He may be one of the scariest people on reality TV but, off screen, Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood is a hopeless romantic.
The 55-year-old secretly got engaged to his partner of two years, horticulturalist Jonathan Myring, 35, last month. And while speaking exclusively to OK! to announce the news, it’s clear he’s head over heels in love.
“There’s such comfort in knowing you have somebody that loves you and wants to spend the rest of their life with you,” the Australian-born star tells us. “I feel like I have someone who has my back and I’ve got theirs.”
The pair met by chance in 2018 while Craig was on the Strictly tour. They began dating and, nine months later, Jonathan moved into Craig’s home in Hampshire.
And while Craig – who was previously married to Jane Horwood from 1990-1992 before coming out as gay – revealed early on in their relationship that he saw marriage on the cards, it was actually Jonathan who got down on one knee.
Here, the couple reveal all about the unconventional proposal, their plans for the big day and why Craig’s fellow Strictly judge Bruno Tonioli won’t be best man...
Congratulations on your engagement. How does it feel?
Craig: Scary [laughs]! No, it’s good. 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.
Jonathan: I had this whole day planned. We were going to have a picnic by the river and look for platypus. I was going to wait for one to come along and then propose. But, on the day, Craig said he didn’t want to do it as platypus are very elusive, so it would be a waste of time.
So what did you do then?
Jonathan: I had a back-up plan. I was going to take him to a national park, where there’s a bridge under a waterfall, and propose there. But then he said he didn’t want to climb up there, he wanted to go back to the hotel and rest!
Craig: I didn’t make it easy for him!
Jonathan: By this point, I was getting really nervous and just wanted it done. In the end, I drew a salt bath, opened a bottle of champagne and we got in the bath together and I did it in there.
Craig: It was very romantic. A naked proposal, on his knees in the bath. It was hilarious!
How did you react, Craig?
I said, “Absolutely not!” [laughs]. And then I said, “Oh, alright then, I’ve changed my mind.” I thought it was really sweet, actually, because Jonathan just said, “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” It was absolutely perfect. I would much rather be in a bubble bath with champagne than climbing up a mountain to a waterfall anyway.
Did you give Craig an engagement ring, Jonathan?
Yes, I had matching rings made. They’re wooden with gold bands through the middle. The wood is from the eucalyptus trees that grow around Ballarat, where Craig is from in Australia.
Craig: It’s gorgeous. I loved the ring. And it actually fits. I mean how do you guess someone’s ring size?
Jonathan: I was trying to measure your finger while you were asleep!
Who have you told?
Craig: We have told family and about five friends. We wanted to announce it at an engagement party, but now we’ll have to wait until after lockdown is over.
Jonathan: We did have a little engagement party before we left Australia with Craig’s mother and his sister. His mum gave me the “if you hurt him, I’ll kill you” talk.
Craig: My mum is scarier than me. She brought me up well! But she was actually really pleased because Jonathan is the only one of my boyfriends she has really liked. He’s already being treated as part of the family.
Have you set a date for the wedding?
Craig: No, we haven’t even thought of a rough date yet. We’re growing a vineyard on our property in Hampshire and we want to wait until all the vines are growing properly and we’ve had our first harvest.
Jonathan: That can take four years, though, so we won’t wait that long. But we do want to have the wedding at home. We have seven acres of land, so we want a beautiful forest garden wedding.
Craig: I don’t want a big, splashy, massive wedding. It would be nice to have something intimate for ourselves and very close friends and family.
What will you wear?
Craig: Well, I am not going to be wearing a dress, I can tell you that much! No, just something smart, but I don’t want to go too formal with top hats and morning suits and all of that.
Will you invite your ex-wife, Craig?
Yes, definitely. Jane is fantastic and I still have a lot of love for her. Jonathan gets on really well with her, too. We’ve all been on holiday together.
Jonathan: I thought about asking her to officiate the wedding.
Craig: You didn’t tell me that! That would be something [laughs].
Will you invite lots of your celebrity friends, too?
Craig: Yeah, the ones I like [laughs]. Definitely Bruno [Tonioli], although I won’t have him as my best man. Can you imagine Bruno doing the speech? He would take over the whole day. I’d invite all the other judges, too, and Darcey [Bussell] and Len [Goodman]. And I love Claudia [Winkleman] and Tess [Daly], so they will be there.
Jonathan: We’ll also invite Aljaž [Škorjanec] and Janette [Manrara], as we’re good mates with them. Janette has known for quite a while that I was going to propose to Craig. I told her months ago.
How soon into your two-year relationship did you know this was forever?
Craig: Our first date was only an hour long as we met for coffee between two live shows on the Strictly tour in Nottingham. I knew straight away after that. The age gap was never an issue either because Jonathan acts older than me anyway!
Jonathan: I am a bit of a grandad, and Craig thinks he is 20 years younger than he is. But one of the things I fell in love with about Craig is that he is so phenomenally caring, and so unlike his TV persona, it’s uncanny.
Craig: And the thing I love the most about Jonathan is that he always has a smile on his face. Every time he walks into a room, he brings light with him. Also, anyone who can put up with all that comes with me being in the public eye is a keeper. In this industry, you never know if someone wants to be with you just because you’re on TV, but it’s very clear Jonathan has no interest in all that.
Jonathan: I had to do some emergency YouTube research of Strictly videos when we first met as I don’t watch much TV!
On the subject of Strictly, are you confident it will still go ahead as planned, given the pandemic, Craig?
Yes. I know the BBC will move heaven and earth to make it happen. Even if the lockdown is, God forbid, still in place by then, there are ways you can do it without an audience and on limited staffing. I really want Simon Cowell to be a contestant. I think the nation would warm to him, and he’s not doing The X Factor this year so it’s perfect timing.
Kevin Clifton and AJ Pritchard have quit Strictly. Do you ever think about leaving the show?
No, I love it. I’m there until they drag me out kicking and screaming. I was sad that Kevin and AJ left but they both left on an absolute high and have bright futures ahead of them.
Speaking of the future, could children be on the cards?
Craig: At the moment, we have a lot we want to do in the grounds of our home and we want to enjoy married life first, too. But it’s not out of the question. If we did become parents, I think we would definitely adopt rather than go down the surrogacy route as there are so many children out there who need a home. But I’m no spring chicken, darling, so we might have to adopt kids that are old enough to push me around in a wheelchair!
Jonathan: If we did have kids, Craig would definitely be the fun parent. He’d let them get away with murder!
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Craig Revel Horwood announces engagement and spills on unconventional proposal - OK! magazine
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