Longford’s own Maura Higgins is set for a bumper payday as the Love Island beauty joins Dancing with the Stars US.
Maura stands to earn €108,000 even if she is booted out in the opening fortnight.
She is on course to bank a staggering €325,000 pay cheque if she makes it to the business end of Dancing with the Stars, with the Longford beauty guaranteed a massive pay cheque in either instance.
The 33-year-old Love Island icon turned Traitors US Star is understood to have signed a lucrative deal with the show, which uses a sliding pay scale that rewards contestants handsomely the longer they stay in.
Insiders revealed that celebs on the US ballroom smash, start on a whopping $125k (€108k) before earning an EXTRA €10,000 a week if they survive to weeks three and four.
Reach week five and there’s another bump of €13k, while weeks six and seven bag stars an eye-watering €17k more.
Those lucky enough to battle through to weeks eight and nine rake in a further €26 with the seasons ultimate finalists reportedly capped at a jaw-dropping €325k since 2020.
It’s an astronomical sum compared to Britain’s Strictly Come Dancing, which reportedly hands contestants a comparatively modest €29k up front.
Maura, who shot to fame on Love Island in 2019 before winning over American audiences on The Traitors, has been paired with pro dancer Mark Ballas, son of legendary Strictly judge, Shirley Ballas.
A source close to the show gushed ‘Dancing with the Stars pays tremendously well, but the boost to a celebrity’s profile goes beyond even the pay cheque from the network.’
Maura is already known in the US thanks to her role in The Traitors US, but this will take her into every sitting room in the United States. Her earning power will now be off the charts.
It comes as the Irish stunner also landed another huge gig, fronting Disney+’s reboot of cult dating classic Blind Date, more than four decades after it first captivated viewers with the late Cilla Black at the helm.
Disney+ content chief Angela Jain gushed that Maura’s name was a shortcut for exactly the vibe the bosses were after, branding her cheeky, fun, witty and warm and joking to the Edinburgh TV Festival crowd: ‘She is a head turner, literally.’
Talk about a glow up!
