Maura Higgins confirms romance with Strictly star

Former Love Island contestant Maura Higgins has confirmed her romance with Strictly Come Dancing star Giovanni Pernice.

The Irish former grid girl shared a photo of them embracing by the sea with her 3.2 million Instagram followers, captioning the photo: “I’m yours” and adding a love heart emoji.

Italian dancer Pernice, who has appeared on BBC One’s Strictly since 2015, posted a similar photo of them on his own account and wrote: “You’re mine.”

Fellow Love Island stars Molly-Mae Hague, Lucie Donlan and Luke Mabbott were among those sending their congratulations.

Neil Jones, another professional dance partner on Strictly, quipped: “You two are so cute. Please name your first child after me.”

Earlier this week, Higgins shared a photo on her Instagram Stories showing her holding the hand of an unknown man at dinner, prompting her followers to speculate that it was Pernice’s.

She first found fame on the 2019 series of Love Island, when she was paired up with Curtis Pritchard, and she has since appeared on Dancing On Ice.

In May, she announced she had split from Chris Taylor, who she had been in a relationship with since late 2020.

Taylor had also appeared on Love Island but was a late arrival to the series and left the show with Harley Brash.