LOVE Island’s new Maura Higgins lookalike has sympathy for her fellow Irish beauty after she snogged married McFly guitarist Danny Jones.
Musical theatre student Megan Forte Clarke, 24, from Dublin, said she is flattered by comparisons to Maura, who is ten years older and appeared as a bombshell on the ITV dating show in 2019.
But asked how she felt about Maura’s now infamous kiss with Danny, 39, at a Brit Awards after-party in London earlier this year, Megan said: “We’ve all had a drunken kiss.”
Megan, who is set to enter the ITV2 villa tomorrow, has drawn comparisons to Maura thanks to her Irish accent and glamorous brunette looks.
She said: “I love Maura — what a compliment. She’s an icon.
“She is like the Queen of Ireland. So if people are comparing me to her, then cheers, love that, thank you.”
Meanwhile, Megan, who calls herself the “modern day Bridget Jones”, said she has been single for nearly three years after her university boyfriend cheated on her.
She added: “We were on and off for about a year during my first year at university and I’ve been single since.
“We met at uni [The Brighton Academy] — musical theatre boys are never a good idea.”
Asked if it ended on good terms, she said: “No. No, God, no! He cheated on me quite a bit. The girls were none the wiser.
“So I would never blame a girl in that sense, but I definitely confronted him. He felt my wrath. I didn’t really get any revenge. I think ignorance is bliss, so he was blocked. I haven’t spoken to him since.”
Of her recent dating life, she said: “It has been more than two years of hell and horror.
“I’ve been asked on a walk for a date. I’m like, ‘That’s brilliant, I love being a dog’.
“It is just never good and then they ghost you. So many frogs.”
But the boys of the villa will be pleased after Megan revealed she has stocked up on bikinis and sexy outfits for The Hideaway — the villa’s private area where Islanders can spend time together alone.
She said: “Yeah, I have shopped till I dropped. I feel like you can’t be too prepared with stuff like that.
“Better to be over prepared than underprepared.
“So I’ve got a lot of options for bikinis and night time.”
But the Dublin-born beauty said she will be keeping things real by wearing her plastic retainer to bed after having braces during her university years.
She said: “That’s always humbling when you’re comfortable around a boy and you are clicking it out in the morning.”
But of wearing braces, she added: “I think a lot of boys actually quite liked it, which I was surprised by.”
Megan revealed that she has been given strict instructions by her mum to keep things PG in the villa.
She said: “My mum’s been like, ‘Meg, please do not have sex in the villa’. I don’t think I would anyway — too exposing.”
Megan, who currently works in telesales, said she has not had any office romances, but cannot resist charming her colleagues.
She revealed: “I’ve had a little flirt here and there because, you know, you have to make work life fun, but nothing has come of it.”
Last Christmas, the beauty starred as one of the ugly step-sisters in a Christmas pantomime of Cinderella in Tewkesbury, Gloucs.
She said: “To be fair, they were meant to be Kardashian-esque and ugly on the inside.
“So I got to wear fabulous costumes. I had a ball.”
Hopefully, in the villa, she will meet her own Prince Charming.
THE White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood shares some tender moments with her actor boyfriend Adam Long.
Loved-up Aimee, 31, was seen kissing and holding hands with fellow Brit Adam, 34, as they sat outside a cafe.
The pair met while filming upcoming BBC comedy series Film Club but Adam is best known for telly drama Happy Valley.
Stockport-born Aimee previously dated Connor Swindells, 28 — her co-star on Netflix comedy series Sex Education — but they split in 2020.
An onlooker who spotted her with Adam in South London said: “They looked smitten with one another.
“They were hugging and kissing and she kept draping her arm around his neck while his hand was on her knee.
“They looked very comfy together — a vision of love’s young dream.”
Aimee’s romance follows rumours of a row with her White Lotus co-star Walton Goggins after claims they had unfollowed each other on Instagram.
The pair, who play lovers Chelsea and Rick in the HBO series, appeared on the cover of Variety magazine last week to put the rumours to bed.
Walton, 53, said: “There is no feud.
“I adore, I love this woman madly.
“She’s special. She can do anything.”
Aimee added: “We don’t give a sh*te about Instagram.
“It’s such a comment on where we’re at culturally.”
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A DANGEROUS lag was able to roam without a GPS tag for more than 50 days after being released from jail early.
The unnamed prisoner was set free in September as part of the scheme to ease prison overcrowding.
More than 1,000 offenders — including violent criminals — were let out months early in the move by Labour.
Many were freed on licence, meaning they had to wear an ankle tag so their movements could be monitored to check they were obeying a curfew or other restrictions.
But the con in question was one of a number who were not fitted with a tag immediately.
Instead he was free to go wherever he liked unchecked until November 2 — 53 days later — when one was finally attached by a private security contractor.
Government sources blamed the unnamed firm for the lengthy delay.
It comes as senior cops have raised concerns about the state of the monitoring systems after we revealed that a machete-wielding teenager cut off his tag and absconded.
Met commissioner Sir Mark Rowley highlighted the 16-year-old boy’s case, as his force had to dedicate “massive resources” to finding the teen in Eltham, South East London.
He has since been bailed again.
Our statistics also show eight criminals have avoided being tagged in the past two years because bungling authorities had the wrong address.
We can also reveal that crooks who were supposed to have been monitored by probation officials carried out almost 750 murders and sex attacks in just five years.
Ministry of Justice figures show that 377 convicted of murder and 369 jailed for serious sex crimes were supposedly being tracked, though not all would have had an electronic tag fitted.
They include Jordan McSweeney, 29, who sexually assaulted and murdered Zara Aleena, 35, in Ilford, East London, in 2022.
McSweeney had been let out of jail on licence after serving a robbery term a week beforehand and missed two probation appointments.
Ex-cop Peter Bleksley said our findings show tagging is a “complete waste of time” if it is not effectively monitored.
The MoJ said: “Fewer than 0.5 per cent of offenders supervised by probation commit a serious further offence.”
A spokesman said that 1,300 new probation officers were being brought in this year.
RAPE survivor Hazel Behan fears Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner will “hunt me down” after his prison release.
Brueckner, 47, is due to be freed from a German jail in September after completing his sentence for the rape of a US woman aged 72.
And Hazel, who has waived her right to anonymity, said: “His sentence may be ending but mine never did. I have lived with fear every day for 21 years.
“Fear that I’ll see him. Fear that he’ll find out where I live and hunt me down. I also have fear that he’ll do to someone else what he did to me.
“I’ve called him out in a public forum and I have genuine concern he could confront me.
“I wouldn’t put anything past a person like him. If he is released, I will worry for every woman and child who, like me, believes the justice system is protecting them.
“A leopard doesn’t change his spots.”
Convicted paedophile Brueckner was named as the prime suspect over three-year-old Madeleine’s 2007 disappearance in Praia da Luz, Portugal, five years ago.
His expected release from his current conviction comes a month before Hazel will discover the outcome of her High Court appeal in Germany against his acquittal last October for raping her, another woman and girl in Portugal in 2004.
Although Judge Uta Engemann described the Dublin woman as a “credible witness” and said “we have no doubt something bad happened to her”, she added there was not enough evidence to convict Brueckner on three counts of rape and two of indecent exposure.
Hazel went on: “I am a survivor of sexual assault and rape — a title I never asked for, but one I have carried with me every day for almost 21 years.
“If he is released in September, he can go anywhere he wants. The police can only get involved in protecting me if he comes into my garden.
“I think of every survivor who never got to speak, and every woman who might become the next me.
“The system may be ready to let him go, but I’m not. And neither is the wider society that deserves to feel safe.”
The 41-year-old added: “I have no doubt this predator is capable of anything
“Age doesn’t matter to him. It is about power and control for him and this won’t have changed once he is out of prison.
“He has drifted across many countries over the years and targeted women and children of all ages. What’s to stop him coming to Ireland and coming after me again?
“There have been reports he had plastic surgery and although his appearance is known, he could easily live underground and adapt a new identity and appearance.
“He is part of a world where people know how to stay hidden before they commit horrific levels of violence against women and kids.”
Authorities in Germany are convinced of Brueckner’s involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.
Last week, officers travelled to Germany for a search of derelict farms in Praia da Luz he used for camping around the time Madeleine vanished.
Despite his denial of any involvement, cops carried out the extensive hunt in the hope of finding a shred of evidence to link him to Madeleine — and to keep him behind bars.
Hazel hopes if Brueckner is released in September, German police will monitor his actions.
And she said: “It took the German BKA to restore my faith in the police as my experience with the Portuguese was horrendous, to put it mildly.
“I believe the BKA are doing a stellar job and working very hard to bring justice to those believed to be victims of Christian B.”
Former holiday rep Hazel also spoke of her ongoing trauma, adding: “On the 16th of June 2004, 21 years ago, my life changed forever.
“The man who raped me took more than my sense of safety — he murdered my spirit and crushed my soul. He destroyed all the little parts of me that made me, me.
“He took my trust, my voice, and for a long time, my ability to live freely in the world.
“Since then, I have worked tirelessly to reclaim those pieces of myself. But no matter how much therapy I go through, how much time passes, some scars don’t fade.”
Hazel also expressed her sympathy and support for the Leicestershire-based family of Madeleine.
She said: “ As a parent, I cannot begin to imagine what they have gone through and continue to go through every day for the past 18 years.”
On her fight for justice, she said: “On the 3rd of June 2020, following 16 years of getting to know this ‘new me’, I was once again thrown back to 2004 — only this time, I was made aware of the face behind the mask.
Facing the man I believed completely destroyed my life in court is one of the most difficult things I have willingly ever had to do.
Hazel Behan
“I grappled with whether I had the mental strength to highlight myself to the relevant authorities as a potential victim, but I knew, deep down, if I didn’t, I would always regret it.
“The following four years were unimaginably tough for me and my family and nothing could have prepared me for what lay ahead.
“Facing the man I believed completely destroyed my life in court is one of the most difficult things I have willingly ever had to do.”
She has also taken a case to the European Court of Human Rights over what her lawyer called the “systematic and inexcusable failings by the Portuguese authorities that has denied her, and others, justice”.
SEX beast Christian Brueckner is said to be preparing to “cash in” on his infamy by signing up for TV and book deals when he is released.
The rapist and paedophile is set to be released from jail in September.
Sources in Germany claim he will be desperate for money once out — and will face no shortage of offers to make money from his notoriety.
One said: “Brueckner is awaited by many members of the media and could be paid well for going onto talk shows, which will offer him a platform to tell his version of the ‘injustice’ done to him.”
He has already maintained his innocence in interviews from jail, also telling German broadcaster RTL of his cravings for steak and beer.
POLICE arrested an actor on the set of hit TV show Rivals just an hour after he filmed a scene with star Danny Dyer.
Sources said telly extra Nigel Adams was led away in handcuffs by six cops while he was still in costume — in front of shocked cast members on the toffs drama.
Adams, 45, was in a polo scene with ex-EastEnder Danny on Wednesday for the second series of the Disney+ show, also starring David Tennant and Emily Atack.
Around 60 minutes later, two cop cars turned up.
He was driven away and spent two nights in a police cell before appearing in court on Friday accused of assaulting an ex-girlfriend.
A source said: “It was very dramatic.
“Everyone was in their costumes and Danny was filming this polo scene when an hour later police suddenly turned up to arrest one of the extras. It was shocking.”
The assault is alleged to have happened at a house in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.
Police were called to the address at 2am on May 31.
Cops wanted to question Adams, also a supporting actor on BBC’s Casualty and Doctor Who, in connection with the incident.
It is understood Avon and Somerset Police were tipped off that the bricklayer turned TV extra was filming on the new series of the Jilly Cooper bonkbuster adaptation Rivals.
Officers swooped after the polo match scene — with Dyer in his role as lovable Freddie Jones and also featuring The Musketeers star Luca Pasqualino — had been shot in the grounds of Berkeley Castle, Gloucs.
Sources said Adams, who was in costume as a polo match spectator for the filming, looked shocked.
A pal said: “He’ll be gutted because it could end his TV career, something he really loves doing.
“He’s a bricklayer by trade but he’s been doing more and more TV work, he’s been in loads of stuff.
“Whenever he’s in the background of a show he gets all his family and friends to watch it.”
Adams was also an extra in House of the Dragon and The Forsyte Saga.
And he appeared in the 2022 movie Prizefighter: The Life of Jem Belcher, starring Ray Winstone — when he was photographed alongside the Emmy-winning actor.
He’ll be gutted because it could end his TV career, something he really loves doing.
Adams' pal
Adams appeared at Bristol magistrates’ court on Friday charged with assault causing actual bodily harm.
He made no plea and was given conditional bail until he returns to the city’s crown court on July 7.
Production company Happy Prince, which makes the drama Rivals, said: “On the 4th June, the police visited the set regarding an unrelated matter involving a supporting artist.
“Production co-operated with the police. We do not have any further information as it is not connected to Rivals or to our production.”
Avon and Somerset Police confirmed a man was arrested at Berkeley Castle on June 4.
They said Adams, from Locking, Somerset, was charged with assault causing actual bodily harm.