Maura Higgins reveals 'promise' she stuck to on I'm A Celebrity as Pete Wicks addresses support in 'different' relationship

Maura Higgins has revealed the 'promise' she made to herself - and stuck to - during her I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here stint as she spoke about her personal development since shooting to fame in the Love Island villa.

Maura, 34, appeared on Love Island’s fifth series in 2019 alongside Molly-Mae and Tommy Fury. She coupled up with Curtis Pritchard, and the pair landed fourth place.

Her most recent reality venture saw her head Down Under and join 11 other famous faces in the I'm A Celeb jungle. She was a latecomer to the camp during this year's run of the ITV reality show alongside Reverend Richard Coles. The pair soon settled in and their quickly-formed close bond made them popular among I'm A Celeb viewers.

Maura was also tipped to win the much-loved programme but towards the end of the series, after missing out on bagging immunity in a new show twist, Maura found herself with the fewest votes from the public alongside fellow Irish star Barry McGuigan and they left in sixth and fifth place respectively.

Now, Maura has reflected on how her experience on I’m A Celeb differed from Love Island, sharing that she has “definitely matured” since her time on the hit dating show.

Speaking to Heat as part of their No Filter, the reality star said: "I definitely learned that I’m a lot stronger than I thought, like I’ve always known I’m strong, but with bugs and stuff, I was a nervous wreck. And I didn’t know what was going to happen with the trials and stuff like that.

"But I did promise myself not to say ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here,’ and I stuck by that. So yeah, definitely a lot stronger. And I think, yeah, I’ve just learned that you can do anything you put your mind to. I don’t think I’ll ever change."

She added: "Like, I feel like I’ve definitely matured, because I don’t think I could have done ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here’ a few years ago. I think I would have moaned about absolutely everything. So, I feel like I did it at the right time."

It comes as Maura's rumoured love interest Pete Wicks has been heard opening up about their relationship in a new interview. The reality star and podcast host has opened up in a raw and emotional interview with Married at First Sight expert Paul C Brunson. While neither have ever confirmed they're an item, Pete explained things between them have become more serious recently.

Pete told Paul on the latest episode of the We Need To Talk podcast: "We spend more time with each other than we did before." He went on: "Maura and I have known each other for a long time now, about six years. We have the same sense of humour, she's super intelligent and I think that is sometimes what people don't realise about Maura.

"She's incredibly witty and we have always been there for each other in the past six years at a distance where we have always kind of been friends and been there for each other and whatever else. And that I mean is different now. We spend more time with each other than we did before. I think she's an incredible person, she was incredibly supportive to me when I was in Strictly and as I did to her when she was in the jungle.

"She's a great person so my relationship with her is that I think she's a great person and I hope that she would think that I'm alright." Paul then quizzed: "Are you great together?" to which Pete joked: "Oh I see where we are going with this Paul, it is very very nicely done. The thing is with me and Maura is, like I said, we have known each other for a long time and we have never kind of not got on..."

New episodes of Heart’s ‘No Filter’ series is available Fridays on Global Player