Laura Whitmore has opened up about her exit from Love Island, claiming there was “nothing more” she could do with her hosting role.
The presenter announced she was leaving the ITV2 reality show last month after three series at the helm.
At the time, she said she found “certain elements of the show… very difficult”, including the travelling required.
In a new interview with ES Magazine, Laura has now further explained why she decided to quit, following the announcement she is to make her West End debut in play 2.22: A Ghost Story.
She said: “Love Island is a show that I love to watch, and I always want to work on shows that I enjoy. But there’s nothing more that I can do with it. There are parameters.
“When you work on the show, you can’t really talk about certain things. But I’m really proud of what I did, and proud to leave on what I think has been a brilliant series, with great winners.”
Laura said she was a “huge fan” of 2022 champions Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu and Davide Sanclimenti, adding: “I know Love Island. People love a journey. No-one wants a happy relationship, because life isn’t a happy relationship. We want to see the ups and downs.”
Laura took over as the host of Love Island for the show’s first winter season in 2020, after her predecessor Caroline Flack stood down amid her legal issues at that time.
She paid tribute to the late star when announcing her departure, saying: “I was only planning to fill in for Caroline for a series and it turned into three series. I hope I did you proud Caroline.”
Maya Jama, AJ Odudu and former Islander Maura Higgins have all been linked to the role since Laura stepped down.
ITV recently confirmed that Love Island would be airing two seasons in 2023, the first of which will see the show returning to South Africa for the first time since its initial winter run received a mixed response in 2020.
