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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Entertainment
Jessica Sansome

ITV Dancing On Ice Oti Mabuse's rarely seen husband, 'secret' third sister and Strictly Come Dancing future

She's swapping the ballroom for the ice rink but lucky for Oti Mabuse, she's the one doing the judging.

The South African dancer will make her judging debut on Dancing On Ice on Sunday night after replacing John Barrowman on the panel.

While she'll be sat alongside Ashley Banjo, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean on the ITV skating show, Oti's obviously no stranger to the TV competition world.

The Latin American and ballroom dancer, who won the South African Latin American Championship eight times, appeared as a professional dancer in the German version of Strictly Come Dancing in 2015.

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The same year, she joined the BBC One dance competition where she was partnered with former boxer Anthony Ogogo.

In 2016, Oti had an incredible year on Strictly as she was partnered with former Hollyoaks actor Danny Mac for the show's 14th series.

The couple reached the final and finished as runners-up.

But it wasn't until 2019 that Oti finally got her hands on the Glitterball Trophy.

Originally paired with Jamie Laing for the series, an injury during the launch show saw former Emmerdale star Kelvin Fletcher drafted in.

They went on to become the winners of the series and the following year, in 2020, Oti kept her Strictly champion title alongside comedian Bill Bailey.

Oti first won Strictly in 2019 with Kelvin Fletcher (BBC/Guy Levy)

After her two-time Strictly win, in 2019 Oti became a dance captain on The Greatest Dancer, alongside Cheryl, Matthew Morrison and later Todrick Hall and last year, she appeared on the panel for ITV's The Masked Dancer, a spin-off of The Masked Singer.

It was announced in December that she'd be joining Dancing On Ice and just last week it was revealed that she'll be fronting another new show on ITV.

Later this month, she will begin filming the channel's brand-new dating show Romeo & Duet.

The musical twist on matchmaking will see singletons look for love by standing on a breath-taking balcony as they are serenaded by potential love matches.

The catch is that they can hear them - but not see them.

But Oti's roles away from the Strictly ballroom has had fans wondering if they'll see her in the 2022 series.

(ITV)

And she has now spoken about the possibility of moving away from the hit dance show permanently.

"There will be an announcement that will be made later, but for me, as a person in entertainment, I really want to learn and grow and I want a long career, especially in this country," Oti told press.

"I moved all the way from Africa so I have to make something of myself, so I'm really trying to learn and do as much as I can for as long as I can while I can."

Away from the telly work, fans know Oti's sister is Strictly judge Motsi Mabuse.

But the pair also have another 'secret' sister.

Phemelo is the middle sibling in the family and is an MBA graduate who works as a mechanical engineer, building windmills in their native South Africa.

And it sounds like she could have been the family's third dancer.

Speaking on the Jonathan Ross show last year, Oti revealed: "To be honest, we have another sister, middle sister, she was the better dancer.

"She's a mechanical engineer [now]. She designs windmills which create electricity through wind in South Africa."

Oti with her husband Marius (Oti Mabuse Instagram)

Oti, Motsi, and Phemelo are rarely seen together due to living in different countries, but Phemelo did make a single appearance on Celebrity Gogglebox with her siblings early last year.

Oti is also married to fellow dancer Marius Iepure.

The couple got engages in 2014 and married the same year after meeting during a dance trial in Germany.

And Marius, 37, has even made an appearance on Strictly, appearing in the group numbers in 2017.

He also appeared in Germany's version of Strictly, Let's Dance, in 2014 and 2015.

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