Strictly Come Dancing star addresses future on show after exit speculation

Strictly Come Dancing fan favourite Johannes Radebe has spoken out about his future on the show, after fans started speculating that he is ready to quit the series.

When he and his dance partner Alex Kingston were voted off the most recent Strictly season in November last year, Radebe seemed to hint at his departure with an emotional farewell message.

“Bye to my Strictly family, I love you,” he said after the elimination, adding: “To my Strictly family, I’m forever grateful. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

But the 38-year-old professional dancer, who has been a fixture on Strictly since 2018 and has been paired up with celebrities such as John Whaite, Caroline Quentin and Ellie Taylor, appeared to shrug off exit rumours during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show.

“I will do that show for as long as they will have me. It’s a magical sparkling world,” he told Norton. “I love it.”

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Radebe appeared on Norton’s chat show alongside Wuthering Heights co-stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, and fellow actor Amanda Seyfried, who was promoting her new film The Testament of Ann Lee.

The dancer is set to make his West End debut in a production of Kinky Boots, a role that he initially turned down, before honing his performance skills with the help of a singing and acting coach.

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“I feel like it was meant to be,” he told Norton. “I secretly told people for a long time that I would love to do it.

“The way it came was by luck and magic, but I turned it down the first time. But then I thought, ‘give yourself this opportunity’, so I got a singing and acting coach two years before I auditioned.”

A film based on his life story is currently in the works, based on his autobiography JoJo: Finally Home, and will chart his remarkable journey from growing up in poverty and facing prejudice in South Africa to finding success as a dance champion and TV star.

“It is in [the] development stage, and I just read my first script which is lovely, but it takes such a long time,” he revealed.

“I am hoping not to play myself, but I might make a cameo appearance.”