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Oti Mabuse on Strictly Come Dancing return and why she'll always love the show

Former Strictly Come Dancing star Oti Mabuse hints at a major comeback to the BBC One show just like Aljaz Skorjanec, who returned to the professional cast last year

[Oti Mabuse ]

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Oti Mabuse opens up about body image struggles, motherhood and Strictly in a new chat(Image: WireImage)

Oti Mabuse has teased she may be up for another waltz on the Strictly Come Dancing dance floor, after seeing another much-loved favourite make a triumphant return. The South African-born star left the hit BBC show in 2022 to pursue other telly ops after seven series.

Oti went on to feature in Im A Celebrity, be a panellist on The Masked Dancer and a judge on Dancing On ice - as well as have her daughter in 2023. The 34-year-old star says watching Aljaz Skorjanec go back for the most recent series and witnessing how much he loved it has certainly given her food for thought. Everyone asks me [if Id return to Strictly], muses Oti.

[Oti Mabuse]

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Oti hasn't ruled out a return to Strictly(Image: PRIMA)

I think right now, with a daughter and everything Im doing, Im quite busy, and Im happy with what Im doing at the minute. But never say never. The doors are always open, which is really, really nice. Alja [korjanec] went back and hes doing really well. I went back to choreograph with him and hes just in a different space. Hes absolutely sensational. So, you never know.

Oti took away two glitterballs from her Strictly run - with actor Kelvin Fletcher in 2019 and comedian Bill Bailey the following year.

Despite hanging up her professional dancers shoes, she still is a big part of the show, helping with choreograph. When I look back on Strictly, I think the whole seven-year journey was amazing, she reminisces. I say that the show brought me everything, like me sitting here today, and the relationship still very much continues. There were ups, there were downs; if you can imagine being the first Black anything, anywhere, there will always be ups and downs.

[Bill Bailey with Oti Mabuse when he won Strictly Come Dancing ]

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Oti won Strictly with Bill Bailey in 2020(Image: BBC/Guy Levy)

Born in Pretoria, Oti studied civil engineering at university before her professional ballroom dancing career. She followed in the footsteps of her elder sister, Strictly judge Motsi, 44. Oti took part in the German series Let's Dance for two series before she joined Strictly. Moving to the UK with her now husband Marius Iepure, 42, also a dancer, Oti opened up about her sense of belonging when she moved her.

When I lived in Germany, Marius and I used to come to London," she recalls. "The best dance school was in Croydon, and all the best couples would go there. I remember the first time wed be walking the streets, and there were so many interracial couples.

I would say to Marius, Theres us! Theres us! Oh, there we go again! And I was just like, Wow, where have I been living? Why am I not here? I just see so many multicultural couples, and it felt like, I need that diversity in my life. And when I came here, every time we took a lesson, wed always take a walk. It just felt amazing; it felt like I belonged.

Otis career has taken off since Strictly, and seen her on some of the biggest entertainment shows in the country. As well as The Masked Dancer and Dancing On Ice, she fronted her own ITV breakfast show, a BBC documentary about South Africa. She also hopes of being a regular on Loose Women.

[Oti Mabuse ]

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Oti Mabuse opened up about her body image struggles and motherhood in a new chat(Image: PRIMA)

Juggling work with being a mum to her one-year-daughter has been a challenge, Oti admits, but one she is loving. Motherhood is amazing, she beams. Its really incredible. But if Im being brutally honest, its also the most challenging and exhausting journey of self-discovery that you will ever be on.

Oti says her girl is keeping her on her toes and has already developed a go get it attitude - just like her mum. I have a one-year-old whos very expressive but doesnt speak, so when somethings happening, I dont know whats going on, explains Oti.

But shes so incredible, fun and so determined. Shes like a little me and it scares the life out of me, because my mum didnt know what to do with me and I moved to another continent. So now Im like, I will follow her wherever she goes. If shes going to a jungle in the Amazon, were moving to the jungle in the Amazon. Shes a very determined child and its exhausting trying to keep up, but I love it.

[Oti Mabuse, Marius Iepure and their baby daughter]

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Oti and her husband Marius Iepure became first time parents in 2023 when their baby daughter was born(Image: Oti Mabuse /Instagram)

The star opened up in the jungle last year about the impact of body shaming. She said people would criticise her weight gain and call her fat, saying the comments came when she was being healthy for the first time and they hurt.

Oti says shes long had a turbulent and toxic relationship with her body as a dancer. Growing up, I always thought that the people who did the best (in dancing) were the thinnest, and you always felt like, If I need to be successful, I need to look like that, she said. And I think its not just Latin and ballroom dancers, its across the board. All dancers, we always feel like that.

So we then have this very toxic relationship with our bodies, and even when you walk into the room, and if youve lost weight, they go, Oh my gosh, she looks so good. And its like, Wait, do I look good because Im small, or do I just look good in general? Words hold power over a lot of us as women.

[Oti Mabuse is on the cover of the June edition of Prima]

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Oti Mabuse is on the cover of the June edition of Prima(Image: PA)

Oti says shes working on rebuilding her relationship with her body. She tells: It will be every day, I guess, for the rest of my life, that Ill just have to work on that relationship, and hopefully by talking about it, its going to create more of a conversation around the fact that we need to build our relationship with our bodies in a very healthy way.

She says having her daughter - and taking time away from dancing - has helped her find peace with her body Im now coming into the world as a human being who used to dance, not as a dancer," she says. "I still dance, but Im a person first, before the dancer.

My body has had its ups and downs; the gaining of the weight, the losing of the weight, having the baby. Its been such a rollercoaster, but I think its normal to experience that as a woman.

Yes, there are some moments where I feel, Oh my gosh, Im not happy with what I look like, and then I have to say to myself in the mirror, No, you are good. You are perfect. You have had a baby, youve had a human being come out of you. Its okay to not look perfect, as long as you move, as long as youre trying to be healthy.

Read the full interview in the June issue of Prima, on sale today, or visit Prima.

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