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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Brogan-Leigh Hurst

Craig Revel Horwood's life outside of Strictly - A-list wedding to Shirley Ballas spat

Craig Revel Horwood is best known for being a controversial judge on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing.

Away from the glittering dance floor, the 57-year-old professional ballroom dancer lives a very lavish life, thanks to his high-flying showbiz career.

He spends his time living in Hampshire and owns a sprawling mansion, where he lives with fiancé Jonathan Myring - who he's due to get married to in the near future.

On Strictly, the judge is always causing outrage with viewers as he doesn't shy away from sharing his honest feedback.

But behind-the-scenes, Craig appears to be more chilled as he takes the time to switch off and relax at his countryside home.

Let's take a look at what Craig's life is like outside of the limelight...

Ambitious wedding plans

The Strictly star has high hopes for his wedding to Jonathan - and wants a star-studded guest list.

It's reported he is planning to invite the Duchess of Cornwall to their big day, and hopes Dame Shirley Bassey will belt out a few songs at the event.

Craig has remained largely tight-lipped about plans for his and his horticulturist fiancé Jonathan Myring's nuptials.

Craig is due to tie-the-knot with boyfriend Jonathan Myring (Sunday Mirror)

But Craig has now told how he would "love" his friend and future Queen Consort Camilla to be in attendance, and he's been rehearsing some Shirley tunes in case the singer doesn't fancy performing.

Craig told Hello! magazine: "Of course I'll be inviting the future queen! I'd love her to be there. She's such fun and a lovely person, and will make a fantastic Queen Consort.

"I'd like Shirley Bassey to be there, too. I'd be very lucky if Shirley sings, but if not, I'll belt out her numbers instead."

Craig previously said the wedding will be in August 2023 and the couple now say it will be in the grounds of their new Victorian mansion, which is currently being refurbished and isn't expected to be ready for at least a year.

Craig lives a lavish life in Hampshire (Brian J Ritchie/Hotsauce/REX/Shutterstock)
Craig has asked Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall to attend his upcoming wedding (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

A whole galaxy of Strictly stars and Craig's friendly ex-wife have got invites to their wedding.

But there wouldn't have been a wedding at all if Jonathan's aunt had her way, as she tried to put her nephew off the "nasty" TV judge after forming an opinion of him from watching Strictly.

Craig revealed to Hello!: "She tried to put him off me. 'You're not meeting that Craig Revel Horwood, are you? He's really nasty,' she warned him.

"But he'd never watched Strictly so wasn't aware of me.

"I knew as soon as I saw him that he was The One. We had an hour-long speed date over lunch - which I would recommend to everyone as I've been on three-hour dates with people I can't stand - and then arranged to meet two weeks later.

"It was a case of initial attraction, followed by getting to know one another, finding out where we were going in life and then, 'Shall we go to bed?'"

Sprawling Hampshire home - with a touch of Strictly

Craig spends his downtime with Jonathan at their stunning shared property.

The luxe home he shares with his fiancé has all the Strictly sparkle and glitz fans would expect.

It's like no other celebrity home with its outstanding bar, wall of champagne fridges and a statement mask mosaic sculpture.

Champagne bottles completely pack out the two huge fridges set up opposite his home bar.

The bar is a spectacle in itself, boasting lots of different liquor bottles from gin to Smirnoff vodka lined up along it - perfect for cocktail hour.

His glittering home has touches of Strictly (Sunday Mirror)
Craig Revel Horwood (Adam Gerrard/Sunday Mirror)

Their living area has ultra modern finish to it with its sleek sofa, huge airy windows overlooking the garden, and curated potted house plants.

The dancer proudly owns a one-off giant mosaic mask sculpture which twinkles in the light of his living room.

It gives another of his living spaces a cool vibe and brings a touch of sparkle to the room.

Outside their home, apple trees with groaning branches adorned with dangling fruit reach out across the garden space.

The couple have two quirky sheep ornaments stood up out in the open to give their garden a wild, natural feel.

Craig and Jonathan invited everyone into their home after they got engaged.

Shirley Ballas row over 'body-shaming' comments

In Shirley's memoir Behind The Sequins, she discussed comments that Craig, 55, had reportedly said when promoting his own book in 2018.

Head judge Shirley revealed his hurtful comments were "painful" in her autobiography when she heard what Craig had said about her.

According to The Sun, he said at the time: "What happened is that she came to the audition and literally had her thing open to her navel. I am not joking.

The Strictly judges (BBC)

"Her boobs were like La BaZooKa things hanging out. It was not very, erm, Strictly.

"So they came in and sewed all that up. Then they had to push them down . . . and they're fake."

Reflecting on the comments in her memoir, as revealed exclusively by the Mirror, Shirley wrote: "It was awful and very, very painful.

"It brought up a lot of things from my past that I thought I'd dealt with."

She went on to claim: "Once again, I was propelled back to my toughest days with [ex-husband] Corky, when he would make comments about my appearance: my crooked teeth, my nose, my a**e that was too big.

"All those insults just came flying back as I read what Craig had said, apparently in jest. I told him exactly how I felt."

Shirley claimed that he went on to give her a grovelling apology - with flowers - and the pair mended fences.

Fiancé Jonathan

Craig met Jonathan, 43, on Tinder in 2018, and they got engaged in March 2020 when Jonathan popped the question as they were holidaying in Tasmania.

In April of that year Craig told OK! Magazine: "Jonathan popped the question at the end of March on holiday in Tasmania and it was a total surprise – although I did almost ruin it all."

The couple are set to get married in 2023 (Sunday Mirror)

Jonathan explained he'd planned a picnic by the river where they could look for platypus - and he was going to pop the question as soon as they spotted one of the creatures.

However, he realised that platypus are "elusive" so changed his plan at the last minute.

He ended up proposing in a bathtub as the couple sipped Champagne.

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