Maura Higgins Shoots Down Rob Rausch Romance Rumors: ‘You Would Know If I Was D***matized’ (Exclusive)

Season 4 of The Traitors was packed with drama, but one of the biggest sources of intrigue wasn’t about the game at all: Did Maura Higgins and Rob Rausch hook up?

Speculation about the pair began almost as soon as they entered Ardross Castle, and on paper, it makes sense. They’re both Love Island alums, and they’re both extremely attractive. Why wouldn’t they flirt with each other while locked up in the Scottish wilderness?

The chatter only intensified after a video of Rob, 27, rubbing a chair in the castle went viral. Was that really the chair he was stroking, or was it Maura’s leg?

Well, sorry to those viewers who were hoping to see romance bloom amid all the murrrderrr, but both Maura and Rob deny that anything untoward ever happened between them.

“I’m not gonna ruin it for the viewers, but no, nothing ever happened between me and Rob,” Maura, 35, exclusively told Us Weekly for a cover story on the Traitors finale. “I genuinely look at Rob like a brother. Literally nothing ever happened.”

She added, “People online are saying I’m ‘d***matized.’ Believe me, you would know if I was d***matized. If they think that’s me flirting, then they do not know me and they have never watched me on Love Island.”

Rob agreed, telling Us: “We did not [hook up], and we will not. We are just friends. I’m touching the chair, not her leg!”

Maura confirmed Rob’s account of the chair video as well, noting that she’d seen it on social media too.

“I want to set the record straight that Rob never touched my leg, apart from when he carried me up the hill,” she said, referring to the moment when her costar gave her a lift during the challenge in episode 4.

While Maura and Rob didn’t spark a romantic connection in the castle, they did form a friendship that survived that savage finale, where Rob betrayed Maura and took the entire $220,800 prize pot for himself. (Maura joked in the finale that Rob would “never get a girlfriend” after the show because he proved to be “such a good liar.”)

Despite that shocking treachery, the duo both said there are no hard feelings — in part because Rob agreed to buy Maura a present with his winnings.

“He told me he’s going to get me a gift, which is going to be a Birkin handbag. So when he gets that, then he’s fully forgiven,” Maura told Us. “For me, a girl that has not watched Traitors, not one episode of Traitors, I got to the finale, and yeah, I didn’t win, but I got to wear all my outfits. And if I get that Birkin handbag from Rob, then for me, I have won. That’s all I need.”

Rob, for his part, confirmed he’s trying to track down the sought-after purse for Maura, but it hasn’t been a walk in the park. In fact, he had to enlist the help of fellow Traitor Lisa Rinna, who certainly knows a thing or two about sourcing rare designer accessories.

“I’m in cahoots with Lisa,” Rob explained. “She said she could probably get my foot in the door so I can buy one. It’s proving way more difficult than I thought it would be though.”

The Traitors is now streaming on Peacock.