Strictly star ‘engaged’ as girlfriend of two years shows off dazzling ring
Model Zara was spotted sporting bling on her ring finger.
The girlfriend of former Strictly Come Dancing star AJ Pritchard has appeared to confirm rumours of their engagement by showing off a sparkling new ring on Instagram.
AJ has been dating Mara Zara Zoffany – full name Zara Zoffany Farida Sassoon-Munns – since 2022, after first meeting on the Channel 5 reality TV show The Challenge.
She and the Strictly dancer, 30, first became romantically linked after he split from his long-term girlfriend Abbie Quinnen in 2022.
And, as Zara, also 30, celebrated her birthday this weekend, she and her friends took to social media to share a series of snaps from the lavish bash.
In the pictures, the model and reality TV star wears a red top and white miniskirt with matching knee boots. As she partied the night away, she also appeared to be sporting another accessory, on a certain finger of her left hand.
Get personalised updates on your favourite TV showsWake up to find news on your TV shows in your inbox every morning with Metro’s TV Newsletter.
Sign up to our newsletter and then select your show in the link we’ll send you so we can get TV news tailored to you.
Among the pictures posted to her Instagram Stories was one in which Zara brandished a sparkling great ring at the camera. ‘Miss ENGAGED,’ read the accompanying caption.
Zara showed off an interesting bit of bling on her Instagram this weekend (Picture: Zara Zoffany/Instagram)AJ and Zara first hinted at their engagement during a trip to Paris last year, in which they posed for a series of pictures together in front of the Eiffel Tower.
This included one snap of AJ apparently down on one knee before the pair twirled together in front of the French monument.
‘From Paris with love,’ Zara captioned the post, causing some to speculate whether this was, in fact, a subtle hint to their engagement.
AJ was a professional dancer on Strictly from 2016 to 2019 (Picture: PA)This is quite the reversal of fortunes for AJ and Zara’s relationship after reports emerged in November 2022 that they had ‘split’ after Zara grew ‘bored’ of her new man.
‘AJ was totally smitten with Zara but as time went on, she got bored of him,’ the source told The Sun.
‘It was all very intense on The Challenge, and they fell for one another. But outside in the real world, when they started dating, it was all very different.
AJ and Zara have been dating for two years (Picture: Shutterstock)‘Zara is really outgoing, and she thought AJ had changed. She really wasn’t happy and ended it.’
The source added that AJ ‘was hurt, of course, but it was for the best.’
However, such reports appear to have come to nothing. And, if Zara’s social media is to be believed, their relationship is stronger than ever.
AJ and Zara first became romantically linked in 2022 (Picture: Backgrid)AJ and ex Abbie split after she allegedly caught him ‘texting another woman.’ While Zara was not named as the woman in question, the pair began dating not long after.
‘I’m completely devastated, and my world has fallen apart,’ Abbie told The Sun on Sunday at the time.
‘AJ isn’t the person I thought he was. After everything I went through with him, I thought we would be together forever. He has been the biggest disappointment to me.’
She went on to speak of how she suspected something was amiss with their relationship after he returned from filming the Channel 5 series The Challenge.
‘He wasn’t calling as much and seemed distracted,’ she continued.
