Irish TV personality Maura Higgins has emerged as an unlikely favourite to win I’m A Ceebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here! after her late arrival to the reality programme.
Much has been written about her colourful love-life, but viewers didn’t expect to see Higgins her spend her first night in the jungle in a double bed alongside radio presenter and Church of England priest Richard Coles.
“I never thought I’d see the day I’m about to sleep with a vicar - but my friends wouldn’t be shocked,” laughed the former Love Island star.
The duo were kept separate from the other stars, finding themselves in the dilapidated Jungle Junkyard. While initially thinking they had to sleep on the ground in squalour, they were pleasantly surprised to be surrounded by luxury, including an electric fridge, comfy bed and a bubble-filled bathtub replete with bath salts and piping hot water.
Kicking off in classic I’m A Celeb style, the newcomers were thrown into the deep end with an immediate covert challenge to play paupers to the other campmates. With the gauntlet thrown down, Maura boasted: “I’m a great liar”.
Viewers will be intrigued to see Higgins join the main camp and come face-to-face with former boyfriend Shane McGuigan’s father, Barry McGuigan.
Early relationships
After her romance and engagement to Irish car salesman James Higgins, whom she met at school, ended in 2017, Higgins dated Shane after meeting at a David Haye v Tony Bellow boxing match in which she was a ring girl.
The pair reportedly dated for a year before fizzling out. It will be interesting to see how the former featherweight boxing legend reacts to her appearance.
Higgins trained as a hairdresser after leaving school, working in a salon in Ballymahon, before working in propotions for Monster Energy, as a Formula 1 grid girl.
Liam Payne
In 2017 she appeared in the video of the late Liam Payne’s hit song Get Low.
Screen Visuals for @LiamPayne "get low" 🎶 pic.twitter.com/I7lHBPzf9c
— Maura Higgins (@MauraHiggins) November 10, 2017
Love Island
Her appearance in the fifth series of Love Island in 2019 catapulted her popularity. Making it to the final four, she found love with dancer Curtis Pritchard.
Despite staying together for almost a year after leaving the villa the duo split, with Higgins going on to have a romance with fellow-islander Love Island star Chris Taylor for six months.
The following year Higgins took part in ITV’s Dancing on Ice, paired with Alexander Demetrious, and hosted her own ITV2 show Maura Higgins.
A short fling with controversial Strictly professional Giovanni Pernice followed in 2021. Her next serious relationship came with Chris Hemsworth’s Hollywood stunt double Bobby Holland Hunton. Larely kept out of the public eye, the pair split up early in 2024.
Career-wise Higgins has enjoyed various stints as a guest host on Love Island USA and the host of the US version of Aftersun.
Film debut
She will make her acting debut in soon to be released Irish comedy film The Spin, alongside Kimberly Wyatt of The Pussycat Dolls, and Derry Girls’ Tara Lynne O’Neill.
Pete Wicks
Higgins has most recently been romantically linked to TOWIE star Pete Wicks, who is currently a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, after they were spotted getting cosy at the afterparty for the Pride of Britain Awards.
They were last seen together on a night out at the London Palladium to see pianist Ludovico Einaudi — the week before she headed to the I’m a Celebrity jungle.
However, Higgins has denied that they are a pair and has said she is going into the jungle a single woman.
“Honestly no-one is going to fancy me in the jungle. Trust me.
“I am ready to step outside my comfort zone. I hope I do make myself proud and I am both excited but also very nervous, because I am scared of absolutely everything,” she said, before entering I’m a Celebrity.
It remains to be see how Higgins will cope with her fear of spiders or find love in the jungle, but she is sure to provide us with many more on-screens laughs.
