Louis Smith: I want a partner for my new pad

Strictly Come Dancing champ Louis Smith has moved into his new bachelor pad and hopes to find someone to share it with.

The Olympic gymnast has moved into the property in his home town of Peterborough. It has an outdoor Jacuzzi and a stained-glass window with a guardian angel design which matches the tattoo on his shoulder blades.

Louis, 23, has shown off the new property to Hello! magazine and reveled how he is hoping to find someone special with whom to cuddle up.

"It would be nice to put on a DVD, light the fire, cuddle on the rug and watch a film," he said.

The place has a secret chill-out den hidden behind a sliding bookcase, containing a 75-inch TV and bean bags.

Louis, who won a silver medal at London 2012, said of his home: "I want it to be cosy and relaxed for when I come home after a stressful day. I love my home comforts, I love shutting everything out, having some tranquility."

He has been single for two years and said he did not want to be romantically involved during the Olympics. And he said that his ongoing single life has been partly due to the 'heartbreak' of splitting from last girlfriend Billie Whyatt.

He warned any new flame must accept his gymnastics come first, and added: "I'm very fussy in terms of who I get into a relationship with, but when I am, I wear my heart on my sleeve. I wouldn't say I fall in love easily, but I can't wait to be in love again."

Although he has still to decide whether to aim for Rio 2016, he told the magazine he is keen to be a father. "I want a little Louis Smith junior running around, pulling the dog's tail. I think I'd be a great dad," he said.

 

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.