celebrity guest judge during the second series of RuPaul's Drag Race UK. In September 2021, it was announced that Jama would be the host of Simon Cowell's new music competition gameshow Walk The Line.

In October 2022, it was announced that Jama would take over from Laura Whitmore as the presenter of ITV2 dating reality series Love Island. In August 2023, Jama was announced as host for Love Island Games, a global spin-off show.

Jama is set to appear on the second series of The Celebrity Traitors in autumn 2026.

Radio Between 2014 and 2017, she hosted #DriveWithMaya, a weekday drive time show on Rinse FM.

In January 2018, she joined BBC Radio 1, presenting Radio 1's Greatest Hits on Saturdays and co-presenting every Friday with Scott Mills and Chris Stark. From 2018 to 2020, she presented her own show, Maya Jama on Fridays and Saturdays on BBC Radio 1.

On 15 May 2020, the BBC confirmed in a statement that Jama had left Radio 1 after two years. It said she had made "the difficult decision not to continue her Radio 1 contract" and her final show was already broadcast on 3 May 2020. In an Instagram post, Jama said she had "a lot of exciting commitments" planned for the future, which meant she could not continue with her broadcasting segment at Radio 1. She added: "I would like to thank the team for their hard work and friendship during the last two years."

Year Title Role Slot Station 2014–2017 #DriveWithMaya Presenter 4–7pm Weekdays Rinse FM 2018 Scott Mills Co-presenter 1–4pm Fridays BBC Radio 12018–2020 Radio 1's Greatest Hits Presenter 10–11am Fridays and Saturdays Maya Jama 11am–1pm Fridays and Saturdays

Other work From September 2017, Jama hosted When Life Gives You Melons, a podcast available to streaming platforms in partnership with Freya. The podcast featured Jama interviewing all-female guests about work, life and relationships. Guests included Cherry Healey, Vick Hope, Anna Richardson, Vanessa White, Katie Piper, Gemma Cairney and Laura Whitmore.

That same year, Jama became an ambassador for Savera UK which operates across the United Kingdom to provide services to individuals who have experienced or are at risk of ‘Honour’ Based Abuse (HBA) and Harmful Practices. In June 2019, she donated blood for an NHS campaign and was found to have the rare and in demand Ro blood subtype.

She also launched a successful clothing collection with PrettyLittleThing in June 2018, followed by a second collection in February 2019.

She is an ambassador for Adidas, and appeared in the European JD Sports Christmas campaign, and is also an ambassador for the American hair care brand Aussie. She also appeared in a global GAP campaign and in a Spring/Summer 2019 campaign for Kurt Geiger.

In December 2020, Jama launched her own face and eye masks range, MIJ Masks, with the first release selling out within 24 hours.

In March 2024, Jama hosted the BRIT Awards alongside Roman Kemp and Clara Amfo.

In November 2024, it was announced that she is set to manage one of the 12 teams in the upcoming Baller League UK, a six-a-side football league.

Personal life Jama lives in Alderley Edge, Cheshire. She is a keen football fan and supports Bristol Rovers and West Ham United.

After meeting in October 2014, between January 2015 and August 2019, Jama was in a relationship with British rapper Stormzy; their break-up inspired his December 2019 song "Lessons". In July 2021, it was reported Jama was dating NBA player Ben Simmons. In August 2022, the couple reportedly ended their engagement, having quietly got engaged at the end of 2021. In August 2023, Jama reunited with Stormzy, having been photographed holding hands in Greece and on a date night out in London in October 2023. On 17 July 2024, it was reported the couple had once again separated. Jama and Stormzy announced jointly on Instagram "We tried, and it didn't work, and that's okay." In March 2025, Gary Lineker mentioned in an online video that Jama was dating Portuguese professional footballer, Rúben Dias.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes 2014 Maya's FIFA World Cup Cities Presenter 2015–2017 Trending Live! Regular presenter 2016 The Hot Desk 1 episode 2017–2018 Loose Women Panelist 2017 Cannonball Co-presenter 1 series The Weakest Link Celebrity Special Contestant Raising money for Children in Need MOBO Awards Co-host Awards ceremony 2018 True Love or True Lies Presenter 1 seriesRevolution Co-presenter 1 series The Circle 1 series Stand Up to Cancer Biennial beneficial charity show 2018–present Don't Hate the Playaz Team Captain 3 series 2018–2019 BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards Co-presenter Annually 2019 The Big Narstie Show Guest Season 2, Episode 5 The Jonathan Ross Show Guest Series 15, Episode 6 Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2019 Team Member 26 December 2019 2020 Sport Relief EE BAFTA Presenter Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer Co-host 1 series The Duchess Sandra Acting role 2020–presentSoccer Aid Pundit 2020 MOBO Awards Co-host Awards ceremony Sunday Brunch Guest 1 episode The Jonathan Ross Show Guest Series 16, Episode 10 Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2020 Team member 26 December 2020 The Big New Year's In Co-presenter 31 December 2020 2021 RuPaul's Drag Race UK Guest Judge BBC Three;Series 2, Episode 7: "Lockdown Supersheroes" Celebrity Juice Panellist Series 25 only Big Zuu's Big Eats Guest Spring 2021 2021–2022 Glow Up: Britain's Next Make-Up Star Presenter Series 3 & 4 2021 Redknapp's Big Night Out Guest 22 April 2021 Crouchy's Year-Late Euros: Live Co-presenter June 2021; 10-part series Celebrity Gogglebox Herself Series 3, Episode 9 (Black To Front Special) Foxy's Fearless 48 Hours With... Herself Episode 2 Stand Up To Cancer 2021 Co-presenter 15 October 2021 Walk The Line Presenter 2021–present The Brits Are Coming Co-presenter 2023–present Love Island Presenter Series 9-present 2023 Love Island Games Presenter Global All-Stars Spin Off 2024Love Island: All-Stars Presenter Spin OffThe BRIT Awards Co-host Co-hosted with Roman Kemp and Clara AmfoComic ReliefCo-presenter 2025–present The Masked Singer (UK) Panelist Series 6–present 2026 The Celebrity Traitors ContestantSeries 2

Awards In November 2019, she won the People's Choice Award for best dressed star. Jama later opened and hosted the 2020 EE BAFTA red carpet in a 5G powered AR dress. In April 2024, she was listed in Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe.