Maura Higgins declares she is SINGLE in major slap in the face to love interest Pete Wicks – as bikini-clad reality star finally prepares to start her I’m A Celeb… journey

It is the love triangle that has gripped Strictly Come Dancing this year.

As reality star Pete Wicks showers affection on both his professional partner Jowita Przystal and his rumoured new girlfriend Maura Higgins.

But it appears Mr Wicks’s reported ‘inability to commit’ to either woman has led Ms Higgins to definitively state ‘I’m single’ when asked whether she was dating him.

The rebuff comes just days after Mr Wicks, 36, and the Love Island star, 33, enjoyed a date night last week before she jetted off to Australia ahead of her entry into the I’m A Celebrity jungle on Thursday.

She added: ‘I’m not [in a relationship with Mr Wicks]. I’ve been on dates with many people. I mean, I date, but I’m very much single. Everyone goes on dates.’

Last Monday the pair were seen attending a Ludovico Einaudi performance at the London Palladium and a month before were spotted kissing outside a restaurant in East London.

This despite it being reported that the Essex lothario had been ‘growing close’ to his Polish dance partner, 30, and introduced her to his mum.

The Irish beauty had previously said of Mr Wicks: ‘I adore him, he’s an amazing person. Do you know what’s so weird? We met very soon after me coming off Love Island and we just instantly clicked.’

Ms Higgins also revealed to the Mail that she had not spoken to Mr Wicks about her upcoming three-week stint on the ITV show and addressing rumours of him flying out to Australia, she said: ‘I know nothing, he’s not said that to me anyway.’

It was revealed by the Mail that Mr Wicks was planning to make a trip Down Under if he was booted off Strictly early to support his best friend, Sam Thompson, who is presenting the ITV spin-off show, and Ms Higgins.

The Irish television personality will enter the I’m A Celebrity jungle on Thursday night as a late arrival alongside the Communards musician turned priest Reverend Richard Coles, joining her friend and former X-Factor judge, Tulisa Contostavlos, 36, and Coleen Rooney, 39.

Asked who was flying out to Australia to meet her when she leaves the show, Ms Higgins said: ‘Some of my friends said they would but I don’t know, it’d be a nice surprise whoever’s there.’

Aligning herself with her future campmate, Ms Higgins insisted she was ‘Team Coleen’ when it came to the sensational Wagatha Christie trial, in which Rebekah Vardy accused Wayne Rooney’s wife of defamation in 2022.

Ms Higgins said: ‘I’m excited to meet her [Coleen]. I would do the exact same as what she did. Put up something on my Instagram story and just have certain people view it to catch that person out. That is the way my brain would work.’

Throwing her support behind Mrs Rooney will undoubtedly annoy Mrs Vardy, 42, who has been outspoken about her nemesis Wag’s appearance in the Jungle.

But when it came to Wicks, who found fame on The Only Way is Essex, Ms Higgins was less willing to divulge her opinions.

For weeks it’s been rumoured the reality star was a contestant on the ITV flagship show and Maura has done her best to throw fans off the scent in the past few days

She will be joining the likes of Coleen and N-Dubz’s Tulisa Contostavlos for three weeks living a diet of rice and beans and camping among spiders and snakes.

Strictly’s Oti Mabuse and McFly singer Danny Jones are among the other signings this year.

Her whirlwind trip to Las Vegas had fans convinced she wasn’t joining this year’s I’m A Celebrity as a late entry.

But MailOnline can reveal Maura is simply cutting it fine with her partying in Sin City over the weekend.

An ITV source said: ‘She will be arriving this week, the brand trip was always part of the schedule as Maura had agreed to it and it fit into her arrival dates for the Jungle.’

In an attempt to squeeze out every last ounce of luxury from her lavish lifestyle, Maura accepted a paid-for trip to Vegas with the beauty brand, Space NK, which she knew would be cutting it fine when it came to her arrival Down Under.

Staying at the 500 dollars a night Palazzo at the Venetian Hotel, Maura was joined by the likes of Stacey Solomon and was flown out on Thursday first class to Las Vegas.

Treated to morning facials and extravagant dinners of calamari at Nobu and lobster at the Bellagio, it’s a far cry from what’s in store for her in Australia, a diet that will consist of rice and beans.

After watching Adele at her Vegas residency, when the Easy on Me singer even interrupted her song to compliment Maura on her scarlet red suit, the Love Island star went on to party the night away with friends.

Playing into how last minute the trip was before the Jungle, Maura teased fans that she was headed to Australia by posting a picture of an aeroplane with the caption, ‘Where to?!’

When she later popped up in Las Vegas, fans who were expecting her to arrive at Brisbane Airport, were sent into a tailspin claiming she had already quit the Jungle.

But ITV knows she is too good a signing to let go.

When she entered the Love Island villa in 2019 with her non-nonsense confrontational demeanour, ITV bosses could not believe their luck and the Irish star quickly became a fan favourite.

And the network is no doubt hoping for the same approach from Maura when it comes to the I’m A Celebrity jungle which will make her the perfect late arrival to shake the camp up.

I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! continues Tuesday at 9pm on ITV1, STV and ITVX