When Maura Higgins entered the 2019 Love Island villa in a figure-hugging white £75 ASOS dress, she arrived with ambition, attitude and an appetite for fame. Before long, the Irish contestant had established herself as the ITV show’s standout bombshell.
Outspoken, unapologetic and fiercely determined, Maura showed little hesitation about disrupting other couples, pursuing the men she wanted or doing whatever it took to make it to the final.
She ultimately finished fourth, but her placing hardly mattered. In the show’s first four years, producers had rarely seen a contestant so focused on success. Maura quickly became a ratings draw and a major talking point.
Seven years on, however, Storm Maura appears to have lost some of its force in Britain. After several reality TV appearances failed to establish her as a small-screen A-lister, the determined star is now taking her ambitions across the Atlantic in pursuit of a long-held dream of breaking into the US market.
People familiar with the 35-year-old Irish model say she is determined to become “bigger than Kim Kardashian”. Maura, who appeared on I’m A Celebrity in 2024 and previously dated reality star and former Strictly contestant Pete Wicks, is now seeking to build her profile in America.
That ambition may sound far-fetched, but Maura is reportedly making a strong impression on the US version of Strictly, Dancing With The Stars, which she is currently filming in Los Angeles. Paired with professional dancer Mark Ballas, the son of Strictly judge Shirley Ballas, she topped the leaderboard in week four and is now being tipped to win the coveted glitterball trophy.
Maura Higgins with her then-boyfriend Curtis Pritchard on Love Island in 2019
Her punishing schedule has even prompted concerns from onlookers about her weight. She also suffered a neck injury while rehearsing the tango, collapsing in pain as she worked to perfect the routine. Judge Bruno Tonioli, who moved to the US show after leaving Strictly in 2022, said he had “never seen anything like her”.
“When she is not training, she is out networking or promoting herself in the US media,” a show insider told me.
“It’s blood, sweat and tears, but without any tears.”
“She’s throwing everything she has at Dancing With The Stars [DWTS]. She is determined to win and will tread on anyone who stands in her way.
“Maura has been all smiles and has done an especially good job of winning over the show’s bosses, but behind the scenes she is absolutely ruthless. Most people stab you in the back; Maura takes a chainsaw to your face. She must have the sharpest elbows in Hollywood and is on the path to becoming the next Kim Kardashian.”
The comparison is likely to please Maura, who has long admired the original reality TV superstar turned multimillionaire beauty mogul. She regularly quotes Kardashian in interviews and was seen in the VIP area at Wimbledon over the summer with Chris Appleton, the Kardashians’ longtime hairstylist. Maura has also attracted interest from Hulu and Disney Plus, the home of The Kardashians. The streaming platforms have signed her to present a reboot of the classic dating show Blind Date, which famously revived singer Cilla Black’s career. The programme is due to air next year, with producers convinced that Maura’s wit and humour could make her a natural successor to Cilla.
“She’s throwing everything she has at Dancing With The Stars,” an insider tells Dolly Busby. “She is determined to win and will tread on anyone who stands in her way.”
Yet while Maura’s distinctive Irish cheekiness and cutting one-liners have earned her plenty of admirers, they have also made her a target of criticism.
In May, she appeared on the television programme E! News, where she criticised DWTS professional dancer Gleb Savchenko. The comments were reportedly made out of loyalty to her friend, Baywatch actress Brooks Nader, who had previously dated him. Maura said she would be happy to dance with anyone except Gleb, claiming she disliked “the way he speaks about women”.
The remark reportedly caused considerable resentment backstage. “The way she attacked Gleb publicly was absolutely brutal, and she knew it would help raise her profile,” a source told me.
“Maura knows how to play the game and how to play people, but she has upset a lot of people.”
For those who know Maura, her relentless drive to reach the top comes as little surprise.
She grew up in Ballymahon, a small town in County Longford where her beloved “Mammy” still lives. Maura left school at 16 to train as a hairdresser, but it was not long before she began looking for something more.
Aged 17, she became a ‘Monster’ girl – a promotional girl, hired by the drinks brand Monster Energy, to stand around in skimpy outfits at major sports events handing out merchandise and flirting with guests.
Growing up in the small town of Ballymahon in County Longford, Maura left school aged 16 to become a hairdresser but wanted more
‘I loved it, I totally loved it,’ she once said, but the job did not provide the riches she craved.
When her childhood sweetheart, and then fiance, did not support her new role, she broke up with him, and at one point was so poor she nearly ended up homeless.
‘I was really struggling; I needed whatever job I could get at that point,’ she told relationship expert Paul Brunson’s tell-all podcast, We Need To Talk.
‘When me and my ex broke up I struggled to pay for the house, car… I needed money.
‘There were many winters where I wore four pairs of fluffy socks and dressing gowns, and had condensation coming out of my mouth because I couldn’t afford heating.’
Still living in Ballymahon, she called her father, Seamus Higgins, for help.
‘He just said: “You’ll be all right”,’ she revealed.
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It was a remark, she said, that sparked a fierce determination to be successful using nothing but her own wits.
She explained: ‘I went into an “I’ll show him”. I remember thinking, “I don’t need your help”.’
Another man she added to her ‘I’ll show you list’ was a mystery boyfriend of three years, based in LA and whose betrayal prompted her to go on Love Island.
Maura attends the 2024 Baftas with The Only Way Is Essex star and then-boyfriend Pete Wicks
She revealed how she’d unearthed inappropriate messages from various women on his phone and decided to wreak the ultimate revenge – by hooking up with lots of naked-chested men on national TV.
She proved an instant hit as a ‘bombshell’ – a contestant thrown in to break couples up.
On her first day she threatened to come between the series’ sweethearts boxer Tommy Fury, brother of Tyson, and Molly-Mae Hague – although she ultimately failed. The couple now share two children – and a vast fortune in excess of £20million – together.
Instead, she elbowed the unassuming British Airways hostess, Amy Hart, out of the way and stole her partner, dancer Curtis Pritchard.
Life after Love Island for Maura initially proved promising. Despite splitting with Pritchard after just eight months, she signed a £500,000 deal with clothing brand Boohoo, a £500,000 deal with lingerie giant Ann Summers, a £250,000 partnership with tan company Bellamianta, and £150,000 to appear on ITV’s Dancing On Ice.
But after four years on the influencer circuit, her attempts to break through to the next stratum of fame seemed to have stalled, and she was mostly confined to going on brand trips with the likes of sportswear brand Alo, Primark or eBay.
Although she walked the National Television Awards red carpet and made sporadic appearances on ITV daytime show This Morning, it was not the breakthrough she had dreamt of.
Pulling herself out of near oblivion, she signed with InterTalent Rights Group and was assigned Talia Salomon as a manager.
Talia had previously looked after pop band The Black Eyed Peas on their world tour.
Together, they set their sights on America and Talia, insiders say, ‘revolves her whole life around work and Maura’.
She later became host of the US Love Island spin-off before returning to the UK for a stint on ITV’s I’m A Celebrity in 2024.
The primetime terrestrial show saw an average 7million viewers tune in each evening and Maura was sure this would be the programme to properly launch her. But when she finished a disappointing seventh, trailing behind influencer GK Barry, Strictly judge Oti Mabuse and eventual winner McFly singer and guitarist Danny Jones, it was a harsh reminder for Maura that British audiences still needed some convincing.
When she’s not making friends – or enemies – on the dance floor, the Irish model has been seen at star-studded events, including the Victoria’s Secret fashion show earlier this week
She did garner a slew of media coverage two months after the show aired when she was seen kissing Danny – who has a wife and young son – at the 2025 Brit Awards afterparty in London. But in truth she came out of the incident with her reputation tarnished rather than burnished.
While he patched things up with his heartbroken wife of ten years, model Georgia Horsley, Maura escaped to the US. It was there, finally, that things took off, when she landed a role on the American version of Celebrity Traitors – filmed in the usual location in Scotland’s Ardross Castle.
A cleverly calculated ‘showmance’ with a muscly Love Island US star, Rob Rausch, once a snake wrangler from Alabama, saw the pair reach the final – where she lost out to him as he revealed himself to be a Traitor.
When it comes to real romance, Maura insists she has been ‘celibate’ for a year and a half – since her short fling with The Only Way Is Essex star Pete Wicks, who is now dating Olivia Attwood.
The women followed similar career trajectories, starting out as Monster girls together.
Olivia was on Love Island two years before Maura and they signed with the same talent agency – allegations of ‘copycat’ behaviour flew around from Olivia’s camp before Maura dropped the agency and shifted to the US. While she may not have found love across the pond, she is leaning into her Irish roots – a nation for which there is a lot of love in the US.
For Dedication Night (a themed episode in which contestants choose who or what they are dancing in honour of) canny Maura dedicated her dance to Ireland. Stunning in a floor-length green and orange gown, split to the thigh and plunged to the navel she secured her highest score of the series so far and unleashed a torrent of pro-Irish American votes.
When she’s not making friends – or enemies – on the dance floor, she’s been spotted on the red carpet at the Golden Globes in a £2,143 gown by designer Marmar Halim and attended Cannes Film Festival with a role in the Irish comedy-drama, The Spin.
Earlier this week, she appeared at the Victoria’s Secret catwalk show in a strapless latex catsuit as an ambassador for the lingerie company while fans screamed her name.
And in a true full-circle moment, last month it was announced she would be co-hosting the US version of I’m A Celebrity. That’s not something even Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, long-term hosts of the UK version, can boast.
She’s next back on Dancing With The Stars on Tuesday.
It’s going to be Halloween themed Horror Night. No doubt Maura will be bringing her own brand of terror to the dance floor – and anyone brave enough to stand in her formidable path.
