What's going on with Maura Higgins' 'Love Island' return? The bombshell is back but not as you might think

Maura Higgins, Love Island UK's most popular bombshell, has just made her long-awaited return to the villa—but it's not as a contestant...

For those who don't know, Maura appeared in season 5 of Love Island UK (which is arguably one the best Love Island seasons ever), bagging fourth place with Curtis Pritchard—yes the, "I also want to be the person that gets up and makes everyone coffee so everyone's ready for the morning" guy. And while we've seen former contestants like Adam Collard and most recently, Kady McDermott, make a comeback, that's not exactly what fans are getting this time (*cry*).

Rather than returning for a second round as a bombshell, Maura has instead, jetted across the pond to take on a brand new role in Love Island USA, which we'll see her getting stuck in with all the dating drama and yes, she even does the slow-mo walk...

Maura Higgins 'Love Island USA' role

Maura is now a regular face on the US version of Love Island, joining Modern Family's Sarah Hyland—who is the show's host and has just made her first big entrance into the villa...

After dropping numerous hints, Maura finally confirmed on Friday, July 14, 2023, that she'd indeed be returning to the villa, but this time as the show's social ambassador, which will see her bringing viewers all the behind-the-scenes intel, chatting with islanders and hosting challenges in the villa and even interviewing them as they're dumped from the show.

Announcing the news on Instagram, she wrote: "I'M BACK!!!!!!!!! Bringing you all the behind-the-scenes gossip live from Fiji for #LoveIslandUSA."

Love Island USA also shared an announcement writing: "This just in… @maurahiggins will be your social ambassador this season bringing (sneaking) you the BTS scoop all summer!" 

In the US, season 5 originally aired on Peacock on Tuesday, July 18 (here's how to watch Love Island USA, if you need to catch up), with Maura sitting down with dumped islanders to recap their time on the show. 

Then finally, on Sunday, August 8's installment, Maura made her long-awaited slow-mo walk into the villa—wearing a silk midi dress to rival one of Maya Jama's own Love Island outfits—to share with the islanders exactly what the public thinks of them in the challenge, 'Face Facts' and let's just say, things got tense...

As for when you'll next see the bombshell turned social ambassador again, she'll likely return to host a few more drama-fuelling challenges and no doubt, for some Casa Amor-related reasons, as well as her interviews with the cast once they're ousted from the villa.