Settling into her plush leather seat in the first-class cabin of a transatlantic jet, Maura Higgins admired her surroundings.
Propped up on the table were a £17,000 Birkin bag, Chanel sunglasses, a Louis Vuitton travel set and a glass of crisp white wine – totems of the former Love Islander’s burgeoning success.
Snapping a picture for her four million Instagram followers, the 35-year-old joked: ‘It’s a daily commute at this stage,’ followed by an airplane emoji with an American flag.
Indeed, the 11-hour trip from London to Los Angeles is now a path well trodden for the Irish-born beauty. Since appearing on The Traitors US this year, she has fulfilled her ultimate dream and done what has proved impossible for so many British celebs – broken America.
‘Maura Higgins is the moment,’ said the editor of Cosmopolitan last week after Maura had spent the past month appearing on the Drew Barrymore Show and Andy Cohen’s late-night chat show, and fronting Uber US’s latest ad campaign.
Back in London, she had been appearing on comparatively minor stations such as Heart and Capital FM or ITV’s chat show, Loose Women.
The once small-time reality TV star, who found fame on Love Island in 2019, might have good reason to feel smug. She has left little behind in Britain – especially when it comes to men.
In fact, earlier this week, it was dramatically revealed that Maura’s ex-boyfriend, The Only Way is Essex star Pete Wicks, was dating his Kiss FM co-host Olivia Attwood – who also happens to be Maura’s long-term nemesis – just weeks after she split from her footballer husband Bradley Dack.
Maura Higgins, who found fame on Love Island in 2019, has spent the past month on chat shows in America, as well as fronting Uber US’s latest ad campaign. Pictured in New York
Olivia Attwood and her Kiss FM co-host Pete Wicks are dating, just weeks after she split from her husband
The news broke when pictures emerged of Pete, 37, and Olivia locking lips in a packed Soho hotel bar over the weekend.
But how does Maura feel about her ex and arch-foe being seen kissing? Friends of the Irish influencer have informed me: ‘She couldn’t care less. There is absolutely zero love lost there with Pete, and besides, she’s on to way bigger and better things. In fact, she’s laughing from across the Atlantic.’
Pete had dated Maura in the winter of 2024 while at the same time being linked to his then Strictly Come Dancing partner Jowita Przystal after an on-stage kiss.
Yet for months Maura refused to confirm their romance, even when I asked her point-blank in an interview ahead of her I’m A Celebrity stint. It raised the question: was she ashamed of the liaison?
As with most reality stars, Maura is not shy of a press opportunity, but she did not want to even hint that she was seeing the Towie star turned podcast host for months and refused to conduct a ‘showmance’ – a romance that can be put to mutually beneficial lucrative use.
As one friend put it: ‘The relationship was real for Maura but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t considered low-rent for her.’
It was later suggested that she discovered Pete was messaging ‘loads’ of girls online and called it off after six months together.
When leaving a restaurant alone on Valentine’s Day, Maura was asked by a fan where he was, and she simply said: ‘I don’t know, probably cheating.’
Olivia Attwood married footballer Bradley Dack in 2023, but the pair separated earlier this year
Pete was dating Maura in 2024. It was reported that she discovered he was messaging girls online and called it quits after six months together
One friend said: ‘The fact that he’s now dating Olivia Attwood is laughable, Maura knows she dodged a bad boyfriend there,’ a sly reference to the ITV show of her fellow former Love Islander host, Olivia Attwood’s Bad Boyfriends.
It comes after Maura faced relentless accusations that she was ‘copying’ the 34-year-old’s career.
Both women started out as grid girls for Monster Energy – skimpily clad brand ambassadors who attend motorsport events – with Maura joining two years after Olivia in 2014.
Olivia first appeared on Love Island in 2017, two years before Maura, and they were signed by the same PR agency, Dundas Communications, after coming out of the villa.
Tensions began when Maura was signed up to I’m A Celebrity two years after Olivia’s dreams of doing the show were dashed when she flew to Australia but had to pull out at the last minute due to failing the medical check.
An insider revealed it was after this that Olivia is said to have found the fact they were both being put forward for the same jobs awkward and dropped Dundas, shortly followed by Maura leaving the agency, too.
Sources claim Olivia was ‘incredibly irritated’ last year when Maura signed with Align, which specialises in developing careers in the US, and is behind the careers of mega stars Madonna and Selena Gomez.
Both Olivia and Maura were set on breaking America, but this is where their paths split.
Maura at the Golden Globes earlier this year in California. She still calls England home after purchasing a £1.2million house in Essex last year but is rarely there due to demands in the US
At the beginning of the year, Olivia hired a former publicist for ITV as she was being tipped to be the next Holly Willoughby.
But Maura has landed an even greater deal across the Atlantic joining Creative Artists Agency.
The Hollywood giant represents the likes of Harry Styles, Olivia Dean, Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX, to name a few of its 2,500-strong client roster.
Maura’s career in America had prospered after landing the hosting role on its version of Love Island in 2024, but has gone stratospheric since she placed second on the cultural phenomenon, The Celebrity Traitors US, at the beginning of this year.
An industry insider told me: ‘It’s been an eight-year-long mission for Maura, but she’s finally done it, they absolutely love her out there. It’s now a struggle to book her for any events in the UK.’
The influencer still calls England home after she purchased a £1.2million house in Essex last year but is rarely there due to demands in the US.
Meanwhile, Olivia is a constant face at events in the UK. She has established herself on the ITV presenting circuit, fronting multiple shows for the broadcaster in the past year.
But despite signing with a US publicist, she has only dipped her toe in American showbiz waters – recently travelling to New York for a brand deal with River Island and appearing on the Call Her Daddy podcast in 2022.
Perhaps the biggest sign that the tables have turned between the two women is this latest revelation that she is dating Pete Wicks, Maura’s former flame.
Olivia now appears to be unashamed that she is the one following in Maura’s footsteps as the pair very publicly announced they were together by standing up in Soho’s Flute Bar at 10pm last Saturday and kissing, apparently cheered on by their group of friends.
Maura was wrapped up in her own kissing palaver at the Brit Awards last year when she was pictured locking lips with her former I’m A Celebrity co-star, Danny Jones of the band McFly, who is married with a son.
It was a scandal that threatened briefly to topple her career.
But as one source close to the star said: ‘Maura got her head down and decided to focus on work, it was this that made her ramp up mission America, she didn’t want to be known as just some woman who had kissed a married McFly star, and her hard work has paid off.’
And now, as a result, the reality star, who revealed she went celibate for a year, is going to be surrounded by a very different group of men after she is rumoured to have landed one of the most coveted roles on American television: The Bachelorette.
There are whispers she is coming on to help salvage the show after it transpired its latest celebrity, the Secret Lives of Mormon Housewives star Taylor Frankie Paul, is being investigated for domestic violence.
The US TikTok star’s series was pulled by ABC at the last minute earlier this week.
And now Maura ‘the moment’ Higgins is tipped to be the next star of the popular US television show, which sees one woman date a group of men and eliminate them week by week until she chooses a potential partner.
Underneath the gossip page Deux Moi’s post hinting at her latest role, Maura simply commented with a set of eye emojis.
Well it won’t be the only set of eyes watching the show if she appears on it, with a loyal following of 3.5million viewers, the Bachelorette would be sure to cement her place across the Atlantic.
The question is, will Olivia and Pete be watching?
