From reality TV contestant to the face of Love Island: How Laura Whitmore went from finding fame on MTV and modelling to presenting ITV’s flagship summer show and making her West End debut
- Laura Whitmore announced she was stepping down as the host of Love Island
- After studying journalism and dabbling in modelling, she is now a West End star
- The 37-year-old also has a daughter with her husband, comedian Iain Stirling
Laura Whitmore has become a household name in recent years as the much-loved host of ITV2 reality show Love Island.
But on Monday evening the 37-year-old star, from Bray, County Wicklow in Ireland, announced she would be leaving the dating show after three years as its presenter.
The mother-of-one, who has a daughter with comedian and voice of Love Island Iain Stirling, cited ‘difficult’ elements of the show’s format as her reasons for stepping down.
But before becoming a star of the small screen, Laura successfully won her own TV contest called Pick Me MTV to become its new face of MTV news throughout the UK, Ireland and other European countries.
More recently, she has been cast in the hit West End show 2:22: A Ghost Story alongside former Busted star Matt Willis, Tamsin Carroll and Felix Scott.
Laura Whitmore, 37, is now a household name but she started her career as the winner of a reality TV competition to become the new face of MTV News
Laura took over from Caroline Flack to present Love Island after the former host’s tragic death at the age of 40 in February 2020
One of Laura’s first big presenting gigs was spin-off show I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here NOW! alongside Joe Swash and Rob Beckett (left). Laura took to the dancefloor for Strictly Come Dancing in 2016 and was paired with Giovanni Pernice before exiting the show in the sixth week (right)
After leaving Love Island Laura is unlikely to be resting as she has been cast in the West End psychological thriller, 2:22
When announcing her reasons for stepping down from Love Island, Whitmore said, in particular, ‘flying back and forth to South Africa’ during the winter series of the show was a lot to handle.
While many fans expressed their disappointment at Laura leaving the show, those who have followed her career from the beginning will be assured she’ll have exciting new projects in store.
The presenter, who originally trained as a journalist in Dublin City University for four years, has been cast in the hit West End show 2:22: A Ghost Story.
Some were surprised to see the Irish-born presenter cast in a play, but this is not Laura’s first acting role.
She had her first stint on camera when starring in a student TV advert which featured a naked man, with Laura holding his briefs. She later joked in an interview: ‘Obviously, a huge budget went into that.’
The budding journalist entered a contest called Pick Me MTV to become its new face of MTV news throughout the UK, Ireland and other European countries (pictured in 2008)
Looking back at her time in radio prior to MTV, Laura said she covered live pig races in Arklow (pictured in 2011)
After university the star went onto work at East Coast Radio and then Newstalk in Ireland. (pictured centre on MTV in 2010)
After university the star went onto work at East Coast Radio and then Newstalk in Ireland.
Looking back at that time she said: ‘I covered live pig races in Arklow. I’d be like, “This is Laura Whitmore and the big pig didn’t win, he was, er, too fat. Now back to the studio.”‘
Discovering that hard hitting journalism wasn’t for her, she pursued her passion for acting and began to study at Leinster School of Music and Drama.
The multi-talented star also went on to take courses at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London.
In 2016, she starred alongside TV favourite Shane Richie in the play Not Dead Enough, which toured around the UK.
Laura even starred in an award-winning short film, Sadhbh, in 2019, in which she ditched her trademark blonde locks for strawberry-blonde tresses to play a struggling single mother.
Laura moved to London after winning the MTV competition and she has carved out a multi-faceted career for herself
She has also found time to pen a Sunday Times Bestselling book, No One Can Change Your Life Except For You, which was published in 2021
Departure: It was recently confirmed Laura would not be returning to her Sunday BBC Radio 5 show after the current season of Love Island ends in August
The character, Claire, hides a dark secret as she tries to hold her life together, showing a moving side of Laura that is a world away from her usual bubbly enthusiasm.
Aside from the arts, Laura also dabbles in modelling, and entered a TV show broadcast on RTÉ One in Ireland in 2003.
The programme, The Late Late Show, ran a contest to find new modelling talent – and blonde bombshell Laura reached the final 15.
Five years later, the budding journalist entered another contest called Pick Me MTV to become its new face of MTV news throughout the UK, Ireland and other European countries.
The competition was fierce, with 300 applicants all battling it out to land the dream job but Laura’s talents shone through.
For her audition, she presented a story on Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, impressing the panel of judges made up of Emma Willis, Alesha Dixon and Trevor Nelson.
In 2011, Laura replaced Caroline Flack, who had gone on to co-host the Xtra Factor, to co-host I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! Now!
Wow: Whitmore stunned in vintage Versace as she hosted the Love Island live finale
The beauty went onto win and hosted news bulletins for the channel from 2008 until 2015 and she even got to Interview some major celebrities from Robert Downey Jr to Miley Cyrus.
Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph in 2012 she joked about her first interviews: ‘I didn’t know whether people were laughing with me or at me, maybe it’s the Irish mannerisms. You get away with murder when you’re Irish. It’s the banter’.
Laura moved to London after winning the competition and she has carved out a multi-faceted career for herself.
In 2011, Laura replaced Caroline Flack, who had gone on to co-host the Xtra Factor, to co-host I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! Now!.
The presenter made the round-the-world trip to Australia for five years in a row to present the spin-off show alongside Joe Swash, a previous King of the Jungle.
Whitmore said at the time: ‘I’m absolutely thrilled to be joining the I’m A Celebrity family. I can’t wait to get stuck into jungle life, though I will try my best to avoid all those creepy crawlies.’
Laura (pictured recently) announced she would be taking part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2016
Chic: Whitmore nailed a summery look as she sported a baby pink mini dress while attending Gentleman’s Journal summer lunch at Blenheim Palace on August 5, 2022
The same year, she became a cover star for FHM magazine. At the time, Laura tweeted: ‘Doing FHM cover shoot today… Location is fab!’
However in April 2016, just a year after leaving her MTV role, she announced she was ‘hanging up her jungle boots’ and stepping down as co-host of the programme.
Later that year, around the same time she would have been getting ready for a new series of the show, Laura announced she would be taking part in Strictly Come Dancing – and was paired with Giovanni Pernice.
The pair dazzled audiences as they danced under the glitter ball until Laura was eliminated from the series in the sixth week.
However, while she said she loved the experience of getting to dance every week, Laura opened up about her struggles while on the show two years later.
Writing on the Huffington Post, she said: ‘I felt broken. I cried every day. And I really was broken, both mentally and physically, by the end.
Laura is married to Scottish comedian and Love Island narrator, Iain Stirling. The pair share a daughter
‘To the outside world I tried to suck it up and smile, and I did that to the best of my ability, but it affected me deeply.’
In a 2020 interview on Jamie Laing and Francis Boulle’s Private Parts podcast, Laura opened up again about the experience.
She said: ‘What I didn’t like was being removed from everybody and having to spend 12 hours a day with this one person.
‘I did not want to play the game of doing red carpets with your dance partner and stuff like that, which a lot of people thought you should be doing. I did not want to do that.’
Despite an uncomfortable experience on Strictly, Laura’s career continued to blossom as she took on a radio show on BBC Five Live and appeared on various TV panel shows.
In 2020, Laura become an ITV2 star after she was cast as a team captain on Celebrity Juice and stepped in to host the first ever winter series of Love Island.
After Caroline tragically took her own life at the age of 40, Laura was made the permanent host of Love Island (pictured together in 2018)
She was initially supposed to only cover for Caroline Flack, but after Caroline tragically took her own life at the age of 40, Laura was made the permanent host of the show.
While Laura has juggled motherhood with TV appearances, she has also found time to pen a Sunday Times Bestselling book, No One Can Change Your Life Except For You, which was published in 2021.
The self-help book draws upon the author’s own struggles with body image, self-doubt and insecurities to help other people improve their confidence.
Through her experiences, she encourages readers to love and have belief in themselves.
Laura, who was friends with Caroline Flack, has often paid tribute to the late presenter and even mentioned her in her statement announcing she was stepping down from Love Island.
She wrote: ‘I was only planning to fill in for Caroline for a series and it turned into 3 series.
‘I hope I did you proud Caroline.’
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