Johannes Radebe has opened up about his stint on Strictly Come Dancing last year and why he almost said no to his pairing with Annabel Croft.
Johannes and Annabel were a dream pairing on the 2023 series of Strictly and fans fell in love with their partnership on the show. They ended up leaving the competition at the semi-final stage.
However, the professional dancer has now said he almost didn’t go through with having a partner last year.
It’s important to us that you never miss our articles when searching for stories! We have all the latest TV & Celebrity news to share with our community of loyal readers.
Click here and tick Entertainmentdaily.com
Johannes Radebe on Strictly partnership with Annabel Croft
Speaking on the Table Manners podcast, Johannes explained: “When they said I’m dancing with her, I was like, what are they trying to achieve? And I say that because two weeks before I started, I buried my cousin who [took his own life].
So you can imagine when they said the partners I was just like ‘ok great’.
“I didn’t feel like anything, I wasn’t as excited as I normally would be, because I was like, this is supposed to be the most exciting period, I’ve just come back off a very successful tour. But I had to then go home [South Africa].
“I could have stayed out there for longer but after we buried him, I had to fly back and do my audiobook.”
Johannes went on: “That was hard, and when Strictly started, I was just like, okay, just felt like I was going through the motions.
“So you can imagine when they said the partners I was just like ‘ok great’. I just really wanted to deal with it but you never allow yourself the time to deal with whatever you are going through in your life.”
The star added: “And yeah, they said we think that you’re the person to partner [with] this woman. I just said to myself, they’re reaching. I remember calling my agent, I was like, ‘I don’t know what’s trying to happen. Maybe we should say that I shouldn’t get a partner this year because I just really need some time out.'”
Annabel Croft husband
Annabel had also suffered a heartbreaking loss last year after her husband, Mel, died from cancer.
Johannes admitted on the podcast: “I mean, a lot of people say, ‘Oh Johannes, you helped Annabel’ but no, Annabel helped me.”
Last year, Annabel opened up about Mel’s death. She told This Morning in November: “I’m not quite sure where I would be at if I hadn’t had this opportunity to dance with Johannes. It has been a horrific year.
“This was never meant to be how life was going to be – I thought I had a future with my husband.”
She added: “I miss him terribly. I so want to speak to him about what we’re doing. I miss his humour.”
Did you enjoy Annabel and Johannes’ partnership? Leave a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix to let us know.