Inside I’m a Celebrity stars Maura Higgins and Olivia Attwood’s ‘copycat’ careers amid ‘feud’ rumours
A SHOCK I’m A Celebrity feud erupted this week, as Olivia Attwood appeared to take a furious swipe at Maura Higgins.
Ex-campmate Olivia – who quit the jungle after just 48 hours in 2022 – told fans she was keeping a secret that would “blow your f***ing mind” as she accused someone of copying her.
She wrote: “One day I’m going to write a book and some of the stuff I have managed to keep [zipped mouth 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 blah, but it will NEVER taste the same. That’s all.”
While it was initially assumed that Olivia was referring to Maura, it turns out she was speaking about a different Love Island star altogether.
But both Olivia and Maura have had very similar careers, and Maura recently signed to the same PR company as Olivia too, leading many to speculate that Olivia was subtly referencing her. Here’s a look…
RING AND GRID GIRLS
Before finding fame on Love Island, Maura and Olivia both had careers with Monster Energy, which is when they met.
Speaking to The Sun back in 2019, Olivia said: “I know Maura. We used to work together. All I know about her is what you see.”
They’ve been pictured together a couple of times, including working for the drinks brand in all black outfits.
The pair looked like firm friends in throwback snaps, as they enjoyed their modelling careers back in 2017, just months before Olivia shot to fame on Love Island.
They’d posed for various photo shoots together, including by a pool in bikinis.
Both Olivia and Maura worked as Motorsport Grid Girls, and mixed in the same circles ahead of their Love Island fame.
LOVE ISLAND
The fact that both Olivia and Maura took part in Love Island is a given, as this is the show on which they post respectively rose to fame.
Olivia was the first to go on, and competed on the show back in 2017.
As well as looking for love, Olivia said she was taking part on the ITV2 show “for the experience”.
She explained: “This is me on my own. I want the life experience to look back on.”
Maura vs Olivia
The pair have a lot of similarities, from being grid girls to heading onto the ITV2's Love Island and becoming presenters in their own right...
Name: Maura Higgins Name: Olivia Attwood
Age: 34 Age: 33
Net worth: £3.2million Net worth: £2million
Insta followers: 3.9million Insta followers: 2.2million
Chris won her affection and the pair enjoyed a rollercoaster of a relationship.
Olivia, who is now married to footballer Bradley Dack, has since claimed that she actually went on the show after Bradley cheated on her, and that that was the driving force behind it all.
This is very similar to what happened to Maura, who revealed the real reason she signed up for the show on a recent episode of I’m A Celeb.
Maura confessed to getting revenge on her cheating ex-boyfriend, and told how she used her ex’s toothbrush to clean the toilet before immediately signing up for Love Island.
Maura signed up to Love Island two years after Olivia had starred on the show.
She said before entering the villa: “My worst trait would be that I talk over people… a lot! I even notice myself doing it.”
Maura also said she was looking for an honest and confident guy who can make her laugh, and it appeared Curtis Pritchard did just that in the villa as he impressed her with his latin ballroom moves.
The pair weren’t originally paired up, but sparks flew after Curtis broke up with Amy Hart in the villa.
After finishing fourth place and heading back to England together, these two looked as though their relationship was going from strength to strength.
But at the beginning of 2020, the pair decided to split due to Curtis being accused of cheating – something which he strongly denies.
TV PRESENTING
Both Olivia and Maura have had very successful careers since leaving the Love Island villa – and both have landed huge presenting gigs.
After appearing on Love Island Maura went on to regularly appear on This Morning, presenting an agony aunt segment.
In 2020, she appeared on the twelfth series of Dancing On Ice with professional dance partner Alexander Demetriou. She was eliminated in week seven.
Maura has also appeared on celebrity game shows including Celebrity Juice, I’ll Get This and The Wheel.
In September 2021, it was announced that she would be presenting the Irish version of Glow Up: Britain’s Next Make-Up Star.
And since 2022, Maura has been part of the Love Island USA presenting team.
Olivia has also skyrocketed to presenter fame after landing some huge post-villa shows.
She took part in Celebs Go Dating as well as The Only Way Is Essex.
Olivia has also had her own TV shows such as Olivia Meets Her Match which she films alongside fiancé Bradley Dack.
She competed in ITV‘s The Games in 2022, and presented the show Getting Filthy Rich.
Most recently, Olivia, who also has a spot on the Loose Women panel, landed a huge new dating show on ITV.
She’s the host of Bad Boyfriends which is “a unique relationship competition” that sees girlfriends put their boyfriends on trial for being “flirts, cheats, commitment-phobes and the man-child”.
I’M A CELEBRITY
In November 2024, The Sun exclusively revealed how Maura had been snapped up for I’m A Celebrity 2024.
She’s currently starring on the show and has quickly become a fan favourite amongst viewers.
A jungle insider told The Sun at the time of her casting: “She’ll bringing a bit of glamour to the jungle and make a brilliant campmate because she’s got a great sense of humour and is bound to get on with everyone.”
And Maura is the second Love Island star to have been cast for I’m A Celeb, after Olivia.
Olivia was forced to withdraw from the hit reality show after just 24 hours in 2022 due to a bout of anaemia
It was a tough blow for Liv who was an early favourite to go all the way and win the iconic programme.
After this, in an exclusive interview with the Sun on behalf of AliExpress, Olivia revealed a jungle place is hers when the timing is right.
“I want to obviously at some point do the Jungle properly,” she said. “Like that obviously broke my heart what happened last time. We had the conversation last year, and now it’s just kind of come into more of a scheduling issue for me.”
THE REAL FEUD
The Sun can reveal the truth behind Olivia’s savage rant – and it’s got nothing to do with I’m A Celeb star Maura.
Sources close to Olivia have set the record straight – and it was actually about fellow Love Island alum Laura Anderson, 34.
An insider said: “The idea that this is about Maura Higgins is absolute rubbish. Olivia’s got no issue with Maura at all.
“The truth is, this is about Laura Anderson, and people have totally got the wrong end of the stick.”
Just this week, the Stirling-native made fans double-take as she mirrored Olivia’s fringe haircut in a BTS video from a photoshoot.
The source continued: “Laura recently asked for the same hand tattoos as Olivia and the guy refused point-blank.
“She’s even been seeing Olivia’s aesthetic doctor, Dr. Saleena Zimri, travelling down from Scotland just for it.
“It’s obvious that she’s trying to mimic Olivia’s look and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. Olivia feels like this crosses a line.”