Strictly Come Dancing head judge Shirley Ballas has said she was rejected by members-only dating app Raya after re-entering the dating scene almost a year on from the end of her engagement to Danny Taylor.
The 65-year-old told the Daily Mail she had tried to join the app and was turned away. "I tried Raya, but they wouldn’t accept me, how rude," she said, while adding she was not rushing into a new relationship because she is focused on her son, grandson and the start of the new Strictly series. The split from Taylor, 53, was announced in November after six years together.
Raya is known as an invitation-only app popular with actors, musicians and high-profile media figures; past users reported in the media have included Paul Mescal, Sharon Stone, Ben Affleck, Carol Vorderman, Niall Horan and Channing Tatum. Ballas’s remarks came amid other high-profile rejections reported this year: actor and comedian John Thomson said he had been placed on a waiting list and was not accepted despite referrals.
Ballas has publicly described the moment she realised the relationship with Taylor could not continue. Speaking to The Mirror, she said the turning point came on her 64th birthday when she was told Taylor had gone missing. The incident, she said, revived traumatic memories of her brother David’s 2003 death by suicide and left her and her 87-year-old mother distraught. Ballas said she spent hours trying to trace Taylor, eventually seeing that he had read her messages in the early hours; when he resurfaced the next day she said he acted as if nothing had happened, a response that confirmed to her the relationship could not continue.
"I will never forget that day until the day I die," Ballas said, adding that the episode prompted her to consider her own wellbeing and that of her mother. She told the Daily Mail she was not in a hurry to date.
Ballas has also addressed recent speculation about cosmetic procedures, saying she has not had a surgical facelift. She revealed she had undergone high-tech non-surgical treatments, spending about £4,400 on procedures including a course of NeoGen nitrogen plasma treatments with Dr. Johanna Ward on Harley Street. After a seven-month course of non-surgical treatments, she told the Daily Mail she felt "20 years younger" and more confident ahead of Strictly’s launch.
A former competitive dancer and three-time married figure on the public record, Ballas was first engaged at 16 to a ballroom partner, later married dance partner Sammy Stopford at 19, and then married Texan dancer Corky Ballas in 1985; she and Corky had son Mark the following year and separated in 2007. Her long-term engagement to Taylor ended last year after six years together.
Ballas is due to return as head judge for the next series of Strictly Come Dancing, where she said her priorities for the coming months are work and family. Her comments about Raya and the end of her engagement come as she resumes a high-profile role on the BBC show while navigating public interest in her personal life.