Strictly Come Dancing 2022 judges Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas, Anton Du Beke, Craig Revel Horwood
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Strictly star Motsi Mabuse reveals real reason she doesn’t socialise with fellow judges

Motsi will be back to judge the show this year

Strictly Come Dancing 2022 judge Motsi Mabuse has revealed the real reason she doesn’t socialise with her fellow judges.

Even though she has been on the show since 2019, Motsi has revealed that her relationship with her fellow judges is strictly professional.

Strictly Come Dancing 2022 judge Motsi Mabuse
Motsi has been on the show since 2019 (Credit: BBC)

Strictly Come Dancing 2022 judge Motsi doesn’t socialise with judges

Ahead of Strictly‘s return, judge Motsi has opened up about her relationship with her co-stars.

In a shock confession, the 41-year-old has revealed that her relationship with her fellow judges is strictly “professional”.

Motsi claimed that the “pressure” of making the show leaves little time to forge friendships with her co-stars.

The dancer made the confession in a chat with the Telegraph recently.

When asked if she socialises with her co-stars, Motsi said: “No. None of that. There are some moments where you write ‘Happy birthday’ or something like that.”

She went on to say that on the German version of the show, they had the same judges for 10 years and there’s a “basis for a friendship”.

However, she said that in the UK, it’s different, presumably due to the frequent changes of judges.

Strictly Come Dancing 2022 judges Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas, Anton Du Beke
Motsi doesn’t socialise with her fellow judges Craig, Shirley, or Anton much away from the show (Credit: BBC)

Motsi on friendship with co-stars

The judge then went on to explain the reasoning behind why she doesn’t socialise with her fellow judges.

“There’s so much pressure – it’s prime time, so you get in, you do the job and everybody just wants to go home,” she said.

The dancer then went on to say that she is going to miss former judge Bruno Tonioli.

Motsi explained that she is going to miss him because similarly to her, he’s an extrovert.

She said because of this, she felt as though they were well balanced.

She said that when he was on the show, she wasn’t the only one who would “freak out”. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.

Oti Mabuse and Motsi Mabuse
Oti, Motsi’s sister, left the show recently (Credit: SplashNews.com)

Motsi on Strictly Come Dancing 2022 without Oti

This year will also be the first year that Motsi won’t be judging her sister, Oti Mabuse, on the show.

Oti announced earlier this year that she would not be returning to compete on the show when it returns later this year.

The 32-year-old has won the competition twice previously. She won it in 2019 with Emmerdale star Kelvin Fletcher.

She won it again the following year, this time with comedian Bill Bailey as her partner.

Motsi has recently admitted that she is sad to see her sister leave the show.

However, she is respecting her sister’s decision and will continue to take part in the show for as long as needed.

Read more: Strictly launch fears as TV schedules in chaos after the Queen’s death

Strictly Come Dancing 2022 is set to air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the coming weeks. 

From Judge To Being Judged: Motsi Mabuse Swapping The Ballroom For The Bake Off Tent | This Morning

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Robert Emlyn Slater
Senior Writer