Pete Wicks has spoken out for the first time since his rumoured love interest Maura Higgins confirmed her involvement with the Strictly Come Dancing star.
On his podcast Staying Relevant, Pete reunited with his best friend and co-host Sam Thompson following Sam's stint presenting the I'm A Celeb spin-off show. The TOWIE star didn’t hold back from sharing his thoughts on Sam’s latest gig.
Sam brought up the topic of Maura by branding her as a 'certain campmate' when he said "there was one thing that happened and I didn't know how to handle it, where a certain campmate was talking about a certain guy in that show."
Pete joked: "I presume what you're doing there, trying not to discuss what everyone has been discussing, which is Maura."
The 2023 I'm A Celeb winner said he hadn't initially planned to talk to Maura about her relationship with Pete when she was voted out of the show, while confessing that his "loyalty to Pete beats everything".
Sam admitted he was torn about addressing his best friend’s relationship with the Love Island star, explaining that while he wanted “to do the best job” he couldn’t ignore the thought that “Pete’s going to throttle me".
Pete teased Sam about his loyalty, saying: “It does until the leaving interview, and you say, ‘welcome to the family,’ so I guess that one just sort of slipped out, did it?” to which Sam revealed he “really panicked".
Maura opened up to her jungle campmates about her connection to a mystery man, and it didn't take fans long to realise she was talking about Pete.
During a conversation in camp, Strictly Come Dancing star Oti Mabuse asked Maura if she was single. Maura responded: “I am, but I was seeing someone before I came in. I’m not in a relationship.”
Reverend Richard Coles then followed up, asking: “Was it exclusive? Or if I’ve put you on the spot, sorry!”
After a long pause, Maura hesitated before replying: “I dunno.”
She went on to explain that she had known the person for a long time and that their friendship had developed into something more after he had persistently pursued her.
After becoming the sixth campmate voted off the show, Maura appeared on This Morning with Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary, where she admitted to missing Pete while in Australia. “Let’s be real, I said it. I don’t remember saying it, but I did say the words, ‘I miss him,’ and I do miss him. Like I miss all my friends and family,” she confessed.
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The pair reunited at a London hotel, where the Strictly star joined Maura and her friends for a welcome home party, just hours after she touched down in Heathrow Airport.
Maura later shared a selfie of the group on Instagram.
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