Former Love Island star Maura Higgins has bid farewell to the UK with a raucous leaving party as she prepares to move to Los Angeles to compete on Dancing With The Stars. The move caps off a hugely successful year in the United States for Higgins, who is set to compete on the US version of Strictly Come Dancing.
Before flying across the Atlantic, Higgins said goodbye to her friends with a day out that included an afternoon singing karaoke. She also shared a photo of American-themed gifts given by her friends, including an AI-generated picture showing herself holding the Dancing With The Stars trophy.
Higgins posted a selfie with her friends, including Dazz Reece, Sophie Laura, photographer Liat, podcast presenter Luke Hamnett and makeup artist Krystal Dawn. She captioned the post: "It's my last day in the UK, love my girls and gays."
The star then reposted a video of herself showing off her singing skills, with Hamnett joking in his own post that he "hoped her dancing was better than her singing".
Dancer pairing controversy
While Higgins previously shared her excitement about appearing on the hit show, she sparked controversy by naming one professional dancer she does not want to be paired with. Higgins shared her hopes that she will not have to face Russian professional dancer Gleb Savchenko because she does not agree with the "way he talks about women".
Higgins said she will remain fiercely "loyal" to her best friend and former Dancing With The Stars contestant Brooks Nader, 29, who dated Savchenko. Speaking to E! News, Higgins said: "I'd be happy with anyone but Gleb. That's only because I'm loyal and I'm friends with Brooks [Nader]."
She added: "I don't really like the way he speaks about women. I don't really want to spend all my time with someone like that. I'm like, no thank you." Higgins is hoping she will instead be paired with Valentin Chmerkovskiy after teasing about them dancing together in a video.
Savchenko has since responded to Higgins, explaining that he has "never heard" of her and insisting he will not "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'd genuinely never heard of this girl, Maura, so I'm certainly not going to lose any sleep over the opinions of someone I've never met. It's odd to publicly attack someone you've never even met, but if that's how she wants to make headlines before the show starts, that's her choice. I'll stay focused and leave the unnecessary drama to everyone else."
Past relationship details
Savchenko and Nader endured a "messy" split after they sparked a romance during their time partnered on the show in 2024. Higgins' comments about Savchenko come after he branded his ex-girlfriend Nader "the worst sex" he has 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. Savchenko also claimed the Louisiana-born beauty often took things to a rough level that he was not comfortable with.
The duo began seeing one another in the fall of 2024 when they were partners on Dancing With The Stars, with a romance quickly forming. However, Nader intimated in an October 2024 TikTok clip that they had parted ways.
"Gleb got way too comfortable, especially in the amount of time he was spending at Brooks' home, to a point it had begun to concern Brooks' people and family close to her," an insider told US Weekly regarding the split in the fall of 2024.
Things appeared on track again the next month, when Nader welcomed Savchenko to her family's Thanksgiving dinner. The duo parted ways again in April last year, with Savchenko telling Page Six he was caught off-guard by their split.
