Oti Mabuse has revealed the real reason she quit Strictly Come Dancing.
The South Africa native first appeared as a professional dancer on the BBC show back in 2015.
The 33-year-old won the show twice – once with Emmerdale’s Kelvin Fletcher and again with comedian Bill Bailey.
In February 2022, Oti announced she was leaving Strictly after seven years.
Now, the professional dancer has revealed the pressure of dealing with “interesting personalities” which left her not eating properly.
The 33-year-old said: “Luckily my husband again has been an amazing person who has seen the dark days, the days where I’m in the shower crying with my clothes on because it’s so hard and it’s so overwhelming.”
“He’s seen me not eat, he’s seen me overeat, he’s seen me struggle with not being able to get the best out of someone.”
“He’s seen me having to deal with ‘interesting personalities,'” Oti continued.
“So, he’s the person that’s seen the behind the scenes at the point where I’d got to where I was like: ‘I think I’m finished.’ He was like: ‘Yeah’.”
Speaking on the All Change podcast, Oti added: “I came from the biggest show on television. Every single human being on this planet, in this country, loves Strictly. People are obsessed.”
“When you come from there, you are with that group, then when you decide you’re going to leave it’s like: ‘What? What do you mean?'”
“I was met with a lot of: ‘Why would you leave? You’re happy, you’re at the top of your professional game, you professional game, you won the show?”
Oti revealed she wanted to go on to other projects to “put the fire in my belly” once again, and went on to become a judge on Dancing on Ice, and hosted her own dating show Romeo & Duet.
“I was really lucky at that point that just after winning my second title [on Strictly], ITV held their arms open and they were like ‘hey, come in!,'” she explained.
“So when I was jumping, there was somewhere to land. Even though I left, there was this whole world, a new family, that had opened doors for me and that’s luck and I have to be honest about that, I have to be grateful for that.”
