Maya Jama has been compared to Kerry Mucklowe after flexing her strong Bristolian accent on TikTok. The 28-year-old, who grew up in Bristol, recently landed the hottest job on television as the host of Love Island, and made her debut at the luxury South African villa last week.
Self-confessed Love Island fan Maya has been sharing behind the scenes clips of her journey on the ITV2 reality show on social media. Maya, who is dividing her time between South Africa and London as the winter edition of the show ploughs on, posted a hilarious TikTok yesterday, January 25, in which she showcases her glorious Bristol accent.
The former Cotham School pupil sat in the back of a car with a friend in the clip as she showed off her hometown accent. She says: "One thing I will say is you can take the girl out of Bristol, but you can't take the Bristol out of the girl.
Read more: Maya Jama's rise from tragedy and financial worries to household-name fame
"Brizzers! If you don'ts understand what I'm saying in that last snap, I ain't for you!"
Fans gushed over Maya's accent in the comments. Hannah Brosnan wrote: "Up the brizzle!"
"Bristol is my fave UK accent fr," said gg.focus. "Great place and people.
Other fans drew comparison between Maya and This Country's Kerry Mucklowe, portrayed by Cotswolds comedian Daisy May Cooper. C said: "She sounds like the girl from This country."
"I thought this was a sound from this country," said Callie Aiello.
Despite Maya being born and raised in Bristol, she usually doesn't speak with a West Country accent when she's on our screens. During an appearance on The John Bishop Show in January 2022, Maya reflected on losing her accent.
Host John Bishop said that he didn't think Maya had much of an accent. Asking her about whether she had ever been "limited" by her accent, he added: "I don’t think you really have one."
At which point Jason Manford chipped in to ask: "Where’s the Bristol accent gone?"
Maya responded by saying she's never been limited because of her accent. She added: "Everyone always asks that. I moved when I was 16 on my little dream chasers one, and I did used to [have an accent]."
Maya then went on to do an impression of the thick Bristol accent she used to have and how friends at college were a bit stumped as to where she was from. She said: "I went to college only for about three weeks. I said "Alright guys how is it?
"And everyone was like ‘where the f*** is she from? They used to ask me if I had sheep in my garden, or if my mum plucks chickens and that kind of stuff because it was central London and everyone was like, oh, Bristol is a farm.
"I literally just tried to drop it out, slowly but surely it just faded out a bit but as soon as I go back I’m like, 'Alright me luvs, how’s it going then? I can’t be arsed with any of that'. It’s in and out, but I’ve lost it a bit."
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