Oti Mabuse says she learnt an important lesson when her ITV show was axed. (Image: ITV)
Oti Mabuse says she learnt a “huge lesson” when ITV decided to pull the plug on her weekend breakfast show.
The professional dancer presented a short-lived Saturday morning show on the broadcaster, with former star Laura Whitmore fronting the Sunday programme. The shows were cut however during a schedule shake-up early last year.
South African-born Oti admits the show’s cancellation was a “lesson,” saying she thinks she has learnt more from the failures throughout her life. While she says she has had lows though, , 34, is no stranger to success.
Having left South Africa in 2015, she joined Let’s Dance in Germany before becoming a professional for its 13th series. Her time on Strictly saw her secure back-to-back wins with Kelvin Fletcher and then Bill Bailey.
She left Strictly in 2021, by which time older sister Motsi had joined the judging panel. Oti found herself following in her sister’s footsteps in 2022, taking up a role as a judge on ITV competitor alongside Diversity star Ashley Banjo and Olympians Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean.
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Oti Mabuse fronted her own talk show in 2023. (Image: Getty)
It is life’s losses however that Oti says are the ones to learn the most from. She told The Times: “But the biggest lessons you get are from the failures. The most successful people are the ones who have failed over and over and over again and not given up.
“I went to my first concert at the age of 31 and that was me seeing . I was always in the studio, always being a good girl. I never lived a life. I’d never taken a moment to stop and travel, go on holiday, do what I wanted to do.
“So I needed to do that. Even getting a new show [an ITV weekend breakfast show in 2023] and then having my show cancelled, those were huge lessons for me.”
Oti returns to Dancing on Ice just a month after leaving the Australian jungle having narrowly missed out on the I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! final. She finished in fourth place behind Rev Richard Coles from the Communards, Coleen Rooney, and eventual winner Danny Jones from McFly.
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Oti Mabuse on Dancing on Ice (Image: ITV)
It however meant leaving her baby daughter and husband Marius Iepure at home. Ahead of the show, she said: “I’ve always wanted to be a part of the show in some capacity, and I felt like right now, this year is the only year for me to do it, because I’ll probably never do it again.
“I’ll never get another opportunity to do it again. I’d love to grow my family. I’d like to do other things. And so this was the year for me to do it, and it just felt right.
“I would love to grow my family so let’s see what happens. But in terms of being away from family, I probably won’t be able to do that much longer.”
Referring to being apart for a few weeks, she adds: “My daughter won’t remember it. It’s just a couple of days. She’s with a lot of family, and she’s with my husband who is amazing, and she’s in more than capable hands.”