From civil engineering student to a record-breaking champion of the ballroom floor
In short: Born in Pretoria, Oti Mabuse traded a career in engineering for the global stage of competitive dance. After dominating the South African Latin American circuit, she became a household name in Europe, eventually securing back-to-back victories on British television—a feat unmatched by any other professional dancer in the show's history.
Otlile Mabuse, known professionally as Oti, began her journey in South Africa, where she initially pursued studies in civil engineering. Her transition into professional ballroom dancing led her to Germany, where she significantly broadened her competitive experience. Before her rise to television fame, she achieved notable success in the Latin dance world, including eight South African Latin American Championship titles and a first-place finish in the German Championship PD Freestyle Latin.
Mabuse's television career gained momentum in Germany on the series Let's Dance before she moved to the United Kingdom in 2015 to join the cast of Strictly Come Dancing. Her tenure on the British show was marked by consistent success, culminating in consecutive wins in 2019 with Kelvin Fletcher and 2020 with Bill Bailey. This achievement established her as the only professional dancer to win the competition twice in succession. She departed the series in 2022 after seven years of participation.
Beyond her work as a dancer, Mabuse has cultivated a diverse career in media and performance. She has served as a judge on Dancing on Ice and a panellist on The Masked Dancer, and in 2026, she joined the judging panel for the Irish iteration of Dancing with the Stars. Her professional life is complemented by a personal milestone; she became a British citizen in 2025 while maintaining her South African nationality, and she welcomed her first child in 2023.
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