Did Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas Know Each Other Before DWTS? Their Traitors Connection Explained

Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas did not meet for the first time when they were paired on “Dancing with the Stars” Season 35. The two already knew each other well after competing together on “The Traitors” Season 4, where they developed a friendship that viewers barely got to see on television. Higgins later revealed that she and Ballas spent a surprising amount of their downtime dancing together inside the castle and remained close after filming ended. Their DWTS partnership therefore has more history behind it than most celebrity-pro pairings this season. There is also another wrinkle: months before the partnerships were revealed, Higgins openly said Ballas was the professional dancer she hoped to get.

Related: Does Taylor Hanson Have Dance Experience Before DWTS?

Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas became friends on The Traitors

Higgins and Ballas met while filming the fourth season of “The Traitors” in Scotland. Although the finished episodes focused heavily on suspicions, alliances and the competition itself, Higgins has said viewers saw very little of the friendship she developed with Ballas away from the game. Contestants have considerable downtime during filming when they are not allowed to discuss strategy, giving them a chance to talk about their lives outside the castle and get to know one another more personally.

After the season ended, Higgins specifically named her friendship with Ballas as one of the relationships that had largely disappeared in the edit. She told Elle that the pair were “dancing all the time” and said she was still very close with him. That detail became considerably more interesting once Higgins was announced for DWTS, where Ballas is one of the show’s most successful professional dancers. Their old castle dancing was casual fun, not ballroom training, but it shows that dance was already part of their friendship before ABC paired them professionally.

Maura wanted Mark as her DWTS partner before the pairing was announced

Higgins did not hide her preference once she knew she was joining “Dancing with the Stars.” In May 2026, months before ABC officially revealed the Season 35 partnerships, she publicly named Ballas as the professional she wanted. She joked that he might go easier on her because they already knew each other, while also acknowledging that she probably needed someone willing to push her through the demanding training.

She was even more direct in another interview when discussing possible partners. Higgins said she would be happy with almost anyone but Gleb Savchenko, explaining that she was friends with his former partner Brooks Nader and did not like some of the comments he had made about women. When asked about her preferred professional, she again pointed to Ballas. By the time ABC finally confirmed the pairings, the Higgins-Ballas partnership felt less like a completely random match and more like the reunion Higgins had already been hoping for.

Did Maura Higgins actually choose Mark Ballas?

There is no confirmation that Higgins personally selected Ballas or that ABC guaranteed her preferred partner. What is confirmed is that she publicly wanted him before the Season 35 pairings were announced and ultimately received exactly the partnership she had been hoping for. Without confirmation from the producers about how that particular decision was made, it would be misleading to say Higgins simply chose Ballas herself.

That distinction matters because celebrity preferences and official DWTS pairings are not necessarily the same thing. Higgins could express whom she wanted, but the final announcement still came from the show. What viewers can say with certainty is that producers paired two people who already had an established friendship and were comfortable with one another before rehearsals started. That removes one challenge many DWTS couples face during the opening weeks, when a celebrity and professional must build trust while simultaneously learning choreography.

Their friendship is now different on Dancing with the Stars

Knowing each other beforehand may make Higgins more comfortable around Ballas, but DWTS has changed the nature of their relationship. On “The Traitors,” they were fellow contestants navigating the same competition. On DWTS, Ballas is the professional responsible for teaching Higgins ballroom technique, building routines around her abilities and preparing her to perform under the judges’ scrutiny.

Higgins has already spoken about the difference in trust between the two shows. After being deceived by Rob Rausch during “The Traitors,” she joked that DWTS was easier in one respect because she could actually trust Ballas as her professional partner. Ballas, meanwhile, has praised Higgins’ work ethic while acknowledging that she is inexperienced as a dancer. Their existing friendship may therefore help emotionally, but it does not remove the technical work Higgins has to do in rehearsals.

Mark Ballas gives Maura an experienced partner for Season 35

Ballas also brings one of the strongest DWTS resumes available to a celebrity contestant. He is a three-time Mirrorball champion and has spent years establishing himself as one of the show’s most creative professional choreographers. His return for Season 35 immediately attracted attention, particularly because Higgins had already been publicly campaigning to dance with him months earlier.

Their pairing is therefore unusual for a simple reason: the relationship did not begin in a rehearsal studio. Higgins and Ballas already knew how to communicate, already considered each other friends and had even spent time dancing together long before DWTS became part of the conversation. None of that means Higgins secretly received ballroom training on “The Traitors,” nor does it prove she controlled the Season 35 pairing. It does explain why the two already appear comfortable together and why Higgins was so enthusiastic about getting Ballas as her partner in the first place.