Strictly Come Dancing judge Motsi Mabuse has admitted she and her co-stars aren’t exactly the best of pals away from the show.
Motsi has been part of the Strictly family since 2019, when she took over from Darcey Bussell as a member of the panel.
She is currently gearing up for the show’s landmark 20th season, which will be her fourth as a judge, and admitted in an interview with The Telegraph published over the weekend that her relationship with Craig Revel Horwood, Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke was strictly “professional.”
Asked if they ever hang out away from the show, Motsi said: “None of that. There are some moments where you write ‘happy birthday’ or something like that.”
Comparing Strictly to its German counterpart Let’s Dance, on which she’s also a judge, she explained: “In Germany, we’ve had the same judges for 10 years and there’s a basis of friendship. In the UK, it’s different.”
She added that because of the show’s primetime slot, there is “so much pressure” on the judges, which means “you get in, you do the job and everybody just wants to go home”.
Later in the interview, she admitted that she will miss Bruno Tonioli, who has been absent from the past two seasons of Strictly due to travel issues, and will not be returning in 2022.
“He was an extrovert and I’m an extrovert, so I feel like we were balanced,” Motsi said. “I was not the only one around that can freak out. Now I’m just like, ‘Hello? Hellooo?’.”
It was recently announced that Strictly would be launching its new series on Saturday night on BBC One.
However, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II last week, the BBC has made a number of changes to its usual schedule, leading many fans to suspect the series opener would be postponed. The BBC is yet to comment on this.
Check out this year’s Strictly line-up in full here.