I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! winner Georgia Toffolo and her finacé’s description of their approach to work-life balance hasn’t gone down too well.
The BrewDog founder James Watt posted the clip on Instagram, which featured the couple discussing their unique standpoint.
The 42-year-old said in the caption that he doesn’t believe in the concept, and in the short clip they explained how they were ‘aligned’ on their views.
‘I just think the whole concept of work-life balance was invented by people who hate the work that they do,’ James stated.
‘If you love what you do, you don’t need work-life balance – you need work-life integration.’ The couple certainly practise what they preach, and previously revealed some of their first dates took place at warehouses that James was touring.
Georgia, 30, agreed with her partner completely, explaining that when she met James she was ‘quite taken aback by how aligned we are on the important stuff.’ She said that they approach the separation in a ‘really beautiful way’.
‘Work knows no bounds. Constantly in our home, we are working but we do things that we find incredibly fulfilling and we also have a supportive other half that loves high-octane obsession with what they do,’ she continued.
‘I’ve always known that I would end up with someone like James because it would not work otherwise.
‘If someone was saying “you need to knock off now” I would be thinking “What, do you not like my business? Do you not believe in me? Are we not striving towards the same thing?”
‘We are so scarily similar,’ she summarised.
Georgia, also known as Toff, added: ‘Even at the weekend when we’ve got the children, we sit around the table and come up with business ideas.’
James has two daughters from his previous marriage to illustrator Johanna Basford, while Georgia was previously engaged to George Cottrell, a senior advisor to Nigel Farage. The pair began dating in 2019 and had an on/off relationship.
The standpoint was met with criticism, with people accusing the pair of not acknowledging other people’s differing situations.
‘Alright you two, go and work 12 hour shifts in a Brewdog pub for 5 years, using only the money you earn from the job, no previous savings and no support from family, see how you cope,’ wrote Swanchez on a repost of the video, shared on TikTok by Daily Mail.
‘Was Toff not literally born into money and therefore has never “had to work”? Of course you’d enjoy working if you have the money to work on/as whatever you like,’ weighed in Soph.
Joanna added: ‘The only people I hear say this are people earning £££££££. Would they say this if they were working long hours for somebody else on a standard wage?’
The clip has now been removed from James’ social media pages, but not before comments called them ‘obnoxious’ ‘smug’ and ‘out of touch’. One person remarked that they had a ‘total lack of awareness’.
The Sun reports that James responded to some of the negative responses with his own explanation: ‘I have worked a whole host of low-paid jobs and always worked extremely hard. It is just how I am. I understand not everyone is like this. But I would disagree that extolling the virtues of hard work is out of touch.’
‘I much prefer work-life integration to work-life balance. But I fully accept everyone has different priorities and that is all cool. I am just sharing mine,’ he added in a separate comment.
James and Georgia first began dating in 2023 after being set up by a mutual friend, and their whirlwind romance led to an engagement the following year.
After accepting his proposal, Georgia shared her gratitude at finding James: ‘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.
Georgia first found fame on Made In Chelsea, before embarking on I’m A Celebrity in 2017 and winning. James co-founded the brewery BrewDog in 2007, but stepped down as CEO in 2024 after some difficult years. In 2021, former employees wrote an open letter criticising a culture of fear, and James quickly apologised. The business’ net value was put at a whopping £1.5 billion – James’ share is said to be around £300 million.
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No stranger to ruffling feathers, James also caused a stir when he recently asked if he should delay his wedding to Georgia for a tax break.
He explained that he was investing in Georgia’s dog food business WiLD PACK, and his tax advisor had told him if he were to marry Georgia within three years of investing, he’d become a ‘connected person’ under HMRC rules, and would therefore lose the Enterprise Investment Scheme tax relief.
‘So now I’m facing the ultimate question:
👉 Delay the wedding for 3 years and lock in the tax relief?
👉 Or forgo the tax break and marry Georgia in 2025?’ he asked.
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However, the following day, he insisted the post was just a joke, and he didn’t intend to let their venture impact wedding day plans.
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