Oti Mabuse and husband Marius Lepure on Strictly rumours

Oti and Marius spoke about rumours he is joining SCD…

Strictly Come Dancing professional Oti Mabuse and her husband Marius Lepure appeared on ITV’s Lorraine this morning and spoke about the rumours Marius will be joining the show full time as a professional dancer.

When host Christine Lampard asked if Marius, who has featured in some of the show’s group dance in the past, is going to be joining the professional line up, Marius said: “That’s very flattering, because every year I hear about those rumours. We’re opening a dance studio in September, so I don’t think I will have too much time for that. But it’s amazing. I did the live arena tour and it was really, really brilliant. So I will always try to be on Strictly, but [I’m] not really having time for that.”

On whether there’s extra pressure returning as the reigning champion, Oti said: “It’s exciting because I don’t know what I’m going to do. Am I going to fight for it again? Or am I going to be chill? I think it depends on who I get.”

Marius and Oti also spoke about the dance tour they’re going on, I Am Here, which starts in April. “The tour is me telling my story about how I came from South Africa to Germany, to meeting this lovely man, to the United Kingdom. It’s really exciting because this is my first ever tour and I get to express myself through the love of dance. Tickets are on sale already… It means so much to be able to travel across the country with my husband and dance,” Oti said.

When Christine asked how it feels putting her private side of herself out in the public domain, Oti said: “It’s new, it’s daunting. It’s not a side a lot of people who are on the other side of the camera like to show, but I feel like if you want to get to know people in their truest form and the most authentic, you do it through a show and with the people closest to you…they get to see our goofy side but it’s a challenge we’re looking forward to showing everyone.”

Marius added: “Our relationship on stage is pretty similar – we are actually perfectionists in what we do, so I think it works quite well.”

Lorraine on ITV, STV and UTV weekdays from 9am.