News that Oti Mabuse had quit Strictly Come Dancing came as a shock to both fans and her fellow dancers. But for the 31-year-old Latino queen it was something she had been considering for some time.
And as she presents her first solo show, Romeo & Duet this weekend, Oti reveals that some famous friends have helped her prepare for being the sole host of a major primetime programme.
“I worked really closely with Dermot [O’Leary]. He came in once and taught me to work with an autocue – how to read it, how to edit it…I was texting him all the time during that show. And Steph McGovern has also had a really, really huge impact,” revealed Oti.
After presenting stints on Steph’s Packed Lunch and judging roles on The Greatest Dancer, The Masked Singer and Dancing on Ice, Oti was ready to fly solo.
Talking ahead of her new show, Romeo And Duet, on which blindfolded singletons choose partners to go on dates with – based on whose singing voice they are attracted to – she says, “I’m challenging myself, you know. What I wanted to do, honestly, was grow.
“I want to, hopefully, be blessed with a long career, which means I can do other things, whether it be a sports programme, a dancing programme. I did Morning Live . Hopefully, I can do all these things and actually respect what they’re about and bring that part of myself to those shows. So, yeah, I guess it was about growing outside of dancing.”
As well as friends like Dermot and Steph, Oti also has the support of her devoted husband, Romanian dancer Marius Lepure, 39, who she met at a dance trial in Germany in 2014. After marrying, they moved to London in 2015 and Marius was part of Strictly ’s pro line-up for the 2017 series.
While his stint on the show was short-lived, his wife had huge success in the contest and became the first pro to win two years in a row – with Kelvin Fletcher in 2019 and Bill Bailey the following year.
And when we asked if the concept of Romeo And Duet had worked for her Marius, she jokes,“No! Most of the time both of us don’t even know the words, but we’re not singers."
"He sings his Romanian songs and I have no idea what they mean. And I sing my South African songs and he doesn’t know what they mean!”
However, there is one celebrity Oti wouldn’t mind teaming up with for a sing-song.
“If I had to sing a duet, I’d go for My First Love by Luther Vandross and Mariah Carey. Who would I sing it with? This is, like, a childhood thing… I would do it with Zak Efron! I don’t actually have anyone now who I’d be like, ‘Ooh, you’re my celebrity crush.’"
"But I remember High School Musical was definitely loved. That was definitely my favourite.”
On Strictly , the costume team would create fabulous outfits for the dancers and their celebrity partners and it sounds like her kit on the new show won’t disappoint – she had a ball choosing her outfits.
“I had an incredible stylist, his name is Carl and he dresses Amanda Holden and Alex Scott as well,” Oti reveals. “He came to my house, and brought a whole rack of clothes. It was about picking the right colours.
“Also, I didn’t want to choose a dress that looked so over the top that we forget that it’s not about me, it’s about the contestants.
“I wanted it to be a different look because I guess people now are used to seeing me either in sequins or in big gowns like on Dancing On Ice , so this was just about bright colours, looking young, looking fresh, feeling kind of cool. And I had quite a big input on it.”
And while Oti is clearly thrilled with her latest career move, the down-to-earth star has the situation in Ukraine on her mind when we speak. She reveals she is doing all that she can to help and will use the fabulous outfits she wears in the show to help raise funds.
“I got to keep the dresses and for every dress that I got, I’m going to donate them to charity,” she explains. “Or I will sell the dresses and the money that I get for each one, I will give to a charity.”
Romeo & Duet begins on ITV this Saturday at 7pm. For more TV gossip, sign up to OK!'s daily newsletter here.
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