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I’m a celebrity… viewers expect something of an awkward encounter between Maura Higgins and her new campmate.

The latest season of the ITV series is well underway with late arrivals Higgins and Reverend Richard Coles entering the jungle in Thursday’s episode (November 21).

The Love Island star, 33, and priest, 62, join existing campmates including Coleen Rooney, GK Barry, Tulisa Contostavlos, Alan Halsall and Oti Mabuse.

Higgins and Coles have currently been kept separate from the other stars, who are staying in the main camp. The latecomers have been allocated luxury accommodation in the misleadingly named ‘Jungle Junkyard’.

However, viewers are bracing for what could be an awkward encounter between Higgins and one of her fellow campers after remembering a surprising connection between the two stars.

Higgins was romantically involved with Barry McGuigan’s son, Shane, before she appeared Love Island during 2019.

Shane, 36, has followed in his father’s footsteps and works as a boxing trainer in south-west London, where he owns a gym. He has trained a number of up-and-coming boxers including Lee McGregor and Chantelle Cameron.

Higgins and Shane first met in 2018 at a rematch between David Haye and Tony Bellew where the reality TV star was working as a ring girl and Shane was commentating for a radio show.

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It’s not known how long the couple dated, but reports claim they were a couple for about a year before calling it quits.

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They reportedly found it difficult to continue the long-distance relationship given that Higgins was living in Ireland at the time and Shane was in London.

Whether or not Higgins ever met Barry during their relationship is unknown, although the pair are bound to deal with the situation when they finally meet at I’m a celebrity…

Shane is now engaged to singer-songwriter Taylor West. The couple share two sons, Finley and Calean, who were born in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

In an earlier episode of I’m a celebrityMcGuigan opened up about the grief he experienced after his daughter’s death.

Asked if he goes to church, the featherweight boxing legend said: “I used to go to church a lot but after my daughter… you know, not so much.”

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“She had leukemia when I did The Boxer with Daniel Day-Lewis, three weeks after the end I had to leave because she had been diagnosed with leukaemia,” he tearfully recalled.

“They thought she wasn’t going to get better but she fought back and she won it. She had two years of chemotherapy.”

McGuigan’s only daughter Danika died in July 2019, aged 33. She recovered from leukemia after being diagnosed at age 11, but was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2019 and died within a month.

Hours after the moment was televised, Shane took to Instagram to thank fellow campers for “supporting” his father. “We appreciate it tremendously,” he said.

New episodes of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! airs on ITV1 and ITVX every night at 9pm.