Davina begs ITV to let her host Love Island for middle-aged couples

2023-01-05

Love Handles Island! Davina McCall begs ITV to let her host a version of the holiday dating show… but for middle-aged couples

Miss McCall, 55, has said she now wants to help older singletons to find love
McCall said she could easily ‘fill a villa with people with interesting back stories’
The presenter was was 50 when she split from her husband Matthew Roberston

Viewers are familiar with the social media savvy and bikini-clad youngsters who usually appear on the reality TV show Love Island.

But Davina McCall has revealed she is ‘begging’ ITV bosses to hire her to host a ‘midlife’ version of the programme.

The presenter and fitness guru was 50 when she split from her husband Matthew Roberston in 2017. She is currently dating her hairdresser Michael Douglas.

Miss McCall, 55, now wants to help other older singletons to find love and said the show would be full of ‘interesting people’ who have ‘lived a life’.

Speaking on the Diary of a CEO podcast, she said she has ‘no embarrassment or shame about emailing a TV company or the head of a TV company and going ‘have you thought about this?’ as she revealed she is ‘literally begging ITV to let me present midlife Love Island’.

Davina McCall has revealed she is ‘begging’ ITV bosses to hire her to host a ‘midlife’ version of the hit reality television show Love Island

Viewers are familiar with the social media savvy and bikini-clad youngsters who usually appear on the reality TV show Love Island

‘I could fill a villa in Love Island with middle-aged people with the best back stories you have ever heard in your life,’ she told host Stephen Bartlett.

‘They’ve lived a life – they’re widows, they’re people who have been through horrific divorces. They are people who have split up with somebody and decided they want to try going out with somebody the same sex as them.

‘They’re like interesting people. I’d watch that show.’

Miss McCall, who is currently a judge on The Masked Singer, said ITV is looking into a similar show and that they ‘might consider’ her to host.

She continued: ‘I was like ‘I need to present it please’. They said ‘We’re looking at something else that’s quite similar, we might consider you for that’.

‘Well if I hadn’t sent them that email in the first place, they wouldn’t have thought about me for the other show maybe. ‘You’ve got to make opportunities happen – they never just come to you. Keep walking.’

Miss McCall, who also opened up during the interview about her past drug abuse, including taking heroin and cocaine with her mother as a child and teenager, said she feared her TV career would be over after she left Big Brother – the reality TV show she presented for a decade

Winter Love Island, hosted by Maya Jama (pictured) and set in South Africa, will return to ITV2 this month

Her comments come months after it was reported that ITV was working on a pilot for a Love Island-style show that would see people in their 40s and 50s being coupled up behind the scenes by their children while on a retreat.

A source at the time told The Sun: ‘Times change and the current generation in their 40s and 50s still care about how they look, are fit and healthy, into fashion and are ready to let their hair down.

‘This show will give those who settled down young a second chance at love while they still feel in their prime.’

She said: ‘After Big Brother finished I contacted a friend of mine who was like a techy person, and like after Big Brother I thought ‘Who am I and where am I going to go, and it could all end’.

‘And as the person that was providing the roof and the food on the table I had to think of my next step – ‘what was I going to do, I’m not sure how long television’s going to last’. It’s still going – which is amazing for me.’

Winter Love Island, hosted by Maya Jama and set in South Africa, will return to ITV2 this month.

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