‘I’d given up on love!’ Craig Revel Horwood on meeting the love of his life on Tinder
Craig Revel Horwood got engaged to his boyfriend of two years, Jonathan Myring, in March, however, when the pair met in 2018, the Strictly Come Dancing judge had given up on love.
The star was chatting on White Wine Question Time with pal Kate Thornton about meeting and falling in love with boyfriend, Jonathan Myring.
“I was sort of giving up on the whole thing,” he admitted. “I just thought, 'Well, I'm really actually happy, you know?'”
The pair, who met on Tinder, hit it off on a speed brunch date while Craig was on the Strictly Come Dancing arena tour. While he had to rush off to do a matinee performance, the pair met up again and it wasn’t long before they moved in together.
Talking about the first date, Craig said: “I knew from the very outset when the double doors to the Mercure Hotel opened and he walked in. I went, ‘Oh yeah, he's got a very smiley, happy face. I like that. I'm definitely going on this date!’ There wasn't any awkward silences and it's been absolute bliss ever since!”
Ironically, the day they met, Craig had decided to come off the dating app and try and “meet someone at a dinner party”. Fast forward to March 2020, and the couple got engaged after Myring, who is 22 years younger than Revel Horwood, proposed.
Read more: Craig Revel Horwood on how having his man boobs removed made him happier
The pair were attempting to find the very elusive platypus, while on holiday in Tasmania, and while Myring had planned to ask the question there, the Strictly judge scuppered the plans when he demanded they return to the hotel for a bath!
“After drawing a bubble bath, he jumped in with me and then presented the ring in my face and said, ‘Do you want to marry me?’” explained Revel Horwood, who jokingly said no at first!
“It was a real surprise. It's so nice to commit to someone. It's just such a lovely thing to hear, especially later on in life. I'm very much looking forward to the wedding.”
This won’t be the Australian-born star’s first marriage. He was married in the early ‘90s for two years to Jane Halwood, who ended up cheating on him. The star joked to the Daily Mail that he had “been solidly gay ever since” the marriage ended, but that he also realised he couldn’t find love again until he loved himself.
Read more: Craig Revel Horwood wanted children with ex-wife before their divorce
“I think at some points I was desperate just to be with someone and I didn't really care who they were,” he told Thornton.
“That's wrong and I wasn't loving myself. It wasn't until I started loving myself and being happy being single and adoring being single that I fell in love with someone. I wasn't expecting that.”
One thing the West End star wishes is that there wasn’t so much pressure on single people to be part of a couple.
“I think there's so much pressure in society for people to have to be with someone,” he said. “And I think that's difficult for single people, who like being single, because we're all born in this world alone and we'll all die alone. You can guarantee that.”
Read more: The realities of dating in your forties
He continued: “If you can learn to be alone and learn to live with yourself and can still be motivated, you don't need someone else. If someone else comes along in your life, like Jonathan has, that compliments it, then that's a fantastic thing to celebrate and that's why we're getting married because we want to celebrate the fact that we love one another.”
Hear Craig Revel Horwood talk more about his love life, why he ditched working with Camera Mackintosh and his plans for the future on the latest episode of White Wine Question Time. Listen now on iTunes and Spotify.
