Motsi Mabuse

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Motsi Mabuse
2022-06-22-Motsi Mabuse LEA Live Entertainment Award 15 -0167.jpg
Mabuse in June 2022
Born
Motshegetsi Mabuse

(1981-04-11) 11 April 1981 (age 43)
Mankwe, Bophuthatswana, (now North West Province), South Africa
Education University of Pretoria
Occupation Ballroom dancer
Spouses
Timo Kulczak
​
​
(m. 2003;div. 2014)​
Evgenij Voznyuk
​
​
(m. 2017)​
Children1
Relatives Oti Mabuse (sister)

Motshegetsi "Motsi" Mabuse (born 11 April 1981) is a South African dancer who lives in Germany. She is known for appearing on the German dance competition Let's Dance , originally as a professional dancer, and later as a judge on the show, a position she has held since 2011. [1] Since 2019, she has served as a judge on the British version, Strictly Come Dancing . [2]

Contents

Early life

Mabuse was born in 1981 in Mankwe, in what was then the Republic of Bophutatswana (now in North West Province), whose independence was internationally unrecognised by any country other than South Africa and the other three bantustans of Ciskei, Transkei, and Venda. [3] Bophuthatswana became part of South Africa in 1994.

Her family moved to Pretoria when she was five. While in Pretoria, her sister Oti Mabuse was born, and they both took an interest in dancing. [1] Motsi was educated at Hillview High School, Pretoria. [4]

Career

Competitive career

Mabuse was expected to become a lawyer and join the family law firm, but she became intrigued by dancing while studying at the University of Pretoria. Her education moved to dancing, and in 1998, she was the runner-up in the national championships. The following year, she found her dance and romantic partner, Timo Kulczak, at the British Open Championships in Blackpool. [3] They married in 2003, and they competed in international dance competitions from their home in Germany. [5] In 2013, she won the German Latin dance contest with the Ukrainian dancer Evgenij Voznyuk.

Let's Dance

Mabuse became known in Germany in 2007 through the second season of the RTL dance show Let's Dance, in which she danced with singer and former Eurovision Song Contest participant Guildo Horn. The couple were eliminated in the fifth show, and finished in 6th place. In 2010, she danced in the third season on the show with Rolf Scheider, a former juror of Germany's Next Topmodel , and reached fifth place. [6] In the first episode, they had already been eliminated, but returned after the voluntary retirement of Arthur Abraham. Since 2011, Mabuse has sat on the judging panel with Joachim Llambi and Jorge Gonzalez. [1]

Further television and stage performances

Mabuse at Deutscher Fernsehpreis in 2012 Deutscher Fernsehpreis 2012 - Motsi Mabuse 1.jpg
Mabuse at Deutscher Fernsehpreis in 2012

Mabuse was among the ARD broadcasting team for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and delivered background reports from South Africa. [7] In 2011, she replaced Bruce Darnell on the jury of the fifth season of Das Supertalent . [8] She was also a judge on the German version of Stepping Out in 2015.

In 2016, she made her debut as an actress at the 66th Bad Hersfelder Festspiele in The Crucible directed by Dieter Wedel. [9] The same year she was a jury member of the RTL II plus-size model casting show Curvy Supermodel – Real. Nice. Curvy. In 2018, she became the presenter of the new styling show, Who Makes Me Beautiful on RTLplus. [10]

Strictly Come Dancing

In July 2019, Mabuse was announced as a judge on the BBC dance competition Strictly Come Dancing replacing Darcey Bussell, and has appeared since the seventeenth series. [2] Her sister, Oti, was a professional dancer on the show between 2015 and 2021.

In 2021, Mabuse became an ambassador of Weight Watchers. [11]

Personal life

From 2003, she was married to her dancing partner, Timo Kulczak. In 2014, the pair divorced after 11 years of marriage.

In 2015, it was confirmed she was in a romantic relationship with her dance partner, Evgenij Voznyuk. She became Motsi Mabuse-Voznyuk in a small legal ceremony before celebrating with more guests in Mallorca in 2017, [12] and had their daughter the following year. Between her television commitments, the couple run a dance school together in Germany, where Mabuse has been based for over 20 years.

Filmography

Television
YearTitleRoleNotes
2007, 2010 Let's Dance Dancer2nd and 3rd season
2011–presentJudge Season 4 onwards
2011, 2021 Das Supertalent Judge, Guest Judge5th season (Main), 15th season (Guest)
2015Stepping OutJudge
2019–present Strictly Come Dancing Judge Series 17 onwards
2020Big Performance – Wer ist der Star im Star?Panelist
2023DNA JourneyHerselfWith Oti Mabuse [13]
2024 RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs. the World Herself (Guest judge) Series 2

Related Research Articles

<i>Strictly Come Dancing</i> British television series

Strictly Come Dancing is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of judges. The title of the show is a continuation of the long-running series Come Dancing. The format has been exported to 60 other countries under the title Dancing with the Stars, licensed by BBC Worldwide, and led to a modern dance-themed spin-off Strictly Dance Fever. The Guinness World Records named Strictly as the world's most successful reality television format in 2010. The series is currently presented by Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman. Bruce Forsyth co-presented the series with Daly until 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darcey Bussell</span> British ballerina and television personality (born 1969)

Dame Darcey Andrea Bussell, is a retired English ballerina and a former judge on the BBC television dance contest Strictly Come Dancing.

Mankwe is a small settlement north of Pilanesberg and Rustenburg in the North West province of South Africa. It falls under the Moses Kotane Local Municipality and the Bojanala District Municipality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Darnell</span> American television personality (born 1957)

Bruce Darnell is an American choreographer, model and television personality based in Germany. He is best known as a jury member for the TV shows Germany's Next Topmodel and Das Supertalent.

Das Supertalent is a German talent show, part of the internationally successful Got Talent franchise, presented by Victoria Swarovski and Knossi. Just like in all other versions of the franchise, auditions take place and the judges review their talent and then later the home audience votes in an election to deem who wins. The prize money is €50,000.

Let's Dance is a German dance competition television series that premiered on April 3, 2006, on RTL and filmed live in Cologne. The show is based on the British BBC Television series Strictly Come Dancing and is part of BBC Worldwide's Dancing with the Stars franchise.

The ninth season of Deutschland sucht den Superstar was broadcast on German channel RTL from 7 January to 27 April 2012. Luca Hänni won the series. Jury members Fernanda Brandão and Patrick Nuo left DSDS and were replaced by Bruce Darnell and Cascada's Natalie Horler. As the winner, Luca Hänni received a recording contract with Universal Music Group and €500,000. Participants must be between the ages of 16 and 30 and living in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The auditions stage had 34 audition events in 33 cities across Germany, Austria or Switzerland. 35,401 participants auditioned for season 9. Marco Schreyl will not be returning to host season 10.

The broadcast of the fifth season began on 16 September 2011. The judges were Dieter Bohlen, Sylvie van der Vaart and Motsi Mabuse. It was hosted by Daniel Hartwich and Marco Schreyl. Like the years before, television presenter Nina Moghaddam shows what goes behind the scenes of the show.

Stepping Out is a German competitive dancing talent show that aired on RTL on 11 September 2015 and was hosted by Daniel Hartwich & Sylvie Meis. The judging panel consisted of Jorge González, Motsi Mabuse and Joachim Llambi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oti Mabuse</span> South African dancer (born 1990)

Otlile "Oti" Mabuse is a South African talent show judge, presenter, dancer and Latin dance champion currently based in the United Kingdom. She is best known for being a professional dancer on the British television series Strictly Come Dancing, which she won in 2019 and 2020, and its German equivalent, Let's Dance. She was a Dance Captain on The Greatest Dancer. Since 2021, she has been a panellist on The Masked Dancer and became a judge on Dancing on Ice in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amy Dowden</span> Welsh dancer (born 1990)

Amy Dowden is a Welsh professional ballroom and Latin American dancer from Caerphilly, Wales, best known for her appearances on the BBC One television show Strictly Come Dancing. Dowden joined the series in 2017, and in 2019, she was a finalist in the seventeenth series with TV presenter Karim Zeroual. Dowden and her partner Ben Jones are former British National Latin Dance Champions. She has the Guinness World Record for the most back-Charleston kick-steps in 30 seconds (2022).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victoria Swarovski</span> Musical artist

Victoria Swarovski is an Austrian pop singer, television presenter, and businesswoman. She is an heiress to the multi-billion dollar Austrian private company Swarovski, active in fashion, crystal, and jewelry industry.

Strictly Come Dancing returned for its seventeenth series with a launch show on 7 September 2019 on BBC One, and the live shows beginning on 21 September. Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman returned as hosts, while Zoe Ball returned to host Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two alongside new addition Rylan Clark.

Let's Dance – Let's Christmas was a Christmas special show of the german dance competition Let's Dance. The show was broadcast in 2 live shows on December 20 and 21, 2013, on RTL. The judges were Jorge Gonzalez, Motsi Mabuse and Joachim Llambi. The hosts were Daniel Hartwich and Sylvie Meis.

Strictly Come Dancing returned for its eighteenth series with a launch show on 17 October 2020 on BBC One, and the live shows beginning on 24 October. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the series launched a month later than usual and ran for only nine weeks instead of the usual thirteen. Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman returned as hosts, while Zoe Ball and Rylan Clark-Neal returned to host Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two. Clark-Neal was replaced by Gethin Jones for four shows after coming into contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19.

Let's Dance – Kids is a German children's dance competition television series that premiered on April 9, 2021, on the premium sector TVNOW and on the television channel RTL, which premiered on May 16, 2021. It is a spin-off of the Let's Dance series and based on the American version Dancing with the Stars: Juniors. The format of the show features celebrity children paired with professional junior ballroom dancers and mentored by an adult professional dancer. The couples compete against each other by performing choreographed dance routines in front of a panel of judges.

Strictly Come Dancing returned for its nineteenth series with a launch show on 18 September 2021 on BBC One, and the live shows beginning on 25 September. Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman returned as hosts, while Rylan Clark-Neal returned to host Strictly: It Takes Two alongside new presenter Janette Manrara, who replaced Zoe Ball. In June 2021, the BBC announced that Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse, and Craig Revel Horwood would return to the judging panel. Anton Du Beke, who served as a guest judge in the previous series, joined the panel in place of Bruno Tonioli, who did not return for the second year in a row due to travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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<i>Strictly Come Dancing</i> series 20 Season of television series

Strictly Come Dancing returned for its twentieth series with a launch show on 23 September 2022 on BBC One, with live shows beginning the following day on 24 September. The launch show was originally scheduled to be broadcast on 17 September, but was postponed following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman returned as hosts, while Rylan Clark and Janette Manrara returned to host Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Strictly Come Dancing – Oti Mabuse – BBC One". BBC. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Welcome our new Strictly Judge Motsi Mabuse!". BBC. 22 July 2019.
  3. 1 2 ""Das Supertalent"-Jury: Motsi Mabuse wird der neue Bruce Darnell – TV SPIELFILM". TV Spielfilm Online (in German). Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  4. ↑ Chambers, Dave (21 September 2019). "Life in SA would have been very sad, says new 'Strictly' judge Motsi Mabuse". Sunday Times. Johannesburg. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  5. ↑ "Motsi Mabuse | Steckbrief, Bilder und News". WEB.DE News (in German). Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  6. ↑ "Endstation für Rolfe und Motsi". rtl.de.
  7. ↑ "Wir wollen ernst genommen werden". www.t-online.de. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  8. ↑ ""Supertalent": Motsi Mabuse ersetzt Bruce Darnell". TV Wunschliste. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  9. ↑ "Dieter Wedel und Hexenjagd-Ensemble eröffnen die Probenzeit". Osthessen|News. 11 May 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  10. ↑ Freedman, Joanna S. (22 July 2019). "Who is Strictly judge Motsi Mabuse as she's announced as Darcey's replacement?". mirror. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  11. ↑ "Motsi, -14 kg". www.weightwatchers.com (in German). Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  12. ↑ "Heimlich auf Mallorca! Motsi Mabuse hat Evgenij Voznyuk geheiratet". rtlnext.rtl.de (in German). Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  13. ↑ "DNA Journey". itv.com. Retrieved 8 March 2023.

Further reading

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