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Laura Whitmore must be one of the luckiest people in Britain right now. Not only is she jetting off to an actual foreign location, she’ll be in Majorca to host one of the biggest shows on television.
And she’s doing it all with her new husband – comedian, presenter and Love Island voice-over star Iain Stirling – just months after they welcomed their first child together.
Laura, who admits she’s always been quite “protective over personal things” in her life, got married quietly to Iain last year, and they had their daughter at the end of March.
They live together in London with their pooch Mick and their very own pub, The Snug, nestled in their back garden.
Her life seems pretty much sorted! But the same can’t be said for the contestants on the hugely popular dating show, who are all gloriously single and ready to mingle.
“I think we all need Love Island in our lives this summer,” says Laura, 36, as she returns for her second series, having taken over from her friend, the late Caroline Flack, in 2020.
For months, the rumour mill has been churning about its return – at one point it was said to be filmed in Jersey to work around Covid-19 travel restrictions – and now we’re finally going to meet the gorgeous young men and women wanting to win dates and hearts, and fight each other for the best matches.
Who’ll be totally each other’s type on paper? What twists and turns will come when the lovebirds yell “I’ve got a text!”? And how will the action at Casa Amor affect the fledgling couples?
Self-described “super fan” Laura tells us more about how she chops and changes favourites as the eight-week series runs, how she fights to bite her tongue at the dumpings, and her favourite bit in this summer’s villa…
Hi Laura, how does it feel to be back hosting the new series of Love Island?
I am so excited to be back hosting. It’s been a year where I think we all need a bit more love and fun in our lives and I think everyone is ready for Love Island to be back – myself included. I’m really excited about seeing the villa.
I’ve never seen the villa in Majorca so I’ll probably be there fangirling. It’s almost like a person to me. So I need to remember that I’m there doing a job, not just fangirl.
I haven’t met any of the Islanders yet but I’ve heard from the people behind the scenes that they are an incredible cast. It’s really exciting.
Did you miss it when it was off-air?
I’ve never worked a summer Love Island, so I’d normally be watching it on the TV. I really missed watching it. I couldn’t watch the news any more. I needed something that was a bit more fun – I think everyone’s the same. Having the break from it has made people appreciate it more.
When you watched the previous series did you have WhatsApp groups about it?
I have loads of WhatsApp Love Island groups. I remember series three, I was in a play and we were touring. We had a cast WhatsApp group and it just became about Love Island. Not anything to do with the play. Nothing in there about our job, just about Love Island.
When you hear the music, you think, “What do I need before it starts?” I make sure I’ve got snacks and I’m ready to go. If you’re even 10 minutes behind, you’ll miss something and someone will say it in the WhatsApp group.
I have a few friends who might miss an episode and I’d say something and they’d get really angry with me and I’m like, “It’s your fault for missing it, don’t be blaming me!”
What’s your favourite thing about hosting Love Island?
Purely from a fangirl point of view, getting to see behind the scenes of one of the best shows out there. It’s like going on the set
of a movie and seeing how it works.
I worked on TV shows before where it’s a set and there’s like three walls. In there it’s not. You can’t see the cameras. I always wondered when you see shows like Love Island… how do they forget about the cameras?
But you can understand how they can forget about them because they’re kind of behind the wall or the glass. I walked in there, and I was like, “Oh, this is a real fun house to be staying in.” Pretty cool to be able to see behind the scenes. Not many people
get to do that.
What are you looking forward to most?
I think the first day. I meet all the Islanders the way everyone else meets them. So when they come into the villa and they do the line-up, that’s the first time I’m meeting all of them as well.
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So I’m looking forward to that. It’s so funny because you change your opinion so much. You meet someone and you go, “Oh, they’re my favourite.” And then I’ll have a different favourite by the next week.
The first day, that’s the big day. And I love trying to guess who I think they’ll choose. I never get it right.
What do you think is the secret to the show’s success?
Everybody loves love. The feelings and what they go through is so relatable. Everything from unrequited love to getting pied off…
We see it all in Love Island. I think that’s what really is the draw.
What makes the perfect Islander?
The perfect Islander, for me, is someone funny. Someone who stirs it up a little bit. You want characters and big personalities in there. Someone who just goes for it.
What would your advice be for someone going into the villa?
The only thing I can say is be yourself. Eight weeks is a long time, if you try and play a game or try to be something you’re not, you’re going to get found out quite quickly. From watching the show, I would just say be yourself if you want to be in there for the long run.
Do you find it hard not to get involved in the dumpings?
I find it really hard. I found it really hard after Casa Amor. Last year when I knew Callum [Jones] was coming back with Molly [Smith] and I had to walk in there, and I saw Shaughna [Phillips]…I knew he’s walking in with another girl. All I wanted to say was “run!” but obviously I couldn’t do that.
I couldn’t look her in the eye. I found that really hard, as she ended up picking nobody and I was thinking, “Pick somebody!” But I’m not allowed to say that, obviously.
And finally, this is your first time in the Majorca villa. What is your favourite part of it?
The room where they get ready – the mess they make. I thought I was bad with my friends. I remember going in there and there’s make-up on the floor, they’re messier than I am. But that’s a fun room to get ready in.
And I like it around the pool – wouldn’t we all like that?!
The new series of Love Island kicks off on Monday 28 June.
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