Maya Jama defends 'Love Island' cast - but it's time we saw contestants without make-up, fake tan and muscles

At first glance, the line-up looks to be lots of slightly different versions of the typical ‘perfect type’ - the girls are slender, but with some very defined - and very ample - curves in particular places, and long flowing hair, while the boys are tall, toned and muscular. It seems, however, that fans may be growing tired of continually being shown this same version of physically ‘perfect’ people year after year as they took to X to vent their frustrations.

One person said: “Diversity doesn’t mean brunette hair instead of blonde.” One more said: “’Tall, dark, handsome’, ‘prefer blonde but don’t mind brunette’, honestly I’m so sick of hearing this like damn it’s 2024 let’s switch it up a little bit?” Another fan said: “You would have thought the producers would have learned after last season and love island games that a diverse cast is their best chance of success and a more entertaining season overall . . . sigh.”

Former contestant Tasha Ghouri, who made ‘Love Island’ history as the first-ever deaf contestant back in 2022, has also shared her feelings about the “lack of inclusivity” in the cast. Now, it’s been reported that host Maya Jama has defended the line-up - or should that be ‘Love Island’ bosses - and has urged people to give the 2024 islanders “some grace”.

The 29-year-old told ‘MailOnline’ that she feels “protective” of the Islanders because she gets to know them all individually as the series progresses and forms connections with them. She said: “We have to give them some grace. I do feel protective once I know them . . . The last few series when I got to know them, they're my little babies and friends. . . I have formed nice relationships with all of the Islanders that have been on the series.”

That’s all well and good, and on face value I do agree with what Jama is saying. It was only the other day that I was having an (unrelated) conversation with my other half about how that old adage of ‘you shouldn't judge a book by its cover’ is very true. But this is also where I struggle with ‘Love Island’ - because we’re not seeing the genuine books, if you like, with these official cast shots that have been released by ITV.

Fair enough, some people genuinely do have that level of peak physical ‘perfection’; I understand that they put a lot of work in to their bodies with their exercise regimes and diets and so on, and want to be toned and slim. That’s all fine - and to be honest we’d only be complaining if people who were overweight were given such a platform as it would be seen as glamourising a very unhealthy and harmful lifestyle. In some sense, we can’t win.

But, why can’t we have a mixture of the people who look like this, but also people who aren’t quite so fit - but without being unhealthy - what most of us would consider to be an “average” body, I think. What’s more, I’d love to see photos of the contestants where they’ve styled their own hair so, you know, maybe very hair doesn’t fall in to exactly the right place and maybe their is a bit of frizz - which would naturally happen in that Spanish sun anyway let me, as someone with naturally curly and frizz-prone hair, tell you.

Surely that would be refreshing and would help to spread a message of body positivity and acceptance and that, in turn, would lead to more people tuning in which could only be good news for ITV bosses too. I can truly only see the positives to that approach.

In addition, why do they have to put the fake tan on every single contestant before they’ve even stepped on a plane to Majorca? We all know how horrendous the British weather is, so you’re not fooling anyone by presenting us with images of gloriously bronzed bodies. Just be honest. Let us see their normal skin tone, for goodness sake. They’ll get a tan soon enough once their lounging about in the villa begins.

And, why are all the women always wearing make-up? Wouldn’t it be great if we saw the girls’ natural beauty? Especially considering that the target audience for the show is 16 to 34 year olds. Why, in 2024, are we still sending the message to young women that the only way to be pretty is to wear make-up!? I would love to see not only promo shots of the ladies without their make-up, but also episodes of the show which normalised them having a morning routine that didn’t involve “putting their face on” or getting dressed up for the evening without putting any more than a slick of lipgloss on.

Another thing, why are the women all wearing high heels in the promo images but the men are barefoot? I imagine the ladies had to stand around for a long time in those heels during that photoshoot, and any woman will know that too long spent in heels leads to very sore feet, so they must have been uncomfortable. I wish they’d have let the women go barefoot as well, so they too could look as relaxed as the men. Again, it’s reinforcing another stereotypical attitude that women must always be sexy and attractive - and the only way to achieve this is for them to add something to their bodies - make-up, a certain type of clothing and so on. It’s infuriating.

So, yes, while I do agree with Jama that we should wait to get to know this new group of singletons and not pass judgements on them based on their looks alone, I really hope ITV bosses take this backlash seriously and realise that it’s time we saw true, raw natural beauty. Plus, they’d save a fortune on all that fake tan. Apparently, applications for the upcoming series are still open, even though it starts on Monday (June 3), as bombshell late arrivals are still needed, so it’s not too late to make the change for this series.