Dancing On Ice’s Maura Higgins shows off painful leg bruises ahead of her first live routine
MAURA Higgins showed off her painful leg bruises ahead of her first live performance on Dancing On Ice.
The 29-year-old took to Instagram to display her battered legs which are because of all the hard work she's been putting in to ace her routines for a chance to win the new series of the popular ITV ice skating competition which started last week.
The reality star, who placed fourth in the latest series of Love Island, displayed a series of snaps on her Instagram which showed that she had a number of painful bruises all the way from the top of her thighs to her ankles because of her continuous training she's been doing for the show.
She captioned the snap: "No pain no gain right," with a monkey covering its face emoji and a GIF of her in her Dancing on Ice costume mimicking exactly how she felt about her unwanted injuries.
The Irish beauty then panned the camera back at herself on her sofa at home in a fluffy black hoodie and her hair in a messy bun relaxing just hours before her big night on the rink.
As she showed off her bruises Maura put her hand on her head and giggled away as she showed her followers.
The show kicked off last Sunday and presenter Joe Swash 37, Diversity star Perri Kiely, 23, Coronation Street actress Lisa George, 49, Michael Barrymore, 67, Steps star Ian Watkins, 43, and talk show host Trisha Goddard, 61, all took the to rink - but now it's Maura and the remaining celebrities turn to show the viewers what they're made of.
Although she performed in the group performance last week, tonight the grid girl will be up against all the remaining competitors: model Caprice Bourret, 48, magician Ben Hanlin, 33, ITV news host Lucrezia Millarini, 43, professional footballer Kevin Kilbane, 42, Paralympic athlete Libby Clegg, 29.
The Love Island favourite has been training hard with her ice skating partner Alexander Demetriou and has no worries that she'll be struck by the "curse" - despite it happening to celebrities who take part in shows such as Dancing On Ice and BBC's popular dance competition Strictly Come Dancing.
She insists that her that getting up close and personal together to practice their routines won't affect her relationship with Curtis Pritchard, 23 - who she met in the villa last year.
Speaking on Loose Women earlier this week, the boohoo ambassador said: "We spend every single day together, we have to get on."
Since leaving the Love Island villa the star admitted they don't see each other as much as they'd like but it doesn't interfere with their love life.
"I think the both of us support one and other. We don’t see each other as much as we’d hope. We’re busy but because we are in the same industry we understand each other," she added.
However, their relationship may be put to the test after The Sun on Sunday exclusively revealed today just hours before her first performance that Curtis passionately kissed a party-goer behind her back.
It comes after the professional dancer was caught locking lips with another woman as he welcomed the new year at the O'Neill's bar in High Wycombe, Bucks.
One source told The Sun on Sunday: “Curtis was partying at the O’Neill’s after his pantomime show when he started getting close to this girl.
“He started embracing her, in the full view of the entire club. It was quite shocking given we all knew he had a girlfriend. But in that moment he obviously didn’t care who saw him.”