LOVE Island’s Chris Taylor hinted that his romance with Maura Higgins was on the rocks before their shock split.
The couple – who went public with their relationship back in November – have decided to go their separate ways.
The pair met each other on the fifth season of the ITV reality show back in 2019, but were originally just close pals.
Over the past few months, the pair seemed as loved-up as ever – but there were signs of trouble in paradise when Chris, 30, made a cryptic Instagram apology last week.
Alongside a selfie of the pair in a hot tub, he wrote: “Sorry for being born a grade A penis babe & thanks for your patience 
.”
And just a week later the pair shared the news that they’ve decided to call time on their six month relationship.
Maura, 30, told her 3.1m followers: “It breaks my heart to even type this.
“But I wanted to let everyone know that myself and Chris have made the joint decision to end our relationship.
“There is no wrong doing on either side. We still love, care and respect each other deeply from the minute we met each other we’ve been very close friends and that will never change.
“There is no regret, life is about taking chances. We wanted to make this work, but we have realised we work better being friends.
“While I appreciate people may speculate or create false stories, this is the truth.
“I wish Chris nothing but the best and I will always be one of his biggest supporters. Thank you for all of the love and support.”
Chris also released a statement on Instagram, saying: “Hey guys. After some very heartfelt conversations over the past few days, myself and Maura are very sad to announce that we have decided to part ways.
“We are both still on very good terms and this was a mutual decision where nobody had done anything wrong.
“We will remain friends, as we have been since day one and I will always be in Maura’s corner and have her back.
“We are both going through a very tough time with this atm, so please take any speculation with a metric tonne of salt, cos this is the only truth (and as always, trolls can kindly f*** off.)
“Thank you for all the love and support you’ve given us it’s truly appreciated.”
Eagled-eyed fans on Reddit called their split before they had even announced the sad news – and referred to Chris’ cryptic post.
One wrote on Reddit: “As soon as he posted those pics of them together last week saying he was a grade A penis and he’s grateful for her patience, I knew it was over… wonder what he did though!!”
Another replied to their comment asking what he had done, to which one said: “I don’t know but if he was thanking her for having patience with him last week he clearly did something
.”
A second added: “Generally when one person in a couple posts a whole bunch of random pics of them together with a caption like that their relationship is most likely on the rocks 
.”
In recent weeks the former grid girl has also been spending a lot of time with Love Island BFF Molly-Mae Hague and her boyfriend Tommy Fury without her beau.
And this certainly didn’t get past their followers.
One fan wrote on Reddit: “Ahhh that’s why she been staying over at Tommy and Molly’s. I was wondering how come she was apart from Chris for so long. I hope they do stay friends at least.”
Another said: “Makes sense why Maura has been spending more time with Molly lately. I’m glad they gave it a go and seem to still be on good terms, hopefully they can still be friends.”
A third chimed in: “Awww I had a feeling this was coming based on Maura’s stories being all Molly/Tommy of late and very little Chris…but I’m still a lil shocked and sad!”
Meanwhile others were left shocked by the news and wished them all the best.
One said: “Devastated. Really thought they were going to last 
.”
Another added:”Gutted! I loved them together and totally believed they could make it work. I hope they can stay friends.”
“They gave it a go and it didn’t work out. I’m happy they still have love and respect for each other,” another fan wrote.
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Maura placed fourth in the ITV competition with former boyfriend Curtis Pritchard and they dated for eight months after the show.
Meanwhile Chris coupled up with Geordie lass Harley Brash and tried to give it a go in the UK, but went their separate ways shortly after.
After spending plenty of time together during the summer of 2020, fans speculated that Maura and Chris were more than just friends.
Although the Love Island pair had always denied romance rumours, there were plenty of secret signs that proved they were together – including the practical joker always mimicked her sexy Instagram posts and Chris being spotted leaving Maura’s flat in the same clothes.