The Strictly Come Dancing judge on Hamza’s courage on the dancefloor, her family Christmas in South Africa and what Craig Revel Horwood is really like
South African-born Latin dance champion Motshegetsi “Motsi” Mabuse, 41, was expected to become a lawyer and join the family law firm but dropped out while studying and moved to Hamburg to dance professionally. She found fame as a pro on Let’s Dance, the German version of Strictly Come Dancing, before joining the judging panel. In 2019, she replaced Darcey Bussell as a judge on the UK series. She runs a dance school near Frankfurt with her second husband, Ukrainian dancer Evgenij Voznyuk, with whom she has a four-year-old daughter.
What have you made of this series of Strictly?
I absolutely fell in love with [it]. We’ve not only had great couples but the standard of dance has been so high. It’s worked in both entertainment value and quality, which is extremely satisfying.
