Don’t worry, Traitors fans, Maura Higgins is definitely getting that Birkin bag winner Rob Rausch promised her.
“He’s saying it’s in the works. I don’t want to say I’m trusting him again,” Higgins laughs during an early morning Zoom with The Hollywood Reporter. The 35-year-old Irish reality star jokingly calls back to the iconic line to Rausch in the finale: “You pinky promised.”
The pair were the final two players of the hit Peacock reality series, with Higgins betting it all that her closest confidant in the castle Rausch was also a Faithful. Unfortunately, for the Love Island alum, her closest friend also happened to be the season’s most savvy Traitor, revealing during the finale that he had tricked Higgins and won the game solo.
In the show’s reunion special, a deal was made for Rausch to make it up to Higgins by buying her a Birkin, and it’s looking like the Love Island U.S. contestant is following through on his promise. “Lisa Rinna is helping him because obviously you can’t just walk in and buy a Birkin. But Lisa, the queen she is, she’s got contacts,” Higgins says.
“I want my handbag and then he’s fully forgiven. I’m happy. he’s happy,” she continues. “He won the prize money. I won best dressed and a free Birkin Handbag. That’s a win. For me, that’s better than winning the show. I’m deadly serious when I say that.”
Higgins’ realization that she wasn’t winning the show like she thought was a devastating moment, but admittedly good television and meme fodder. “I can’t go on my phone without seeing my face like this,” she says, recreating her shocked face when Rausch revealed himself as a Traitor.
“I went through all the emotions at that fire pit, and then I forgave him. I said, ‘Fair play.’ And then I went off to Fiji and filmed my (Love Island) Aftersun,” she says, laughing.
Higgins admits that going into the game, she had hoped for herself something similar to Rausch’s trajectory. ”I begged Alan [to be a Traitor], but you know what? I guess afterwards, maybe he knew I was lying because I tried to tell him I’m a really good liar, but maybe it was obvious that I was lying,” she says.
The reality star adds, “My mammy always said, ‘You’re not a good liar. Your face gives away everything.’ But then, when I saw myself on the screen lying to Eric [Nam], I was like, hold on. I was quite good there.”
Higgins is plenty busy with her Love Island work, however, she does have a few post-Traitors. She’s not interested in anymore game shows, sorry, Traitors, don’t count on her for an all-star season, but she does have her eye on that Mirrorball Trophy. “Maybe [I’d do] Dancing With the Stars,” she says when asked what she’d consider next.
“It’s something that’d be a challenge for me. I’ve never danced. I’d done a bit of Irish dancing when I was younger. It’d be a huge challenge, but I know I’d throw myself into it and all the looks and glitter,” she says.
Higgins says she and her fellow season four Faith Mark Ballas, a multi-season winner of the hit ABC dancing competition show, would dance in the castle. “We had a lot of fun,” she laments. “He’s just an incredible dancer.”
Other than Dancing With the Stars, Higgins says there’s “several conversations” happening at the moment she wishes she could share more on. “[There’s] a lot of exciting conversations with designers. Obviously, I really love fashion, so there’s a lot happening around that, which I literally could scream about,” she says excitedly.
“Then [I’m]also having exciting conversations with producers and execs in the scripted world, which could be very different for me,” Higgins continues, sharing how grateful she is to be in this position. “There’s stuff happening that I could have only ever dreamt of, things that are on my vision board that I probably never thought would become a reality.”