The stuff we’ve had celebs do is insane
He is the voice of Love Island, but TV presenter Iain Stirling is cagier about his own relationship. As the new series of his other hit show, CelebAbility, returns, he tells us about getting stars to stick their heads down the loo and why it’s nice to be
Love Island recently won a TV Bafta and you also did the voiceover for the ceremony. How nervous were you?
IT’S such a dream, an honour to do. When I first started doing Love Island, I never in a million years thought it would lead to me working on the Baftas – so, big honour, and just lovely and people being nice, which is appreciated.
It was a high pressure gig, so I’m glad it went all right.
The second series of CelebAbility is upon us. What can we expect to see this time round?
SOME of the stuff we’ve got celebrities doing is absolutely insane.
It’s going to be bigger, better, funnier, crazier, weirder – all the adjectives you want, they’re all in there.
What really surprised you about filming the show?
WHEN we first came up with the idea of the show, I didn’t know if the celebrities would get into it because the contestants are wanting money, celebrities are [already] on the telly. But the celebrities honestly go for it more than the punters do.
The stuff they’ve done is insane. We had people sticking their heads down toilets, picking stuff out of their teeth, and that’s not the punters, that’s the celebs. It’s mad!
What’s the most fun thing about presenting it?
I’VE never really hosted on a grown-up channel, I’ve always done kids’ TV, so it’s just nice being able to be a bit rude – and being a bit more suggestive is always a bit fun because that suits my comic sensibilities, if you know what I mean.
How do you find filming Love Island away from home – will your girlfriend (TV presenter Laura Whitmore) be visiting you?
SHE will, definitely. It’s eight weeks so I’m sure she will come out for a bit. And the great thing is, because she’s obviously such a big part of the ITV2 family, she knows everybody so it’s really nice.
Even if I’m working, she can still hang out with people and she knows all the producers and the runners and the camera guys.
Hopefully I’ll be able to fly back, because I only get one day off for a week so it’s sort of a bit of a flying visit when I do come back.
That must be quite intense?
IT’S not that intense. I have to admit, the hours are pretty friendly so it’s not the end of the world. But, yeah, when you fly back for one day, that can be a lot of work, but the Iain presenting the TV Baftas, left, and fronting the new series of CelebAbility actual work itself is fine.
You and Laura are both in showbiz. How do you deal with having a relationship in the public eye?
IT’S just another thing in the relationship, isn’t it? Relationships are work, you’ve got to work at them and that’s another factor.
But then also, that’s maybe one of the more negative aspects of it – having the sort of public element, pressure of that.
But then there are also lots of positives as well – we’re both self-employed so we can work our own diaries. The pros definitely outweigh the cons.
We try and keep it as private as possible, but then obviously people are going to be interested.
Are you careful about what you share on social media?
I DON’T know if it’s being careful, I think it’s like, how much does anyone post about their relationship online?
I think the other thing you’ve got to realise is, although we might be slightly higher profile, if you talk about your relationship online, the nature of social media [is] you are posting that to an audience.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve got 4 followers or 400,000, that’s the nature of social media. There’s going to be stuff up there that is there for life, it’s on the internet. So I think it’s something that everyone can think about and not just someone in mine and Laura’s position.
You said before you were a bit worried that people wouldn’t take you seriously after doing something like Love Island, but it has obviously paid off for you.
THINGS like CelebAbility – that would have never come about, I don’t think, had it not been for Love Island. So the fact that all came about is another great opportunity. I work as hard as I can to make [Love Island] as good I can make it.
CelebAbility returns to ITV2 on Wednesday at 10pm. Love Island is on every night on ITV2 at 9pm.
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