Strictly professional Oti Mabuse revealed that she cried when she found out that she was going to be paired with actor Kelvin Fletcher on this year's Strictly, after Made in Chelsea star Jamie Laing was forced to drop out after sustaining an injury during rehearsals. Speaking to the Radio Times, the 29-year-old dancer admitted: "When they told me about Kelvin, I cried – and it turns out he’s incredible."
In the interview, Oti opened up about Jamie's injury, and her fear that she was going to be left without a partner. She continued: "I was devastated when Jamie hurt himself and I had a long, tearful conversation with him. For a while I thought I had no partner and I was in bed all day thinking, 'I can’t do the show!' In moments like that you realise how much you love something. I was feeling really bad, but one of the producers said, 'We’ll see what we can do.'"
Oti has kept her fans updated with her and Kelvin's progress
This season, Oti's sister Motsi has joined the judging panel, and the 38-year-old judge decided to make it clear that there would be no "preferential treatment" given to her younger sister. Motsi told The Sun: "One of the main points everywhere in my life is fairness. Coming from South Africa and being treated unfairly all your life because of your skin colour, that’s been a huge point." She added: "I really need to be fair and she'll get what everybody else is getting - the main point is that I'm not judging Oti."
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The star continued: "We have to speak about Oti doing her journey and if she gets to a point where she has a chance to win this and she feels I only want it because my sister is there, then it wouldn't be such a big thing for her to celebrate. I wouldn't want to take that away from her."
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