After coming this close to victory on The Traitors earlier this year, Love Island alum Maura Higgins is headed to the Dancing With the Stars ballroom for another shot at reality TV glory. Her pro partner is none other fellow Traitors Season 4 veteran Mark Ballas, who said Higgins expressed her interest in DWTS while they were toughing it out in the Scottish countryside.
“When we were in the castle, she told me, ‘[I’d] love to do Dancing With the Stars.’ I was like, ‘I don’t know, mate. You can’t make it through a 45-minute challenge. How are you going to make it through a five to 10 hour rehearsal?’” Ballas told Entertainment Weekly ahead of the DWTS season 25 premiere. “And her answer, I was like, ‘Fair enough.’ She was like, ‘I don’t want to carry rocks in a backpack up a mountain throwing gold pebbles at stuff … but I want to learn how to dance.’”
Fans will get to see Higgins do just that when DWTS kicks off on Tuesday, September 15. But will she have anyone special cheering her on in the ballroom? Keep reading to find out more about Higgins’ romantic history — and whether she and Rob Rausch ever connected outside the Traitors castle.
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Are Maura Higgins and Rob Rausch dating?
While competing on The Traitors Season 4, Higgins and Rausch developed a flirtatious vibe that immediately led fans to wonder whether they ever hooked up in the castle. They were both Love Island alums — Higgins of UK season 5, Rausch of USA Seasons 5 and 6 — but they also had a comfortable, friendly rapport that went well beyond the cautious relationships viewers expect on The Traitors.
That friendship worked against Higgins in the finale when Rausch convinced her to banish Eric Nam, who was one of his fellow Traitors. That left Higgins, also a Faithful, with Rausch, who took home the entire $220,800 prize pot as the last remaining Traitor.
If they’d ever had a romantic connection, that betrayal would have been reason enough to end it, but both have said their relationship on The Traitors was purely platonic and always will be.
“I’m not gonna ruin it for the viewers, but no, nothing ever happened between me and Rob,” Higgins told Us Weekly in February 2026. “I genuinely look at Rob like a brother. Literally nothing ever happened.”
Rausch backed up her story, telling the outlet: “We did not [hook up], and we will not. We are just friends. I’m touching the chair, not her leg!” (That last part was a reference to a viral Traitors clip that seemed to show Rausch affectionately stroking Higgins’ leg as they discussed strategy.)
Are Maura Higgins and Rob Rausch still friends?
Maura Higgins (L) and Rob Rausch (R) in ‘The Traitors’Photo courtesy of Peacock
A lesser woman might never have forgiven Rausch for tricking her into voting against her best interests, but Higgins immediately forgave him, understanding that they were simply playing a game. It helped that Rausch delivered on his promise to buy Higgins a Birkin with some of his winnings (and guidance from fellow Traitor Lisa Rinna).
Rausch presented Higgins with the bag during a March 2026 appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, and Higgins informed him, “You’re forgiven.”
Months later, Ballas revealed that Rausch plans to watch Higgins compete during Week 1 of DWTS — and might make a cameo appearance later on in the season.
“We’re cooking up something,” Higgins told Entertainment Weekly before the premiere. “We’re trying to make something work.”Related: Does Rob Rausch Have a Girlfriend? (And Is It Maura Higgins?!)
Does Maura Higgins have a boyfriend?
As of September 2026, Higgins is still single — and has apparently been celibate for a year and a half. “I don’t even think of it anymore,” she told Cosmopolitan of dating, noting that she had “just given up” on finding a decent romantic partner for the time being. “I’m not totally, like, saying that I’m never going to be in a relationship again,” she added, joking that she’d also make an exception for Kevin Costner.
Who did Maura Higgins date on Love Island?
Higgins appeared on Season 5 of Love Island UK in 2019, entering the villa as a bombshell. She caught the attention of Curtis Pritchard, and they exited the show together as a couple after finishing in fourth place. They split in March 2020 after around eight months together.
Higgins claimed that same month that they “never got to see each other,” telling The Sun that “it just took a toll on the relationship in the end.”
In a separate interview, she hinted that she and Pritchard might not have hit it off if they met in a more traditional setting. “You’re in this confined space and maybe you think you like someone that you probably wouldn’t on the outside,” she told The Times in January 2025. Related: ‘Traitors’ Star Fuels ‘Bachelorette’ Rumors — And She’s Not Saying No
Has Maura Higgins dated anyone else from Love Island?
Chris Taylor (L) and Maura Higgins (R)Courtesy of Instagram
After her split from Pritchard, Higgins briefly dated fellow Islander Chris Taylor, who also appeared on Season 5 of the UK series. “Turns out I fell in love with my best mate,” Taylor wrote via Instagram in November 2020, confirming their romance.
The duo announced their breakup in May 2021 after six months together. “It breaks my heart to even type this. But I wanted to let everyone know that myself and Chris have made the joint decision to end our relationship,” Higgins wrote via Instagram at the time. “There is no wrong doing on either side … we still love, care & respect each other deeply. From the minute we met each other we have been very close friends and that will never change. There is not regret. Life is about taking chances. We wanted to make this work but we have realized we work better being friends.”
Who else has Maura Higgins dated?
James Finnegan
Before she became a reality star, Higgins dated James Finnegan, whom she met at age 16 when Finnegan was working in her dad’s garage. They were together for nine years and eventually got engaged, but Higgins ultimately decided she needed to move on.
“I genuinely believe if I stayed with that partner, I would have never moved out of my hometown and did what I wanted to do with my life,” she told Cosmopolitan in March 2026. “As much as I cared for him, I knew I didn’t want to marry him or have kids with him. And I think that kind of cemented the decision for me.”
Shane McGuigan
Higgins was briefly linked to boxing coach Shane McGuigan in 2018, the year before she made her Love Island debut. They met at a match where Higgins was working as a ring girl and McGuigan was commentating for the radio. The duo reportedly dated for a year before calling it quits.
Giovanni Pernice
Higgins dated Giovanni Pernice, a Strictly Come Dancing ballroom pro, following her split from Taylor. They went public with their romance in July 2021 but had called it quits by October of that year.
Joey Essex
Higgins shared a kiss with The Only Way Is Essex star Joey Essex at the Pride of Britain Awards in October 2022, but Essex later claimed that they were just friends.
Bobby Holland Hanton
Higgins began dating stunt performer Bobby Holland Hanton (who has worked as a double for Chris Hemsworth) in 2023. They were together for around a year before splitting in March 2024.
Pete Wicks
Higgins was most recently linked to Pete Wicks, another veteran of The Only Way Is Essex, but she played down any romance after they were spotted out together several times. “I’m not [dating]. Where have you heard that? I date but I’m very much single,” she told The Mirror in November 2024. “Honestly, I just think the interest in my dating life is so boring. People go on dates. Like everyone goes on dates, but then it suddenly becomes that I am in a relationship with this person, or that person.”
Related: Maura Higgins’ Net Worth Is Soaring in 2026 — From ‘Love Island’ to ‘Dancing with the Stars’
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