Maura Higgins has shared a candid selfie on Instagram in which she appears close to tears, admitting she has been finding her time on Dancing With The Stars difficult. The former Love Island and I'm A Celebrity star, who is now a familiar face in the US, posted the emotional update while resting on a grey sofa in a zip-up jacket.
Alongside the picture, she wrote: "Struggling so much this week," followed by a crying face emoji. The post comes after Maura impressed viewers with a recent Paso Doble alongside her professional dance partner, Mark Ballas.
Fan Praise for Recent Performances
The pair's dramatic routine earned praise from fans, many of whom felt the reality star deserved higher scores from the judges. One viewer described their performance as "The most amazing performance ever", while another called it "incredible! camp! historical! iconic!" A third questioned the judges' marks, asking: "Where were the 10's?"
Despite the positive reaction, Maura revealed after the performance that she had burst into tears backstage, admitting how much the routine had meant to her. The 35th season of Dancing With The Stars has seen Maura take on a fresh challenge as she swaps reality TV for the ballroom.
Partnership With Mark Ballas
Maura and Mark became close friends when they appeared together on The Traitors US, which filmed last year and aired in January. Maura had continued to name Mark as her preferred partner in interviews before the show started, teasing that she would be 'a total nightmare' during rehearsals but insisting that he would be able to 'handle her'.
Maura first rose to fame in 2019 when she appeared on the fifth series of Love Island, where she became one of the show's most memorable contestants and went on to reach the final. Since then, she has built a career in television, and her latest appearance on the US dance competition has given fans another chance to follow her journey.
Horror Movie Night Routine
Maura secured her place in next week's Dancing With The Stars after delivering a spooky performance during the show's Horror Movie Night when she took to the dance floor on Tuesday alongside Mark, performing a Contemporary routine to Gerard McMahon's Cry Little Sister from the 1987 horror film The Lost Boys.
Their dark and dramatic performance caught the attention of the judges, with Bruno Tonioli praising Maura's ability to make even the simplest outfit look impressive. "This girl, you throw a sack at her, it looks amazing," he said. Bruno also praised Maura's performance style but offered her some advice on how to develop her Contemporary technique.
"You have a fantastic lyrical quality, and you are a magnetic performer," he told her. "Now, in Contemporary, now you have to learn to get everything from the ground through the body and really get it coming from the floor." Carrie Ann Inaba agreed with her fellow judge, highlighting the way Maura brought a sense of beauty to the darker elements of the routine. "The way you make everything so alluring and beautiful, even if it's dark, it's very poetic that you do that," she said.
Derek Hough was equally impressed by Maura's stage presence, describing her as a "phenomenal performer". He added that she had made the routine "weirdly and creepily seductive", while encouraging her to work on her technique by pointing her toes and extending her arms. "But listen, you are so fun to watch. Still fun," Derek concluded.
The latest performance marks another week in the competition for Maura, who has been taking on the challenge of learning different dance styles alongside Mark.
