I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! star Maura Higgins has become embroiled in a war of words with Olivia Attwood, who has accused the Irish model of copying her career and telling lies on TV.
MailOnline can reveal the former Love Island stars’ feud has been rumbling under the surface for a number of years but Maura’s actions during her stint in the Australian jungle has sparked Olivia to speak out against her rival, courtesy of some cryptic Instagram posts.
But a friend of Olivia’s has told MailOnline exactly why the documentary-maker broke her silence on the rift, which is showing no signs of going away.
Olivia, 33, who’s married to footballer Bradley Dack, believes Maura, 34, is attempting to usurp her as ITV’s Love Island golden girl by using the ‘same script’ that earned her success, including her reasons for entering the ITV2 dating show – ‘revenge on an ex’ – as well as signing with the same PR company.
And Olivia’s friend believes Maura is bending the truth to make her sound more sassy on TV, including telling campmates she scrubbed a toilet with her ex’s toothbrush in revenge for cheating before going on Love Island, a tail she previously attributed to her split from Curtis Pritchard when that relationship had more relevance.
The models share many career parallels having both started off as ‘Monster Energy Girls’ before signing up for Love Island and then I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, but it was Olivia who was first to appear on both shows – although had to leave the jungle early on medical grounds – and now she feels Maura is ‘piggy-backing’ on her success, which she promises to expose in a tell-all book.
Tension between the pair was also evident during a festive event hosted by makeup brand Space NK at Claridge’s days before Maura flew to Australia, with sources saying they barely spoke.
A friend told MailOnline: ‘A lot of people are feeling confused by the story Maura told on Sunday night’s episode of I’m A Celeb and wonder if she’s telling tales for airtime.
‘She explained to her campmates that she signed up to Love Island to get revenge on an ex-boyfriend who was unfaithful and how she used his toothbrush to clean the toilet.
‘But she said the same when she split from Curtis Pritchard, alleging to her followers she used his toothbrush to clean the bog following their 2020 breakup.
‘Olivia was cast on Love Island, seeking revenge on Bradley Dack, which worked out in the best way possible as now they’re happily married.
‘There’s definitely a feeling Maura is attempting to carve out her career using Olivia’s incredible success as a guide.’
Olivia hinted at her annoyance towards Maura on Instagram this week, writing: ‘One day I’m going to write a book and some of the stuff I have managed to keep (zip emoji) on over the years. It will blow your f***ing mind.
‘You can try to hire all the same people, regurgitate my stories as your own, study the playbook, follow the recipe blah blah but it will *never* taste the same. That’s all.’
MailOnline has contacted Maura and Olivia’s representatives for comment.
Olivia’s outburst followed Sunday’s episode of the jungle where Maura spoke to fellow campmate Jane Moore about the reasons she signed up to Love Island in 2019.
Maura said: ‘So, I had a boyfriend at the time and this guy, I was like oh I really like him and I was chatting to my best friend and I said I’m not going to break up with him to go on a reality TV show, I actually really like him. She said, ‘what if you turn it down and then he’s up to no good’ and I said well would he be though? I said, maybe I need to go through his phone.
‘Anyway, that night, I got the phone, I opened it… I didn’t have a clue who that man was. I said, I’m going to get revenge on him.
‘I had a plan and no word of a lie when he went to the gym the next day, I got his toothbrush, and I filmed myself scrubbing, he had a dentist appointment that day, and I filmed it, in the dirty part.’
Maura previously claimed that she cleaned a toilet with ex-boyfriend Curtis Pritchard’s toothbrush, who she met on Love Island, posting on Instagram after their 2020 split, ‘To all the f***boys (oops)’ alongside a photo of a toothbrush and toilet.
Olivia has regularly told the story of why she agreed to star on Love Island, even using her past experience as the inspiration behind her ITV dating show Bad Boyfriends.
At the beginning of the show, she narrated: ‘I’m Olivia Attwood. A few years ago, I walked into the world’s most famous villa with just one thought on my mind… Revenge. I wanted to get back at my ex bad boyfriend Bradley Dack and it worked…’
The Loose Woman, who has been regularly described as ITV’s ‘face of the future’, found fame on Love Island in 2017, two years before Maura.
She became the first former Islander to be cast on I’m A Celeb in 2022 but due to medical reasons was forced to leave the jungle after 24 hours, which she says still devastates her.
Olivia has since become the host of her own dating series Bad Boyfriends and continues to film her documentary series, which includes Getting Filthy Rich and The Price of Perfection.
Her podcast, So Wrong It’s Right, has also seen the star interview guests such as jungle campmate Tulisa, Strictly’s Pete Wicks and Katie Price.
While Olivia has amassed a loyal following of 2.2million Instagram followers, Maura surpasses her total with 3.9million.
She has garnered a huge global fanbase after becoming the social host of Love Island US as well as their Aftersun programme.
Maura became a fan favourite of the UK series due to her no-nonsense approach to dating and feminist standpoint after calling out one of the male contestants who said ‘it will be interesting to see if she’s all mouth’ following news they would share a bed together in the private Hideaway.
The moment went viral after Maura responded by saying: ‘What did you just say? You did not just say that? Are you f***ing joking? That’s a d***head comment.’
Maura was drafted in as a late signing this season and on Tuesday night’s show was seen screaming during the latest Bushtucker Trial.
She faced her fear of spiders, crawling inside narrow tunnels to discover codes, working alongside Jane who in water used Maura’s information to break locks and retrieve stars for camp.
