Heart Radio’s Yasmin Evans on leaving 1Xtra, Tom Hanks’ sweet words and why Maya Jama will be ‘amazing’ as Love Island host-Alicia Adejobi-Entertainment – Metro

Yasmin Evans has been booked and busy this year (Picture: Redferns)

Yasmin Evans is feeling ‘optimistic’ about the opportunities for Black and brown people in the presenting space, whether that’s herself joining the Heart Radio family or Maya Jama becoming the new host of Love Island. 

The broadcaster, 31, announced she was leaving BBC Radio 1Xtra in December 2021 before confirming her new gig on Heart Radio, keeping listeners entertained on those lazy Sunday afternoons. 

She was also one of the names being thrown about as a possible replacement for Laura Whitmore on Love Island. 

It has since been confirmed that former BBC Radio 1 host Maya Jama is the new presenter of ITV2’s iconic dating series, and Yasmin couldn’t be happier for her. 

‘I’m seeing the news that Maya Jama’s got it… which I think is amazing and I’m here for that because I feel like she’s going to be giving looks every week,’ Yasmin told Metro.co.uk to mark her sneaker partnership with eBay. 

Speaking before the news about Maya was announced, Yasmin mused on the prospect of herself hosting the show, adding: ‘I would love to be a part of a big production like that but I think there’s a lot of pressure that comes with it. 

The broadcaster teamed up with eBay to host their sneaker store event in Manchester (Picture: Jess Govinden)

Maya Jama has been announced as the new Love Island host and Yasmin reckons she’ll be ‘amazing’ (Picture: ITV/Getty)

‘It’s a TV show that has so much social media around it and I think that people on social media can be incredibly expressive, so that I think can sometimes take away from wanting to do that type of show. It can be intimidating. 

‘I would absolutely love to be the host of Love Island, it would be quite fun. I’m very much into Love Island to be honest, every summer. And I’m not afraid to admit it either, I really wish people would stop calling it a “guilty pleasure” because it’s quite offensive. 

‘It’s a brilliant TV show! I’ve been watching it since the first one when it was a celebrity show.’ 

It’s been a year of adjustment for Yasmin who is approaching her first anniversary at Global’s Heart Radio. 

The presenter admits that leaving 1Xtra after nine years was a ‘big change’ but that she had actually been considering her departure for months before. 

‘It wasn’t a quick decision,’ she said. ‘I was sure that I was going to quit doing radio in general as I had been doing radio since I was 15, that’s almost 17 years. 

‘So I thought I need to step back for a bit, do something else and reignite the radio broadcaster flame. I felt like I’d really done as much as I could do at 1Xtra and if I hadn’t left last year, we probably would have come to a mutual decision to be like, you’ve done your time, which I think is OK to admit.

‘They might have – not fired me – but let me go next year because there needs to be growth with them as well as me. I could feel that shift approaching so I thought, now’s my time, I need to reassess what I want to do.’ 

Yasmin, who still feels ‘incredibly lucky’ to have worked at 1Xtra, was shocked when she was offered a job at Heart as she planned on quitting radio for a while. 

‘Then Heart gave me the opportunity and it was a total change,’ she explained. 

Yasmin says she had to ‘relearn everything’ after joining Heart Radio this year (Picture: Getty Images)

‘I had to unlearn everything, relearn and I’m still learning everyday at Heart. It’s a completely different audience, completely different backgrounds, you’re working with completely different people as well, but I feel quite comfortable in knowing that what I gained from 1Xtra, to take a little bit of that into Heart, Global Radio space, which is something they’re not used to – let’s be honest, they’ve probably heard of hardly any of the artists we played at 1Xtra. Maybe Stormzy at a push. So it’s nice to go over there and bring what I learnt at the BBC over, and hopefully it’s working.’ 

Yasmin added that while she feels ‘optimistic’ about the future of opportunities for Black people in the TV and radio space, she also ‘knows how the real world is’. 

However, she added: ‘Genuinely, I just support Black and brown people, people of colour. I love the fact that my kids are going to grow up seeing AJ Odudu and Mo Gilligan on The Big Breakfast Show and together presenting a TV show [and going] “ah, I look like him”. 

‘I love seeing Clara Amfo smashing it. Like Issa Rae said, I’m rooting for everyone Black.’ 

Yasmin is certainly winning with recent milestones including hosting the Elvis screening Q&A with Tom Hanks himself. 

‘He was so lovely,’ she revealed. 

Yasmin has enjoyed many a ‘surreal’ moment in her career so far and meeting Tom Hanks is one of them (Picture: Jess Govinden)

‘I think he was quite run down as he’d been travelling a lot. I have many surreal moments where I have to kind of keep my game face on and remember that I’m at work, but that was really surreal and he said I did a really good job at the Q&A. 

‘It was surreal just being in the room at the back after the Q&A and catching up with Tom Hanks.’ 

Yasmin has just collaborated with eBay to host the brand’s sneaker store in Manchester this month, with the aim of offering hyped sneakers with music ties at their much lower, original retail price through an onsite raffle. 

The presenter said of the campaign: ‘It was a really special event and not just because it was in Manchester, my hometown, but also because I’d never done an event to that scale in Manchester before so it was a first for me and them. 

‘It’s just all about getting sneakers back on the feet of people who really love them. Resale prices are just out of this world and I’m tired of paying over the asking price sometimes, so it was about the OG prices for iconic sneakers.’

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