Phil Spencer and Kirstie Allsopp have revealed what their relationship is really like as they admitted they don’t spend time together outside of work.
The Location, Location, Location hosts were subject to raised eyebrows when Phil failed to attend Kirstie’s wedding back in January.
Tying the knot with property tycoon Ben Anderson in a secret ceremony at Mayfair’s Grosvenor Chapel, the star’s co-host was notably absent.
However it was later revealed the event was so heavily cloaked in secrecy that even guests were unaware they were attending a wedding until the last minute.
And now Phil and Kirstie have admitted that while they are great friends of 25 years, they never socialise outside of work.
Speaking in an interview with The Telegraph Kirstie confessed: ‘We don’t socialise, because we work so much together.’
Phil Spencer and Kirstie Allsopp have admitted they never socialise following raised eyebrows when Phil didn’t attend his co-host’s wedding four months ago
The Location, Location, Location hosts were subject to raised eyebrows when Phil failed to attend Kirstie’s wedding back in January
Phil added: ‘But we’re very, very fond of each other. There’s no one else who’s been through this experience. I put Kirstie among the most important people in my life.’
The pair have been part of each others lives through the biggest moments as Kirstie added: ‘In the most significant parts of our lives, we’ve been there for each other. I think Phil was one of the first people I ever told I was pregnant.’
Kirstie previously told The Mail on Sunday the arrangements for her wedding were so last minute and secretive that many important guests – including Phil, her Channel 4 co-host for more than two decades – were unable to make it.
‘On Thursday, Ben and I were married at The Grosvenor Chapel, where my parents and grandparents were married, and where we celebrated my father’s life in June,’ she said.
‘We had with us a small group of close friends and family who only heard about the wedding on Monday.
‘We already had a big party planned to mark Ben’s birthday, so most of our guests thought that’s what they were coming to celebrate, and we did just that, with lots of food, drink, and dancing and all my nephews and nieces running around, having a ball.
‘We did sing All You Need is Love. That was Ben’s idea; I am a huge Richard Curtis fan and have an original script from the movie. I bought my sparkly dress two weeks before in the sales, and the lovely ladies at Oscar de la Renta added sleeves, thinking it was for an award ceremony.
‘The flowers, the catering, the order of service and the lighting were all done by people I have worked with over the years who kept it all secret and put together an amazing event at very short notice, though because of that short notice some beloved friends and family couldn’t be there, including Phil.’
Kirstie confessed: ‘ We don’t socialise, because we work so much together.’
The couple tied the knot with property tycoon Ben Anderson (pictured in 2013) in a secret ceremony at Mayfair’s Grosvenor Chapel, but it was last minute and Phil was unable to attend
The Mayfair chapel has deep connections to Kirstie’s family and was where a memorial service for her beloved father, former Christie’s chairman Charles Allsopp, 6th Baron Hindlip, was held last June.
The couple returned to the 18th Century building to take their vows surrounded by around 70 close friends and family, most of whom had only just found out that they were to be attending a wedding.
Kirstie and Ben– who have been together for 21 years and have two sons, Bay, 18, and Oscar, 16 – had said they were celebrating Ben’s 64th birthday before springing the surprise.
Allsopp, 53, arrived for the service in a stunning gold sequin and tulle customised Oscar de la Renta dress she had bought two weeks earlier.
The joyful 40-minute ceremony included the Beatles’ hit All You Need Is Love, which also featured in Richard Curtis’s Love Actually, and the hymn I Vow To Thee, My Country.
The couple’s sons – alongside Ben’s older sons Hal and Orion from a previous relationship – were ushers.
All four were seen at a local wine bar before the wedding, with Bay seen practising a speech outside.
Those attending the ceremony included Kirstie’s sisters, Sofie Fletcher and Natasha Morley, designer India Hicks and the presenter’s cousin, former hedge fund boss Jamie Allsopp.
