Georgia Toffolo is engaged - and her new fiancé is wealthy even by Made In Chelsea standards.
The smitten TV personality looked pleased as punch as she debuted her sparkling engagement ring, revealing that businessman beau James Watt had popped the question on the week of her 30th birthday.
Aberdeenshire entrepreneur James is the co-founder of craft brewery and pub chain BrewDog, having stepped down as CEO earlier this year. He is now focusing his efforts on a new influencer marketing platform Social Tip, which boasts premium clients such as Huel and PureGym. Needless to say, the couple won't need to scrimp when it comes to the wedding DJ.
As congratulations pour in for the well-heeled lovebirds, the Mirror takes a look at Georgia and James' love story and engagement, as well as James' eyewatering net worth.
'Favourite love story'
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instagram.com/brewdogjames)Image:
Georgia Toffolo/Instagram)Georgia and James have been an item since the summer of 2023 when a mutual friend set them up on a blind date, believing them to be a good match. Their instincts proved correct, and the romance quickly blossomed into a serious commitment.
The pair went public with their relationship by November of that year, after jetting off to the Maldives for a blissful break. And it soon became apparent that love was in the air. They then spent Christmas together in Scotland, as per Hello! magazine.
Back in January, Georgia spoke exclusively with the Mirror about how James had changed her 'guarded' nature, in a way she found 'liberating'. Georgia explained: "I've been quite guarded about my personal life because I started doing TV when I was 18, and I'm now 29, so it's been like the whole of my adult life.
"I felt quite strongly that I needed to keep a little bit back for me. James and I started dating last year and because of what he does - he's so public and brilliant and at the forefront of his business - it became public. But I just felt like it was time for me to relax a bit and just be open and honest about a wonderful thing and how happy we are. And it's been so liberating to not have to, like, guard everything."
In March 2024, Georgia moved into James' plush London pad, reflecting upon the significance of the moment in a poignant Instagram post. Georgia, better known to some fans as 'Toff', wrote: "Saying goodbye to my apartment this morning was way more emotional than I thought. It was a super important chapter in my life and a very happy one. I remember being so scared when I first moved in (not that I would EVER admit that at the time to anyone)."
Sharing a few nostalgic snaps from her time living as a single girl, Georgia continued: "Scared of living alone, in a new part of London and what the future might hold. How silly of me to worry. It was the best decision I've ever made (easy to say that with hindsight isn’t it?!) Closing the door and leaving the keys was a weird mixture of lots of feelings. I'd be sad if I wasn't so excited for my new chapter."
To Georgia's great joy, James recently popped the question during a holiday to Greece, where he reportedly asked for her hand in marriage surrounded by family. A source told the Mail Online: "He asked her to marry him yesterday in front of both of their families in Greece. After the proposal they went to a big party at the Peligoni club and ended up dancing on tables to ABBA, celebrating with all the other guests."
Announcing the exciting news to her Instagram followers on the morning of Sunday, October 27, Georgia shared: "James just asked me to marry him. It really was the best moment of my life so far. I never knew I could feel happiness like this. The easiest, quickest yes to being your wife.
"Our love story is my favourite. How we managed to find each other out of billions of people out there will always be my greatest blessing. I love you forever and the magical life we're building."
And it would seem that Georgia got exactly what she wanted for her birthday. In an interview with the Daily Mail back in September, Georgia admitted that an engagement ring would make for the 'ultimate' gift for her milestone 30th birthday. Keeping her fingers crossed, the former Made in Chelsea star confessed: "It would be the ultimate 30th birthday present. You never know, I can hope and pray and I was praying yesterday so hopefully it's not too far off."
Staggering net worth
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Georgia Toffolo/Instagram)Image:
PA)As of 2024, James' net worth is estimated to be around £262million, with BrewDog having overtaken Carlsberg in 2022 to become the 14th most valuable beer brand on the planet. The following year, The Sun reports, the business was valued at £2 billion.
In 2018, James and BrewDog co-founder Martin Dickie made history after bringing craft beer into the monied mix of the Sunday Times Rich List for the very first time. The pair, who have been friends since their schooldays, broke into the publication's prestigious list of the 1,000 wealthiest individuals in the UK, and by 2020, they were ranked among the 15 richest people in the drinks business.
It hasn't all been plain sailing however, and in 2021, former employees accused BrewDog of having 'culture of fear' and 'toxic attitudes' to junior staff in an open letter. Addressing the backlash in 2023, James told STV: "I think there’s a small amount of criticism of us that is potentially justified. Have we got everything right? Absolutely not. Have we made mistakes in the past? Yes, absolutely we have.
"But I think the same is true for any company and I think because we’ve always been quite high-profile, a lot of these have been taken way out of context or blown way out of proportion, and there’s a lot of things that are not true in the mix and all kind of blended together. But regardless, we take it, we take the feedback, use it as a catalyst to get better and keep building the business.”
In January this year, Brewdog came under scrutiny again after announcing it would no longer hire new staff on the real living wage, offering them the lower legal minimum wage instead. Hitting back at the 'media storm' that ensued at the time, James took to social media, writing: “If you saw the media storm last week (and let’s be honest – it would have been hard not to) you would be forgiven for thinking that we pay our fantastic people in the most miserly of ways. Or worse, that we had cut our teams pay.”
He then listed various benefits offered to BrewDog bar employees, including 'better' starting packages than '90 per cent of [its] competitors', and wage hikes which were 'almost double the UK average'. since 2022. James also stated that he would be giving '20 per cent of [his] own equity in BrewDog to [its] amazing people over a four-year period'.
As her nickname might suggest, former Queen of the Jungle Toff also isn't short a bob or two and is believed to have a net worth of £5 million as per multiple publications, including Hello! magazine.
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