Maura Higgins's unfiltered takedown of her Love Island co-star Tom Walker cemented her status as a reality icon before rising to fame in the US and mingling with stars across the pond

Maura Higgins shook up the villa when she entered as a bombshell during Love Island series five in 2019, almost immediately finding a place in the nation's hearts.

Her fiery and straight-talking personality made her an instant hit with viewers, after both shocking and amusing the public with her jaw-dropping one-liners and witty comebacks.

Since appearing on the ITV2 dating show almost seven years ago, Maura's career has gone from strength to strength with various TV appearances in the UK.

Months after her successful Love Island stint, Maura appeared on Dancing On Ice at the beginning of 2020, Cooking With The Stars in 2022 and I'm A Celeb in 2024.

Along with her success at home, she has also branched out across the pond thanks to a hosting gig on Love Island USA: Aftersun.

She also similarly impressed American viewers during her unapologetic appearance on Celebrity Traitors US, aiding her star to rise like never before. 

Maura mingled with US stars on Saturday night as she attended the Primark brunch at Cavaña rooftop in Mission Bay, San Francisco ahead of the Super Bowl.

After sharing her plans to crack America, Maura has now been mingling with the likes of Kylie Jenner's BFF Stassie Karanikolaou.

Following her popularity spike in the US, videos of Maura's most iconic moments in the Love Island UK villa have resurfaced - including several brutal takedowns.

Arguably Maura's best moment on her series was her withering verbal assault on her co-star Tom Walker, who she overheard telling the boys he wanted to see if she was 'all mouth', before spending the night together.

Before heading to the Hideaway together, Tom was chatting with the other boys, and in earshot of Maura, said: 'It'll be interesting to see if she's all mouth or not,' referring crudely to her being open about sex.

Maura overheard, stopped getting ready, and confronted him immediately.

He told Maura that it was a miscommunication and that he was just repeating what the other boys said.

Maura didn’t accept this, she stood her ground, telling him he shouldn’t have spoken about her that way and that she didn’t want to be disrespected.

The Love Island legend mocked Tom for stumbling over his words and told him he had made her feel like a 'piece of s***'.

In a separate confrontation, Maura asked Tom why he got into bed with her the night before and kissed her when he thinks she is 'an attention seeker' and 'cringey'.

As he once again fought to defend himself, she said: 'Are you joking me? How dare you embarrass me!'

Elsewhere during her Love Island journey, Maura set her sights on Tommy Fury, who is now in a long-term relationship with their co-star and her friend Molly-Mae Hague. 

During the series, Maura was accused of 'sexually harassing' Tommy when she attempted to kiss him in uncomfortable scenes.

Viewers saw Maura, who was then a newcomer to the villa on the ITV2 series, fix her sights on boxer Tommy, who had been coupled-up with Molly-Mae.

While Tommy dodged her attempts at seduction, the undeterred model later climbed on top of him, attempted to kiss him and asked if she 'turned him on'.

Despite the hundreds of complaints Ofcom decided not to investigate, with a spokeswoman saying: 'We took into account the context in which it occurred, including the nature of Maura and Tommy's relationship, before and after.'

Tommy declined Maura's advances and went on to finish in second place with Molly and the pair are now expecting their second child together.

Maura has remained close with the pair, often referring to Molly as her 'best friend'.

It comes after Maura revealed she goes through a man's phone just a week into dating him because she has 'serious trust issues'.

She said she has turned into an 'investigator' when it comes to dating men after years of 'men doing her dirty'.

Last year, Maura took a public swipe at her ex-boyfriend Pete Wicks and suggested he cheated on her after she discovered texts to other women on his phone.

Insiders told the Daily Mail at the time that Pete was never unfaithful to Maura and was hurt by the accusations. 

In an interview with Glamour Magazine, Maura detailed her red, green and beige flags and said: 'I'd say my biggest red flag in a relationship is I've got serious trust issues. 

'If I'm dating you and it's only a week in, I've already gone through your phone. I've turned into a bit of an investigator because men have done me dirty. 

'So like, I mean, I'd probably say it's a beige flag, but we call it red.

'We call it red because it's not okay to go through someone's phone, but I'm going to do it again.'

TV star Maura has regularly dated in the public eye. 

She fell for Curtis Pritchard on Love Island before dating Chris Taylor, whom she met on the same series.

Following their split, Maura was in a relationship with axed Strictly professional Giovanni Pernice, but they parted ways after four months.

After being spotted sharing a kiss at the National TV Awards in 2022, Maura and TOWIE's Joey Essex denied that they were romantically involved.

In March 2024, Maura split from stuntman Bobby Holland Hanton after ten months together.

Maura was then seen sharing a 'drunken kiss' with McFly's Danny Jones - who has been married to his wife Georgia for over a decade - as they attended Universal Music's BRIT Awards afterparty. 

Most recently, Maura has sparked romance rumours with her Traitors US co-star Rob Rauch, 27.

Fans have picked up on apparent chemistry between Maura and fellow player Rob, hoping they get together. 

While appearing on Andy Cohen's Watch What Happens Live, the Irish star broke her silence on this speculation as she was quizzed about their relationship. 

It saw Andy ask her: 'The internet wants you and Rob to get together, and?'

To which Maura responded: 'I saw, there's a lot of videos on TikTok at the moment.'

Continuing, Andy followed up with: 'And what do you think?' 

Maura coyly replied: 'I mean, you’ll have to watch the show to see if that happened.' 

In the game, Maura is playing as a Faithful while Rob is secretly one of the Traitors.

The pair knew each other through Love Island US, where Rob appeared as a contestant in 2023 and 2024. 

Meanwhile, Maura began hosting the spin-off show Aftersun from 2024 onwards.