Amanda Holden posted beach photos from Abu Dhabi while Britain was being battered by Storm Austen, putting a sunny escape in front of followers at the exact moment the weather at home turned rough. The 55-year-old TV presenter and BGT judge shared the images with her husband Chris Hughes, who is 54.
Yellow bikini, Abu Dhabi
Holden’s Instagram post showed her in a skimpy yellow bikini on the beach, with shades in one of the shots. She paired the photos with a caption that turned the weather contrast into the point of the post: “Apparently Britain has gone with the wind!! I’ve gone with the sunshine. Love Abu Dhabi, Just me and Chris!”
That line did more than fill a caption box. It told followers exactly where she was, who she was with, and how she wanted the trip read: not as a statement, but as a quick holiday snapshot with a joke built around the weather back home. The bikini itself came from Melissa Odanash, which gave the post a product layer as well as a personal one.
Chris Hughes and humour
Holden has already said humour is one of the secrets to her relationship with Chris Hughes, and that point fits the tone of the post. She told MailOnline that they have always been able to find humour in the darkness and said he does not dwell on drama, which matches the easy, throwaway style of the caption.
In 2023, she told The Times that she was not a slave to any beauty or fitness regime, saying she loves food, cheese, butter and a drink. She also said she runs for her rosé wine in the summer and for her red wine in winter, a line that makes the beach photos read less like reinvention and more like a familiar self-presentation.
Storm Austen in Britain
Storm Austen gave the post its timing. While Britain dealt with the weather, Holden was in Abu Dhabi, and that contrast is what makes the images travel beyond a standard holiday upload. The post works because it lands as a clean counterpoint: sunshine abroad, disruption at home, and a caption that names both without pretending they belong in the same frame.
How long Holden and Hughes will stay in Abu Dhabi is not stated, but the trip already did its job for her feed: it turned a beach picture into a simple weather-driven headline, with the caption doing the rest of the work.
