Curtis Pritchard and Maura Higgins faked their romance for three months and were forced to stay together for – The Sun

IN the rich pantheon of people nobody will care about one year from now, Curtis Pritchard and Maura Higgins are right at the top.

But after Maura finally called time on their transparent seven-month romance on Monday, I thought it only fair to tell you all whats really been going on behind closed doors.

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Curtis and Maura, if you hadnt already guessed, have been faking their relationship and were urged to stay together for work commitments by cash-hungry management teams, who warned them it would be bad for their brand if they split.

After coupling up on last years Love Island, the pair were told they would make millions if they stuck together and kept the illusion alive.

Despite Maura quickly falling out of love with Curtis, insiders told me she first felt pressured into sticking with him like so many other couples who are paired up on the ITV2 series at the end of last year.

The cracks in their relationship were grossly evident at the National Television Awards in January, when three reporters on my team witnessed Maura cowering in a corner of the smoking area as Curtis who was so drunk he struggled to stand shouted at her.

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An insider told me: Maura felt pressured to stick with him. They had booked jobs together, parties they had to attend.

When they met in Love Island it was genuine.

But when the showbiz treadmill started on the outside, it was a sham.

The NTAs was the last straw.

Maura has star quality and is a professional.

Curtis showed his true colours that night.

Curtis was seen cosying up to another woman in a nightclub in January.

Over the weekend he was linked to sexy dancer Amber Pierson, who is on his brother AJs dance tour.

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Last week, former Love Island contestant Montana Brown admitted stars are put under pressure to stick together and Curtis and Maura were a prime example of this fakery in action.

Inside the swanky NTAs after-party at Londons O2 Arena, Curtis had downed glasses of white wine and was filmed acting like a lout, even though hed been paid to host the red carpet with Maura.

Male friends of Mauras warned him to leave her alone and he had to be helped out of the building by fellow islander Joe Garrett.

Maura said afterwards she was furious Curtis had drunk so much and was being so irrational.

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When faced with the video of him staggering and being pushed away by Maura, Curtiss smarmy rep begged me not to use it for fear it would ruin a deal he had struck between Curtis and the BBC.

I understand young stars make mistakes so I agreed not to run the footage.

In return, and as part of a deal that is a regular occurrence in showbiz reporting, Curtiss team promised they would be honest about the moment the couple ended their relationship and said Curtis would speak to us about this.

Instead, both their teams lied about the break-up and denied it just hours before Maura posted a po-faced statement on Instagram on Monday night.

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Curtiss slippery flunky went to ground when asked when his client would be available to speak about the break-up.

So Im revealing the couples sham relationship and telling the truth about what a grim man Curtis can be when hes on the sauce and away from the watchful eye of those he pays to keep bad stories out of the limelight.

If you go back on the deal you so were desperate to strike, mate, dont think I wont either.

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IF you thought there was nothing Kim Kardashian and Kanye West would not do to push their showbiz and business agenda, youd be absolutely correct.

The shameless couple launched their daughter North as a pop star aged just six on Monday night in a bid to get some publicity for Kanyes fashion brand.

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She performed a song called What I Do on stage at his Yeezy Season 8 show as part of Paris Fashion Week and she looked terrified until her dad joined her halfway through the performance.

Meanwhile, Kim dressed in new gear from the collection filmed her.

A school nativity play is one thing, but being put on stage in front of hundreds and streamed to thousands more is something else entirely.

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bizmeter

AFTER five decades in the industry, there cant be anybody more familiar with theatre etiquette than Andrew Lloyd Webber.

But still, it was the legendary composer of musical smashes including The Phantom Of The Opera who broke the golden rule of the West End on Sunday night when he started using his phone to film the stars on stage during a show.

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He was in the audience at the Gillian Lynne Theatre during the final performance of School Of Rock which he wrote the music for when he was told off by an usher.

But it was only after she had snapped at him that she realised who the famous culprit was.

The usher, musical theatre graduate Hayley Baldwin, tweeted: So today I accidentally told THE Andrew Lloyd Webber off for filming his own show... Guess there go my chances of ever being in any of his shows in the future.

"To clarify, I was working FOH [front of house], I wasnt just in the audience.

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During his phenomenal career, Andrew has written the music for Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Cats and Joseph And The Amazing Techni- color Dreamcoat and is now worth an estimated 820million.

If he really wanted a video that much, booking out the whole theatre would have been no issue at all.

KYLIE Minogue must be feeling really loved up, because shes been making music with the man behind hits including Sexbomb and Horny.

The Aussie singer, who is dating GQ mag boss Paul Solomons, was photographed at the Rosewood London hotel on Monday night, hours after having a session in the studio with German producer Mousse T.

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He tweeted a photo with Kylie and tagged in another top DJ, Alex Gaudino, who is responsible for dance tunes including Destination Calabria and What A Feeling featuring Kelly Rowland.

Speaking about her new music last week, Kylie said: Ive already started work in the studio.

Were not quite sure what it is yet, but we feel like Thats good, thats good this is the direction were heading.

I wont be doing [country] again, but what I learned in that period will stay with me however the songwriting pans out.

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I CALLED out Radio 1 on Monday for failing to put Lady Gaga's incredible new single Stupid Love on its playlists and now bosses have finally seen sense.

Last night the station announced the latest set of weekly playlists and the song has been added to the B list. Perhaps the change of heart was forced by drivetime presenter Nick Grimshaw.

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He was away in Namibia on a Sport Relief fundraiser last week when the decision to snub the song was made.

But on his first show back on Monday, Nick posted two Instagram stories dancing to the tune, so clearly hes a fan even if his bosses arent.

Stupid Love was at No2 in the midweek chart update.

It is from Gagas upcoming album Chromatica.

That is sure to be just as successful as it is rumoured to feature a collaboration with Ariana Grande.

I cant wait to hear it.

bizbit

SISTER Sledge, Lisa Maffia and Artful Dodger have been added to the line-up for South Londons Mighty Hoopla festival in Brockwell Park on June 6. Cheryl Tweedy, Atomic Kitten and Eve are also on the bill.

HIT producer Max Martin's pop musical & Juliet leads the pack for this years Olivier Awards with nine nominations.

I gave it a five-star review when it opened in the West End in November and clearly audiences agree.

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The modern retelling of Romeo & Juliet, set to some of pops most famous songs, is up for the most gongs including Best New Musical and Best Original Score.

Fiddler On The Roof has eight nominations while Dear Evan Hansen has seven. Phoebe Waller-Bridge has a Best Actress nod for her stage version of Fleabag while James McAvoy is up for Best Actor for Cyrano de Bergerac.

Jason Manford will host the ceremony on April 5.

DAMNING VERDICTLove Island's Demi and Luke M will be the first to split up, says Callum

on same paigePaige Turley reveals ex Lewis Capaldi congratulated her after Love Island

Exclusive

FREEZE A CROWDMaura and Curtis split over her closeness with hunky DOI partner Alexander

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CASH & CORRIELucy Fallon 'makes her 100k Coronation Street salary with Insta ads'

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NEES-UPCoronation Streets James Burrows gets first role since quitting soap as Ali Neeson

CURT REPLYMaura posts cryptic comment about 'giving up on you' after split with Curtis

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Curtis Pritchard and Maura Higgins faked their romance for three months and were forced to stay together for - The Sun