LOVE Island’s Maura Higgins and Chris Taylor have left fans stunned after they confirmed they’re officially an item.
The reality stars had long denied romance rumours until they finally admitted they were together in a cosy Instagram post uploaded to both their feeds last night.
Although some fans were stunned by their announcement, others believe the ITV stars have been drip feeding us hints about their romance for months.
And now we’re taking a look back at their journey from friends to girlfriend and boyfriend – and the not so subtle relationship clues they dropped under our very noses.
1. Chris was spotted leaving her flat in the same clothes
Irish beauty Maura confirmed her split from Curtis Pritchard in March following her stint on this year’s Dancing On Ice.
Soon after their break-up, it was reported that Maura spent lockdown living in Chigwell, Essex where Chris also lives.
As isolation came to a close, the Longford native was spotted helping Chris and his housemates look for a new home before celebrating the successful house hunt with a bite to eat at Sheesh.
Yet, Maura and Chris left tongues-wagging in June when they left the restaurant together and headed back to her flat.
The two then put the rumour mill into overdrive when Chris was spotted leaving Maura’s home in the same clothes he had worn two days earlier.
An onlooker said: “Chris looked bleary-eyed but he definitely had a spring in his step. He skipped to his car.”
2. Chris mimicked her sexy Instagram posts
In June, Chris continued to set tongues-wagging as he claimed on Instagram that he needed “to find a Minnie” days after Maura said she was looking for a “Mickey”.
The quiff-tastic hunk copied Maura’s pout and hand position for the sultry snap wearing a black dressing gown and Mickey Mouse ears.
Sharing the pic with his followers, Chris captioned the snap: “just need to find a Minnie”.
Straightaway, Maura replied: “Interesting 
“.
Their fellow Love Island stars were quick to make a comment on the photo, with Joe Garratt writing: “I wonder who 
,” and Francesca Allen penning: “Hunnnnn ”.
But it didn’t end there as Chris mimicked Maura’s saucy lingerie posts for Ann Summers on several occasions.
3. Maura was spotted with an overnight bag
Despite denying any romance, Maura was interestingly pictured returning to Chris’ home with an overnight bag following a night out together in August.
The pair were seen going inside at 11.15pm after he drove her home so she could collect her things.
At the time, Maura and Chris had spent the evening ice skating and tenpin bowling at Queensway rink in Notting Hill, West London.
They then had dinner together before she was later seen with Chris heading into his house.
4. Maura kept appearing in Chris’ TikTok challenges
Aside from mimicking her sexy underwear snaps, Chris regularly asked Maura to feature in his rib-tickling social media posts.
The pair first paired up to cheekily recreate an iconic Titanic scene, which involved Maura painting his manhood.
Then in August, Maura took part in another viral TikTok challenge, which sees men and women pretending that they are about to perform a sex act on their other half.
At the time, the prank left Chris writing: “When you THINK you’ve shawshanked the friend-zone @maurahiggins” – however fans weren’t completely convinced nothing was going on betwee them.
Yet, the most telling post came last week when the pair took part in the ‘Kiss your best friend’ challenge and ramped up rumours they were a couple when they nearly kissed.
Under the post, a fan wrote: “Omg 
this made me squeal with excitement – I need to get a life!!”
Another posted: “They already loved up! The good guys always win 
.”
5. Their friends already knew
Last night, the duo sent social media into overdrive as they shared a photo from their recent trip to Dubai of them leaning in for a kiss.
Captioning the shot, Irish stunner Maura, who turned 30 this week, told fans: “He’s mine”.
While Chris, 29, melted hearts by posting the same photo and penned: “Turns out I fell in love with my best mate.”
As Love Island fans freaked out, the pair’s Love Island co-stars did little to disguise the truth as they revealed they had been keeping their relationship under wraps too.
Chris’ housemate Michael Griffiths tellingly penned: “Awww you guys it’s hard keeping secrets ”.
“I want royalties off this pic 
,” Danny Williams, who also lives with Chris, jokingly wrote as he holidayed with the duo.
Joe Garratt, who regularly hangs out with the pair, wrote: “I wanna cry
FINALLY!!!” while Georgia Steele penned: “Yayayayaya it’s official ”.
