Maura Higgins has made a rare comment about her feelings for Pete Wicks.
The Love Island star, 34, admitted to kissing The Only Way Is Essex favourite, 36, during a recent episode of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! and revealed she was missing him while in Australia.
Higgins, who was evicted from the ITV reality show three days before the final, was teased by Alison Hammond about the blossoming romance during a post elimination interview on This Morning.
“He loves you and you love him,” Hammond grinned as she squeezed in a question about Higgins’ love life as their interview drew to a close on Friday, 6 December.
“Didn’t take you long to ask that question Alison did it,” Higgins joked back.
“Do you know what you do forget about the cameras and I do like to keep things private,” the Love Island star said of her comments about Wicks in the I’m a Celeb jungle.
“But let’s be real, I said it. I said the words I miss him,” she admitted. “I do miss him – like I missed all my friends and family – and honestly, he’s been so supportive.”
Higgins joked Hammond could be a bridesmaid if she married The Only Way Is Essex star in the future.
“For god’s sake,” she laughed in response to the TV presenter’s excitement.
Reflecting on the time she spent apart from Wicks over the past fortnight, the reality star said: “Honestly, I didn’t know if he was still in Strictly [Come Dancing].
“I’m so proud of him, he’s proud of me and I can’t wait to see him when I get back.”
Wicks is currently partnered with pro dancer Jowita Przystał, and has continued to escape elimination from the dancing competition, despite being at the bottom of the leaderboard for three weeks running.
The TOWIE star has shown his support for Higgins while she’s been on I’m a Celebrity, and uploaded an Instagram story urging his followers to vote for her.
He said in his post: “I’ve been George of the Jungle but now its time to vote for Maura of the Jungle.”
Higgins’ social media accounts are currently being run by her family while she’s away in the jungle – but they showed their support for Wicks in return as they shared a clip of him and Przystał on the competition.
“Best of luck tonight @p_wicks01 we are all supporting you,” they said.
Speaking about the status of her relationship with Wicks on I’m a Celeb, Higgins said they were “seeing” each other but were not an official couple yet.
The reality star admitted that she had never been in love, but said the outcome might be different this time because they’ve “known each other for a long time”.
Reverend Richard Coles added: “You’d know if he was an a**hole or not, by now,” to which Higgins replied: “Yeah, he’s not an a**hole.”