Oti Mabuse says this year’s Strictly Come Dancing may be her last

Oti Mabuse has said that this year’s Strictly Come Dancing series may be her last.

The professional dancer won last year’s show with celebrity partner Bill Bailey, a back to back victory after winning the previous series with Kevin Fletcher.

Oti will be going for the hat-trick this autumn but whatever the outcome it may be her last time on the Strictly dancefloor.

In an interview with The Telegraph newspaper, Oti said: “I love to dance and also I love bringing joy to so many people. But I think that [this series] will be the last one.”

Praising the show, Oti – who said she wanted Zac Efron as her final dance partner – continued: “To be part of a show like Strictly, which is so diverse in every sense of the word, is incredible.

“It always pushes to open new doors. You almost forget this year we had JJ [Chalmers, Invictus Games champion] and Will [Bayley, gold-medal winning Paralympian] the year before, it’s become a normal thing. I’m sure they will have a male same-sex couple this year.

“But honestly as a woman I can’t be dancing for ever.”

As for what may be next for Oti, as well as opening her own dance studio she’ll soon be seen on the panel of The Masked Dancer.

She’ll sit alongside Jonathan Ross, Mo Gilligan and Davina McCall on the new series which will air on ITV later this year.

A spin-off to The Masked Singer, the show will see celebrity contestants perform unique dances, whilst covered from head to toe in mysterious costumes.

Just like its singing based counter part, the panel and viewers will be left to guess their identities helped along with a series of cryptic clues.

Meanwhile Strictly Come Dancing will be back on BBC One this autumn.

Alongside Oti, the professionals line up for 2021 will feature Aljaž Škorjanec, Amy Dowden, Anton Du Beke, Dianne Buswell, Giovanni Pernice, Gorka Marquez, Graziano Di Prima and Janette Manrara all on the line up.

They’ll join Johannes Radebe, Karen Hauer, Katya Jones, Luba Mushtuk, Nadiya Bychkova, Nancy Xu and Neil Jones.

Celebrities rumoured for the 2021 Strictly Come Dancing cast currently include Westlife Mark Feehily and GMB weather presenters Alex Beresford and Laura Tobin.

More rumoured celebs for the show are fitness guru Joe Wicks and media personality Stacey Solomon.

Strictly Come Dancing is hosted by Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly.

Picture: (C) BBC – Photographer: Guy Levy