Strictly Come Dancing professional Oti Mabuse has revealed her husband has his own specific tactics to make sure her celebrity partners don’t get any ideas when they’re dancing with her.
Oti is married to fellow dancer Marius Iepure, who can be rather overprotective when Strictly rolls around each year.
She told Loose Women on Wednesday: “He is a very macho man, has a deep voice and a European accent and he’s always like, ’just don’t touch my wife unless you have to. Unless you really have to, don’t do it’. And then he gives them that firm handshake. I’m like, ‘I see what you’re doing’.”
Admitting she “loves it” and finds it “sexy” to see her husband behaving so “threateningly” towards the celebs (which is kind of a lot, but OK...), Oti continued: “I don’t even stop him.
“I remember when he met Graeme [Swann, her most recent Strictly partner]... Graeme is one of my best friends now, but he knew nothing about me.
“He came with a big bouquet of flowers and said, ‘Oti, I am so excited for our journey’, and out of nowhere my husband just came in, took the whole bouquet out and was like, ‘She’s allergic to flowers’.
“It works for him, but I never got flowers again!”
During its time on our screens, Strictly has become synonymous with romances blossoming between the professionals and their celebrity partners.
Last year alone, Dianne Buswell and Joe Sugg got together during their time on the show, while Katya Jones and Seann Walsh made headlines when they were caught kissing on a night out, despite both being in relationships at the time.
Professional dancer Giovanni Pernice is also now dating Pussycat Dolls performer Ashley Roberts, though they weren’t actually partnered together on the show.
Loose Women airs every weekday from 12.30pm on ITV. Watch Oti’s full interview below: