Maura Higgins will dance with Strictly icon Shirley Ballas’ son Mark in the upcoming series of Dancing With The Stars, it was revealed today.
The Love Island star, who was recently announced as the host of the Blind Date reboot, already knows the professional dancer well.
Maura and Mark appeared on the American version of Celebrity Traitors earlier this year and are now taking on a new challenge.
Maura was excited to get started when she arrived for the first day of Dancing With The Stars rehearsals last month
The Irish star, who first found fame in Britain on Love Island, beamed and waved at fans gathered outside a dance studio in Los Angeles.
Maura Higgins will dance with Mark from Strictly icon Shirley Ballas in the upcoming series of Dancing With The Stars, it was revealed today
She looked stunning showing off her impressive abs in a lemon yellow crop top paired with loose tousers and slippers.
The fashion fan carried an oversized Chanel bag, which cost around £8,520 and was filled with all her dancing essentials.
While Maura has shared her excitement at the chance to appear on the hit US show, a spin-off of Strictly, she has already sparked controversy by revealing the one professional dancer she doesn’t want to be paired with.
Maura shared her hope that she doesn’t have to face Russian professional dancer Gleb Savchenko because she doesn’t agree with the ‘way he talks about women’.
She said she will remain fiercely “loyal” to her best friend and former DWTS contestant Brooks Nader, who dated Gleb.
Gleb has since responded to Maura, who rose to fame in the US earlier this year with her performance in The Traitors, explaining that he has “never heard of the star” and insisting that he “won’t lose any sleep over the opinion of someone I’ve never met.”
In a statement to the Daily Mail, he said: ‘Until I was asked to comment on this story, I had honestly never heard of this girl, Maura, so I certainly won’t lose any sleep over the opinion of someone I’ve never met.
‘It’s strange to publicly attack someone you’ve never met, but if she wants to make headlines like that before the show starts, that’s her choice.
“I stay focused and leave the unnecessary drama to everyone else.”
Gleb and Brooks had a ‘messy’ breakup after rekindling a romance while working together on the show in 2024.
Maura told E! News: ‘I would be happy with anyone, except Gleb. That’s only because I’m loyal and friends with Brooks [Nader].’
Maura shared her hope that she won’t be linked to professional dancer Gleb Savchenko because she doesn’t agree with the “way he talks about women,” including his ex Brooks Nader, who Maura is friends with (Gleb and Brooks pictured in 2024)
She added: ‘I don’t really like the way he talks about women. I don’t want to spend all my time with someone like that. I’m like, ‘No, thank you.’
Maura hopes she will instead be linked to Valentin Chmerkovskiy after previously dancing with him for a promo video.
Maura’s comments about Gleb come after he branded his ex-girlfriend Brooks the “worst sex” he’s ever had.
“When I dated her, it was pretty bad. Probably the worst sex of my life,” the ballroom dancer claimed to Dakota Mortensen, ex of reality TV star Taylor Frankie Paul.
Gleb too claimed that the Louisiana-born beauty often took things to a rough level that he was not comfortable with.
They started seeing each other in the fall of 2024 when they were partners on Dancing With the Stars, with it quickly becoming clear that a romance was developing.
But Brooks announced in an October 2024 TikTok clip that they had split.
“Gleb became way too comfortable, especially with the amount of time he spent at Brooks’ house, to the point where he started to worry about Brooks’ people and family close to her,” an insider shared. American weekly of the couple’s divorce in the fall of 2024.
Things seemed to be back on track the following month, when Brooks welcomed Gleb to her family’s Thanksgiving dinner.
The duo broke up again in April last year, with Gleb saying Page six he was blindsided by their split.
