HomeCelebListsMaya Jama vs Laura Whitmore: Height, Weight, and Body Stats Compared

Maya Jama vs Laura Whitmore: Height, Weight, and Body Stats Compared

Maya Jama vs Laura Whitmore: How Do They Compare?

Two presenters, one villa. Laura Whitmore took over Love Island in January 2020 and fronted three series before walking away in August 2022. Six months later, Maya Jama strolled down those steps in a neon green cut-out dress and the internet lost it. Ever since, UK viewers have been running the comparison — who’s taller, who’s got the better villa wardrobe, who looks more at home on a red carpet.

They’re different presenters from different eras. Whitmore came up through MTV News and built a reputation as a sharp, slightly chaotic live host. Jama came from Rinse FM and YouTube, then turned into a fashion-magazine fixture. Here’s how the two stack up on the numbers.

Image: Molloy2026 / CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Side-by-Side Stats

Stat	Maya Jama	Laura Whitmore
Height	5 ft 9 in (175 cm)	5 ft 7 in (170 cm)
Weight	Approx. 134 lbs (61 kg)	Approx. 130 lbs (59 kg)
Age	31	40
Date of Birth	August 14, 1994	May 4, 1985
Build	Curvy, hourglass	Slim, athletic
Eye Color	Dark brown	Blue
Hair Color	Dark brown/black	Blonde (naturally lighter brown)
Net Worth	Estimated $5 million	Estimated $4 million

Height Comparison

Jama has the edge here — about two inches of it. At 5 ft 9 in she’s well above the UK female average of around 5 ft 4 in, and she’s one of the taller presenters on British TV full stop. Whitmore at 5 ft 7 in is also above average, just not by as much.

Standing side by side in flats, you’d clock the gap immediately. Jama’s frame is longer through the legs, which is a big part of why the villa gowns photograph the way they do. Put both in heels and the difference holds — Jama regularly clears six foot in anything with a platform, which is why she often towers over the islanders at the recoupling fire pit.

Whitmore’s proportions are more compact and she carries herself with a dancer’s posture, partly a leftover from her 2016 run on Strictly Come Dancing with Giovanni Pernice. She also tends to favour chunky boots and lower heels, so on screen the height difference between the two reads as bigger than two inches.

Image: JaceMerlyn / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Career Comparison

Whitmore got her break in 2008 by winning MTV’s Pick Me, MTV competition, beating thousands of applicants to become an MTV News presenter. From there she built a steady ITV2 career: I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! NOW! from 2011 to 2015, Survival of the Fittest in 2018, then Love Island and Aftersun from the winter 2020 series onwards. She’s also done stage work, presented a BBC Radio 5 Live show, made the ITV documentary strand Laura Whitmore Investigates, and published the book No One Can Change Your Life Except For You in 2020. She married Love Island narrator Iain Stirling in 2020 and they had a daughter in 2021.

Jama’s route was different. Bristol-born to a Somali father and Swedish mother, she moved to London at 16 and started out making YouTube content before landing presenting gigs with Copa90 and MTV. She hosted a BBC Radio 1 show from 2018 to 2020, fronted the first two series of Glow Up: Britain’s Next Make-Up Star, co-hosted Channel 4’s The Circle, presented Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer, and judged ITV’s Walk the Line in 2021. She took the Love Island job for series 9 in January 2023 and has since fronted All Stars and Love Island Games. She hosted the MTV EMAs in 2023 and launched her swimwear label MIJ.

Fitness and Body Approach

Neither of them is a gym-obsessive, and both have been pretty open about it.

Jama has said repeatedly that she’s not naturally drawn to the gym and has to force herself in. When she does train, she leans toward boxing-style sessions and Pilates rather than heavy lifting, and she’s talked about not wanting to shrink her curves — she’s been vocal about embracing an hourglass shape at a time when the industry wasn’t always rewarding it. Her approach is less about a strict plan and more about staying active in bursts. She’s also been honest about enjoying food and not counting calories.

Whitmore’s background is more endurance-flavoured. Strictly training in 2016 meant seven or eight hours of choreography a day for weeks, which she’s described as the hardest physical stretch of her life. Outside of that she’s a runner and a yoga regular, and she’s spoken candidly about using exercise for mental health rather than aesthetics. Post-pregnancy in 2021 she pushed back hard on “snapback” culture, which fits her general stance: train because it feels good, not because of a deadline.

Key Differences

Height: Jama is two inches taller at 5 ft 9 in vs Whitmore’s 5 ft 7 in.
Age gap: Nine years — Whitmore was born in 1985, Jama in 1994.
Build: Jama is curvier with an hourglass frame; Whitmore is leaner and more athletic.
Colouring: Dark brown eyes and dark hair for Jama; blue eyes and blonde hair for Whitmore.
Training style: Jama goes for boxing and Pilates in short bursts; Whitmore runs and does yoga consistently.
Background: Whitmore is Irish, from Bray in County Wicklow; Jama is from Bristol with Somali and Swedish heritage.
Career entry: Whitmore won a national MTV presenting competition; Jama built an audience online first.
Villa tenure: Whitmore hosted three series (2020–2022); Jama took over from series 9 in 2023.