Meet TV’s new GOAL-DEN GIRL
Star of a series of fun Euro 2020 TV shows, Maya Jama on her tragic past, her meteoric rise – and why she wants to be a Bond villain
TV presenter Maya Jama talks as if she’s on fast-forward, so quickly it’s a challenge to keep pace. I wonder if she’s ever anxious about drying up on live television? Daft question. Of course she’s not! ‘If I worry about anything it’s saying something silly. Once it’s out there, it’s out there. So a filter goes on. I put my sensible head on. And before I go on I give myself a pep talk in the mirror. “OK, you can do this!” It’s my Mr Motivator talk.’
Hard to credit, but Maya is only 26. Ten years ago she arrived, skint, in London, a ‘loud, show-offy’ teenager with dreams of TV stardom. Since then she’s surpassed all expectations, from having her own BBC Radio 1 show to being the youngest person (at 23) to present the MOBO Awards on Channel 5 with Marvin Humes and hosting BBC3’s recent make-up competition Glow Up. This year she’s up for Best Presenter at the National Television Awards, and four shows she has worked on have also received nominations. ‘I went on the website to vote and thought, “I hope I’m nominated one day.” And then I saw I had been. It was a massive surprise!’
A staple of celebrity magazines during her four-year relationship with grime superstar Stormzy, which ended in 2019, she doesn’t want to talk about the breakup or rumours of a reconciliation, or indeed about whether (or not) she’s in a relationship now. ‘I’m not discussing my love life unless I get married,’ she insists.
She’s happy to admit she’s already a millionaire. She seems mildly incredulous about this though. ‘When my manager told me I thought, “Noooo!” I’d been working pretty much every day for years but it still seemed mad.’ A year ago she bought her first property – a split-level flat in south-west London – but she’s been so busy since that she hasn’t had time to put her mark on it. ‘In an ideal world I’d plan it and magically it would come about without my involvement,’ she laughs. ‘I’m not domestic. When I get married I want my husband to do all the cooking and cleaning.’
Warm and chatty, she’s sitting in her open-plan living area in off-duty trackies for our Zoom call, her hair in a thick braid, her caramel skin flawless, rattling on about her latest TV project for BBC1. Following the success of last year’s Save Our Summer with Peter Crouch – a Saturday-night mix of music, comedy and sport aimed at filling the gaps created by Covid – she’s rejoined the former England striker, along with comedian Alex Horne, to copresent Crouchy’s Year Late Euros:
Live, which kicked off after Fri
WHEN I GET MARRIED I WANT MY HUSBAND TO DO ALL THE COOKING
day’s opening match in the rescheduled Euro 2020 tournament.
The series will follow the biggest games as well as the progress of England, Scotland and Wales. We’ll be treated to a blend of punditry and entertainment from celebrity guests including
Jamie Redknapp, singer Anne-Marie and comedian Mo Gilligan as well as live music from house band Alex Horne and The Horne Section.
Our trio of presenters will be presiding over the mayhem while genial Crouchy chats to footballers. ‘It’s like a post-match party,’ promises Maya. ‘We’re so thrilled it’s live, anything can happen. I like the adrenaline rush of getting an instant reaction right after the games. Alex is funny without even trying and his band will make up songs as they go along. We have a big brother/little sister dynamic... but I’m in control! And Crouchy’s like the best mate next door you could wish for.’
She’ll be rooting for England – she grew up in Bristol – but hopes Sweden will also do well: her mum Sadie,
STANDING TALL: Maya co-hosts the new show with Peter Crouch 45, born to Swedish parents, grew up there and taught Maya the language. She tells me her love of the game is rooted in childhood when her now estranged father, who is from Somalia, took her to watch their local team, Bristol Rovers. ‘I remember Dad taking me and my brother Omar to Wembley for a play-off final. I dressed up, we went on the train, waved our flags and sang songs. It was great.’
Her father spent much of her early life in and out of prison, often for crimes involving violence. When she was three she inadvertently told the police where her dad was hiding – under a bed – when they called at the family home. Thereafter there were regular visits to her dad in jail. ‘We’d get in the car, there were duvets and sweets and it felt like a road trip.’
But as she grew older, the sense her father had a choice – he didn’t have to commit those crimes – dawned. She was about ten when she opted to stop visiting him. That changed in 2017 when she presented a documentary, When Dad Kills, about children who grew up with violent fathers, and contacted him again. ‘I wanted to try to understand
THE ONLY WAY TO SILENCE COMMENTS LIKE THAT IS TO WORK REALLY HARD
why he’d done the things he did. We had a conversation but it was difficult. I didn’t get the answers I was looking for. We’re not in contact at all now. But my stepfather, Martin, was a very good role model, calm and sensible – and he loved my mum very much. So I got to see how a man should treat a woman.’
Although not academic, Maya was fiercely ambitious. She was 16 when she decided to go to London in pursuit of her goals, and there she met her first boyfriend Rico Gordon. Their happiness ended tragically when he was murdered at the age of 21, killed by a ricocheting bullet intended for someone else during a fight in Bristol in 2011. Two men were jailed for life for his murder. The grief Maya felt was crushing. ‘It’s a massive reality check,’ she says now. ‘People can just go, no matter how young. But I got through it. I prayed. I always have and I still do.’
At the time, learning her trade presenting events for YouTube channels, she was sharing a house with a family member who had a serious drug habit. ‘I’d lock myself in my bedroom, but I had food stolen, a camera. I never got involved in drugs and it was crazy when I look back. I stayed because I was grateful for a roof over my head. But I never lost faith or hope. I learnt from it. As hard as things get, everything will be OK in the end.’
These days she’s recognised wherever she goes, and one admirer posted a poem about her on an advertising hoarding outside Shoreditch train station. Did she find that spooky? ‘Actually I thought it was cute and quite flattering.’
There have been detractors though, trolls who’ve attacked her on the internet. ‘There have been loads of things. “B***h I hate you. Why are you even here?” But you just get used to that. It’s not real life.’ What worries her more are the people who assume, ‘I just swanned into TV or got here because I’m pretty or for a million other reasons. Actually, I worked really hard and the only way to silence comments like that is to continue to work really hard.’
I wonder about her ambitions and she says she’d love to be a Bond girl. ‘I’m putting that out there because I’m trying to get into acting and that’s my dream. I think I’d like to be a villainy Bond girl; something against the norm. A little bit evil or funny.’ She scotches rumours she’s to appear on Strictly though. ‘I’ve been asked but it’s not the right time,’ she says. As soon as possible there’ll be a holiday. Where though? ‘Anywhere there’s a beach and some bars,’ she smiles, and down-to-earth girl that she is, adds, ‘Ramsgate would be quite nice.’