Strictly's Motsi Mabuse explains how show has changed her relationship with Oti
Some celebrities are synonymous with certain months of the year – just think Michael Bublé and December. September, however, firmly belongs to Motsi Mabuse.
The month marks the start of Strictly Come Dancing, when the dancer emerges from her forest – yes, forest – and swaps her idyllic life in Germany with husband Evgenij Voznyuk and their five-year-old daughter for sequins and the samba. Motsi, 42, admits that it doesn’t take any coaxing to get her out of her woodland home and into the BBC ballroom as soon as a new season kicks off. “I’m starting really to feel comfortable there,” she says.
Motsi joined the Strictly panel in 2019, so it seems it’s taken her four years to get used to sitting alongside fellow judges Anton Du Beke, Craig Revel Horwood and Shirley Ballas. The show may be hitting its 21st series, but Motsi is particularly excited about this year’s contestants. “Every single story is special to us, but I’m hoping we get to meet new people whose stories we haven’t heard a thousand times, and who bring something very unique,“ she says.
Motsi gets just as caught up in the Strictly buzz as the rest of us because, she says, she doesn’t get any spoilers when it comes to the line-up. “They don’t tell me anything – everybody knows it before I know it! But whoever’s coming on, bring it on.”
Motsi Mabuse loves Strictly Come Dancing as much as the viewersIt’s impossible to talk about Strictly without mentioning Motsi’s sister, pro dancer Oti Mabuse. It would be easy to assume Motsi’s role as a judge might have caused some rivalry between the two, but this isn’t the case. “It’s made us closer,” Motsi says.
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“People used to ask, ‘Oh, are you guys not competing against each other?’ But it’s the exact opposite. Doing Strictly together has brought us to a place where the only way we can take care of each other is to be actually excellent at what we do.”
Excellence is something the South African-born star strives for in all areas of her life and she was full of ambition from the get-go. She started dancing at six years old and reached a competitive level at age 11. “I wanted an outlet, but what I really wanted to do wasn’t a possibility in South Africa. I wanted to do musicals, I wanted to sing, to dance, to do it all,” she says.
Though Motsi has lived between Germany, where she has a dance school, and the UK for more than 20 years, she admits it feels like yesterday when she flew the nest to take her ballroom dancing talent overseas. “I came here [to Germany] with plastic bags and a 50p coin, and I’ll never forget that feeling,” she says.
“My parents were like, ‘If you’re going to do this journey, you’re going to do it on your own.’ I had everything laid out for me, an education at one of the best universities in South Africa, and the rest was on me. They thought I’d come back, but I didn’t.”
Judging panel Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi, Shirley Ballas, and Anton Du Beke (PA)It’s no secret that dancers have been expected to conform to a certain body type in the past, so how has Motsi – who is celebrated by fans for embracing her curvy physique – dealt with that pressure over the years? “It’s still there [the pressure]. The seed is sown when you start in the industry and it grows when you’re dancing. You have to stop it yourself and be like, ‘This is not realistic and you can’t look that way.’ Being able to shut down that negative voice is a daily fight,” she admits.
Perhaps it’s her drive and this strong sense of herself that have led Motsi to her next project, which she says is one of her most exciting yet. She looks delighted as she reveals she’s launching a skincare brand on QVC, Lovemore by Motsi Mabuse. It includes 10 natural skincare products dedicated to empowering women and encouraging them to embrace their age with grace.
“I do a lot of travelling and I use a lot of make-up, so I wanted something that benefits my skin and helps me celebrate the stage of life I’m in. Lovemore is about self-care and taking care of your skin,” she explains. “I’m passionate about looking like my mum and my great-grandmother because they look amazing, and they use natural products from our continent. That was the inspiration.”
Motsi admits that while she’s gone down the natural route, she wouldn’t be opposed to looking into more serious anti-ageing methods. “I’m open to it, yes,” she says. I think everybody should do what they want to do to feel happy and look at themselves in a mirror and say, ‘This is me.’”
Motsi is launching her own skincare range with QVC (Getty Images for BAFTA)
Motsi usually lives in Germany, returning to the UK only for Strictly season (PA)The star credits her happy home life for helping her feel fulfilled. “I’m really enjoying motherhood,” she says. “I’ve worked so much in my life and half of it’s already over. Now I’m embracing everything I have.”
So does she have any tips for juggling motherhood and a busy career? “You have to be really ready. And when I say ready, I mean you have to have the best support system you can find – have numbers on your phone, have a conversation with your boss. You have to make a plan, and don’t play around.”
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On a closing note, we ask Motsi what she’s thankful for this year.
“I’m thankful for everything that has happened to me that I thought would break me,” she says. “I’m a survivor. This sounds so cliché, but I believe that when you knock on a door and you get a no and you think it’s over, something better always comes.” Amen to that.
- Lovemore by Motsi Mabuse is available exclusively at from 7 September, with prices starting at £24.
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