Laura Whitmore has spilled all on Love Island’s latest series as it prepares to return.
The brand new season of Love Island launches on Monday, 28 June after more than a year off-air due to the pandemic.
Laura took over hosting duties for the show’s first winter series back in January 2020 and this will be her first summer in Mallorca.
Ahead of the opening episode, Laura says: “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 Mallorca so I’ll probably be there a little bit fangirling at the Villa. It’s almost like a person to me. So I need to remember that I’m there doing a job, not just a 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.”
She continues: “I’ve never worked a summer Love Island, so I’d normally be watching it on the telly. I really missed watching it. I couldn’t watch the news anymore. 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.”
And Laura says she loves being behind the scenes on the show.
“It’s like going on set of a movie and seeing how it works,” the presenter explains. “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, I was like, oh this is a really fun house to be staying in. Pretty fangirl to be able to see behind the scenes. Not many people get to do that.”
Looking ahead to the first episode, Laura is looking forward to meeting the Islanders in person for the first time at the same time viewers do.
She says: “I meet all the Islanders the way everyone else meets all the Islanders. 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. 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 favouriteby 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.”
Meanwhile Laura confessed she can find it hard not to get involved in the dumpings.
Laura recalled: “I found it really hard after Casa Amor. Last year when I knew Callumwas coming back with Molly and I had to walk in there, and I saw Shaughna… I knew he’s walking in with another girl.
“All I wanted to say was run… but obviously I can’t do that. Even my eyes… I couldn’t look her in the eye. But 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.”
Love Island starts at 9PM Monday 28th June on ITV2 and ITV Hub. Episodes are available the following morning on BritBox
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