Watch: DWTS Producer Shares Casting Update After Maura Higgins, Ciara Miller Join Season 35
Maura Higgins will always be faithful to her friends.
A month after the Traitors alum was announced as one of the first celebrity cast members for season 35 of Dancing With the Stars, Maura shared her thoughts on potential pro partners, revealing why Gleb Savchenko is the one dancer she really hopes won’t be spinning her across the ballroom this fall.
“I’d be happy with anyone except Gleb,” she told E! News in an exclusive interview about her new Wingstop partnership. “That’s only because I’m loyal and I’m friends with Brooks [Nader].”
After pledging her allegiance to Gleb’s ex, Maura noted, “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,” she added. “I’m like, no thank you.”
As for her “dream” DWTS partner, the Love Island alum does have someone in mind: three-time Mirrorball champion Mark Ballas, who was her costar on Traitors season four.
“I even get nervous of saying it because I see all these videos and they’re like, ‘Mark! Mark!'” Maura joked. “My accent is crazy but I do want Mark.”
And along with not wanting Gleb as a partner, Maura is also very much not interested in having a showmance like her pal Brooks, who briefly dated the Russian dancer after they were paired up on season 33 of DWTS.
“Absolutely not,” Maura replied when asked her thoughts about taking a relationship with her partner off the dance floor. “You’re not getting a showmance from me at all. It’s not happening.”
“I’m single, I’m celibate and I’m bloody happy,” she added. “I’m so happy. I just don’t want it.”
And while she’s looking forward to putting on her dancing shoes, the former Love Island USA: Aftersun host stands by her previous comments about deciding to be a “blank canvas” and not doing any of her own preparation for DWTS.
As Maura explained, “I don’t want to pick up any I don’t know bad techniques.”
Wingstop
Although it’ll still be a few months before Dancing With the Stars fans will see the reality star hit the dance floor, she’s already feeling “a bit nervous.”
“Every time I talk about it, I can feel it in my belly,” she explained. “I’m like, ‘Oh god!’ It’s probably because it’s out of my comfort zone. I’ve never danced. I’ve got no experience, but I’m going to give it my all.”
She’s also giving her all to another juicy project.
After all, the 35-year-old is teaming up with the food chain Wingstop for its first-ever rewards program, Club Wingstop. In addition to learning about early flavor drops, limited merchandise and real-world experiences, members can grab Maura’s limited edition “Club in a Box,” full of luxury bag-inspired essentials, beginning June 1 on wingstop.com for just 94 cents.
“I just had a lot of fun,” Maura said of her collaboration, adding that she’s been “a big fan” of Wingstop for “so long.”
And while a showmance is the last thing on Maura’s mind as she waits to see who her Dancing With the Stars partner will be, read on to see past pairs whose relationships went beyond the ballroom.
—Reporting by Casey Austin and Adrianna Fletes
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