Maya Jama on how her "public persona" could be her biggest strength on Celebrity Traitors

Love Island host Maya Jama is hoping her "public persona" will help her in the Celebrity Traitors castle. Maya is one of 21 celebrities taking part in the show's highly anticipated second season which begins on Thursday 1 October at 8pm on BBC One.

Ahead of the series, Maya was asked how she thought her "public persona" will affect how she's perceived.

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"I've thought about this quite a lot because I honestly don't know what people's perception of me is," Maya said.

"If you've only watched me on Love Island, you probably just see me walking in, having a chat and sending people home! I can be warm, but I can also be quite direct when I need to be, so maybe people won't quite know what to expect. If they've listened to me on the radio, they might have a better idea of what I'm actually like."

Maya also revealed that her ability to get on with people quite easily is both her biggest strength and biggest weakness.

"I can be a bit too open," she explained. "I'm definitely an oversharer, and in this game you probably need to keep a few things to yourself."

As for whether she wants to be a Traitor or a Faithful, Maya admitted that she's more drawn to the dark side, saying: "At first, I thought I'd rather be a Faithful, but then I started thinking, if I'm doing this experience, why not go all in?"

Maya, who also stars in season two of Netflix's The Gentlemen, added: "I'd love to play someone who's the complete opposite of me, a proper villain or someone really evil. Maybe this is my chance to test that out."

Whether Maya is a Faithful or a Traitor, viewers will get to see how host Claudia Winkleman made her decision in new series Traitor or Faithful? Claudia Decides.

The show's synopsis reads: "New information will be revealed, as Claudia gets to know the players on a more personal level. As she interrogates their true intentions, there's nowhere to hide but who has it in them to turn to the dark side? And who left Claudia with some easy decisions to make?"

The Celebrity Traitors debuts Thursday 1 October at 8pm BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

The Celebrity Traitors: Uncloaked will follow on Thursday 1 October at 9.15pm on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds.

Traitor or Faithful? Claudia Decides will be available on Thursday 1st October from 9.15pm on BBC iPlayer.

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Stephanie is a freelance news writer, who previously covered WWE and AEW for Digital Spy.

After graduating with a degree in history from Queen Mary University, London, she studied journalism at Birkbeck University.

Outside of her work at Digital Spy, she writes about pop culture, with a special focus towards Irish media and how it intersects with politics.