Who is Maura Higgins and how long has the I’m a Celeb contestant been dating Strictly star Pete Wicks?

MAURA Higgins has made a name for herself as one of Love Island's most iconic stars.

The Irish beauty has now become a successful lingerie model and is now part of the I'm A Celebrity 2024 line-up.

Maura Higgins is a model and TV presenter from County Longford, Ireland.

She studied to become a hairdresser and worked in a salon in Ballymahon.

Maura also worked for Monster Energy and at the end of 2017, she travelled to Abu Dhabi for the formula 1 finale.

Prior to appearing on Love Island, she worked as a ring girl for professional boxers.

She also appeared in the video for the hit song Get Low by the late Liam Payne.

Becoming a Love Island star

Maura finished in fourth place on the fifth series of Love Island 2019.

She said before entering the villa: “My worst trait would be that I talk over people… a lot! I even notice myself doing it.”

Maura also said she was looking for an honest and confident guy who can make her laugh, and it appeared Curtis Pritchard did just that in the villa as he impressed her with his latin ballroom moves.

The pair weren’t originally paired up, but sparks flew after Curtis broke up with Amy Hart in the villa.

After finishing fourth place and heading back to England together, these two looked as though their relationship was going from strength to strength.

But at the beginning of 2020, the pair decided to split due to Curtis being accused of cheating - something which he strongly denies.

TV fame

After appearing on Love Island Maura went on to regularly appear on This Morning, presenting an agony aunt segment.

In 2020, she appeared on the twelfth series of Dancing On Ice with professional dance partner Alexander Demetriou.  She was eliminated in week seven.

Maura has also appeared on celebrity game shows including Celebrity Juice, I'll Get This and The Wheel.

In September 2021, it was announced that she would be presenting the Irish version of Glow Up: Britain's Next Make-Up Star.

Since 2022, Maura has been part of the Love Island USA presenting team.

In November 2024, The Sun exclusively revealed how Maura had been snapped up for I'm A Celebrity 2024.

A Jungle insider said: "With Tommy Fury pulling out it gave show bosses the opportunity to look at other Love Island stars and Maura stood out as the perfect candidate.

"She'll bringing a bit of glamour to the jungle and make a brilliant campmate because she's got a great sense of humour and is bound to get on with everyone."

Dating life

Following her split from Curtis, Maura confirmed that she was dating fellow islander Chris Taylor in November 2020.

However, just a few months later they announced they had split.

Things got pretty serious between Maura and Strictly Come Dancing’s heartthrob Giovanni Pernice a year later with reports of them planning on moving in together.

But sadly, news broke that they’d split in October of the same year.

In 2022, Maura was seen kissing Towie and Love Island star Joey Essex at the Pride of Britain Awards.

The snaps of their intimate moment instantly made waves online, but Maura has casually dismissed the relationship rumours and wrote: "It's how I greet people".

After this, the TV star was in a year long relationship with stuntman Bobby Holland Hanton, but the couple split in March 2024.

In August 2024, Maura was spotted getting cosy with Pete Wicks leading to speculation they are dating.

The pair were spotted kissing passionately at a hotel in Soho.

The couple have been inseparable ever since.