Love Island stars Chris Taylor and Maura Higgins finally confirmed their relationship this week, but the couple hadn’t exactly kept their romance under wraps.
From flirty TikTok videos to cosy lunch dates, the duo have been hanging out for months and definitely appeared to be more than friends.
Maura and Chris, both 30, shared the exact same picture on their Instagram profiles on November 24 and finally made it known that they are seriously loved up.
Maura simply captioned her post: “He’s mine,” with a red heart emoji, while Chris wrote alongside his: “Turns out I fell in love with my best mate.”
(Image: maurahiggins/Instagram)
Throughout this year, there have been plenty of tell-tale signs that the couple were secretly dating.
For example, Maura shared a very cosy-looking picture of them together in May as she revealed she and Chris would be singing lockdown songs together.
In the snap, the pair look more than friends as Maura cosies up to her beau with a massive grin on her face.
(Image: Instagram)
But even before that, Maura was stripping off to her lingerie and bunny ears to film hilarious TikTok videos with Chris.
It seems the duo were isolating together during the first national lockdown as Maura captioned the video: “You can still have fun whilst self-isolating.”
Even in January Chris was trying on Maura’s undies, and shared a hilarious side-by-side Instagram post of him and his lady.
(Image: Instagram)
However, Chris wasn’t wearing an actual set from Ann Summers – instead he had recreated Maura’s using black tape.
He captioned it: “Who wore it better? (I’m pretty sure already know what the answer’s gonna be) Valentine’s on a budget? No problem…
“I recreated this iconic Maura look with only electrical tape, black doilies and four hours to spare… and you can too!”
(Image: christophertaylorofficial /Instagram)
Months later Chris copied another one of Maura’s sexy Ann Summers looks, this time with several pink post-its and a brunette wig.
And in August, Chris hinted that they had crossed the friendship line with another hilarious TikTok video.
As he sat on the sofa, Maura approached him and got down on her knees – but it seems she was only bending down to pick something up from the floor.
(Image: christophertaylorofficial /Instagram)
Chris captioned the cheeky clip: “When you think you’ve Shawshanked the friend-zone.
“Ahhh… friend-zone, nice to see you again, how’s life? The kids well? Excellent. Yeah, had better days actually mate. See you soon though yeah!? Lovely.”
And just last week, the pair attempted the Kiss Your Best Friend Challenge on TikTok – and that really got the rumour mill going.
(Image: Instagram)
The couple recreated a hilarious moment from the film Crazy, Stupid Love with Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone and fans went wild for it.
“How have you two not got it on already?” one follower asked, while another person posted: “You two should be together.”
A third fan pleaded with them: “Get together already!”
And just days later the pair finally confirmed their romance, with Chris sharing a gushing message to Maura on her 30th birthday.
(Image: Instagram)
However, the pair consistently denied their romance for months, insisting: “We are the best of friends.”
When asked if she and Chris were in a relationship, she told her Instagram followers in a Q&A video: “This was the first question that came in and I’m not even a bit surprised.
“No, we’re not dating. We are the best of friends.
“We just get on really well. We got on really well in villa, but not a lot of that was shown.”
The pair did go on a date during their time on Love Island, but Maura ended up in a relationship with Curtis Pritchard, while Chris went with Harley Brash.
Maura split with 24-year-old Curtis earlier this year and Chris parted ways with Harley shortly after they left the Love Island villa in 2019.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk