Shirley Ballas, 65, rejected by dating app after swearing off toyboys

Shirley Ballas has claimed she has been "rudely" rejected from celebrity dating app Raya. The Strictly Come Dancing star, 65, said she was back on the dating scene following her shock split from fiance Danny Taylor, 53.

However, she says the popular site has declined her efforts to find love with a fellow star on the app. And she has called the rejection "rude".

While she admits she is not in a hurry to start dating, she remains disgruntled at apparently being turned away from using the service. "I tried Raya, but they wouldn’t accept me, how rude," she said.

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Speaking to Daily Mail, the star added: "I’m not in an hurry to date, though. I’ve got my son, my grandson and Strictly is about to start."

Her rejection comes as Cold Feet and Corrie star John Thomson admitted he had been placed on a waiting list for the app. "Raya won’t have me," he said. "I’m on a waiting list. I’ve got 15 referrals and they still won’t have me."

The Mirror has approached Raya for comment.

Shirley recently opened up to the Mirror about the end of her relationship with Danny. The duo had met while doing panto together in 2018. At the time, the TV star had been single for four and a half years and was playing Mother Nature. Danny was evil Fleshcreep in the Jack And The Beanstalk production in Liverpool.

Now, Shirley admits she quickly fell head over heels for Danny and the duo later got engaged in 2021, buying their wedding rings in the months that followed. Speaking ahead of the release of her incredible new memoir, Best Foot Forward, Shirley said: "There was no question about how much I loved that man.

"And he came into my life at a point when I really, really needed it and he was such a caring person. But what’s the nicest way to say this? Along the line, there were red flags that I chose to ignore, but it just got to a point where the relationship was becoming too difficult for me in many ways.”

She labelled Danny a "drifter by nature". Shirley claimed that if there was ever an argument, he would go days without talking.

And she admitted she thinks her "toyboy days are behind me". "I reckon anything from 55 to 70 if they’re fit."

Shirley and Danny's relationship came after the star had married twice before. She tied the knot with her dance partner Sammy Stopford in 1980. However, the pair divorced after four years.

Then there was a fiery marriage to another dancer Corky Ballas with whom she has a son, Mark.

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