Maura Higgins and Giovanni Pernice smiling
TV

Maura Higgins appears on ITV’s Cooking With the Stars

She's a loved-up WAG these days...

Love Island is finally back on our telly screens and that means contestants of old, like Maura Higgins, will be getting their faces out and about too.

No one likes to be forgotten about when a lorry-load of fresh meat arrives, do they?

This weekend the lovely Maura, who finished in fourth place back in 2019, makes an appearance on Cooking With the Stars on ITV.

Maura, left Love Island with now ex-boyfriend, Curtis Pritchard.

In fact, her most enduring relationship has been with fellow 2019 alumni Molly-Mae, who is still going strong with Tommy Fury.

Maura Higgins in black racy dress
Maura starred in Love Island in 2019 (Credit: Splash News)

When was Maura Higgins on Love Island?

After breaking up with Curtis, Maura has gone on to be a successful TV personality, model and business entrepreneur – Fanny Flutters PJ collab with Ann Summers, anyone?

Maura even took part in the 2020 series of Dancing on Ice. She was pretty good too.

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Curtis and Maura split in March 2020, with Maura announcing on Instagram: “Curtis and I have made the decision to separate.

“We enjoyed a great experience from our time in the villa and want to thank everyone for supporting our relationship.

“There is no easy way to get through a breakup and no bad feeling on either side. We tried to make it work but it wasn’t to be and I wish Curtis nothing but the best for the future.”

Unfortunately that pesky lockdown hit shortly after, leaving Maura (and the rest of us singletons) at a bit of a loose end when it came to dating.

She was briefly linked to fellow Islander, Chris Taylor, but again their love was not set to go the distance.

Read more: Love Island ‘hit by hundreds of complaints over Gemma Owen’

Then in 2021, Maura met Giovanni Pernice of Strictly Come Dancing fame.

It’s the celebrity hook-up of dreams and the couple graced magazine covers, gossip columns and social media pages for months.

There were even stories about how Gio had fancied Maura long before he even met her.

Nawwwww.

When did Maura Higgins and Giovanni Pernice split?

But after a summer of love, everything began to go wrong for the world’s most insanely beautiful couple.

There were rumours that, as Gio started rehearsals for Strictly, Maura was getting super paranoid about THE CURSE OF STRICTLY.

Gio had been partnered with gorgeous EastEnders star Rose Ayling-Ellis, and there was a very close bond between the two from day one.

There was absolutely no wrong-doing and this should be the end of any speculation.

Reports also stated that Maura had been left ‘heartbroken’ after Gio dumped her, as she didn’t see it coming.

Gio’s official statement for the pair explained, saying: “I wanted to say a couple of things…

“Firstly, great relationships with great people can come to a natural end. This has been the case for me recently.

“There was absolutely no wrong-doing and this should be the end of any speculation.”

Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice in black tie dress
Tensions were thought to begin when Gio was paired with Rose (Credit: Splash News)

Who are they dating now?

Maura is now dating Milton Keynes Dons footballer, Connor Wickham.

Meanwhile, Gio is rumoured to have dated 2022 Love Island lovely Tasha Ghouri, and was also linked to Made in Chelsea’s Verity Bowditch late last year.

But, with nothing confirmed, he’s still officially on the market.

Form an orderly queue now.

Behind us.

Catch Maura on Cooking with the Stars on ITV Sunday at 10.25

Love Island's Maura Gives Viewers Relationship Advice | This Morning

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