From the Love Island UK villa to The Traitors US castle, Maura Higgins is now headed to the ballroom for Dancing With the Stars season 35, and she knows which pro dancer she wants as a partner … Mark Ballas!
Your friends from Taste of Reality got the tea at Hulu’s Get Real event in Beverly Hills on April 22nd.
Maura’s big news:
“I was actually going through New York’s JFK Airport,” began Maura, explaining how she learned she landed DWTS. “I froze in the middle of the airport while there were so many people going past.” The Irish beauty continued, “I was in tears. I was like, ‘Are you kidding?’”
Maura told Bustle, “It felt like a surreal moment because I wanted it so bad for so long,” she said. “I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t speak. Dancing With the Stars was the only other show that I wanted to do as a contestant. After that, I’m probably done. Never say never, because I don’t want to be that person, but it’s the only other show on my vision board.”
The Birkin is getting a bit shy now because she’s getting a lot of attention. I don’t know if she’s ready for the ballroom, but you never know. She might make an appearance. I’m excited for the costumes, though, because they look so hot.”
Maura joked about her “two left feet:”
She wished her future partner “Good luck. You’re going to need it. You’re also going to have a lot of fun, but it’s going to be hard work. I do have breakdowns a lot because I’m very hard on myself. If they can deal with that, they’re going to have a good time.”
Never forget, both Maura and DWTS pro Mark Ballas competed on The Traitors together. Mark knew how badly Maura wanted to be cast on DWTS. “When I got the news, I texted him, ‘I’m going to beg for you. I really want you to be my partner.’ He was like, ‘Let’s just pray. It has to happen.’ He knows that I will give it my all.”
Regardless of who she’s partnered with, “I’m going to be happy,” declared Maura. “But, Mark would be perfect. That’s the dream, because we already have that brother-sister relationship. We have a lot of fun together. We just take the piss out of each other.” Maura added, “We would have such a laugh. And I feel like Mark understands me. He knows that if I’m getting in my head, he’d be able to get me out of it.”
