Motsi Mabuse on ‘daily fight’ against her inner ‘negative voice\

Strictly Come Dancing judge Motsi Mabuse started dancing competitively in the late 1990s.
And, during those early days, 44-year-old Motsi has previously revealed she struggled with her weight.
The star – on a repeat of Deal or No Deal with sister Oti today (May 17) – has been open about the criticism she’s received over the years with regards to her appearance.
And, despite putting her competitive dancing days behind her, Motsi has admitted she hasn’t shaken the pressure, as a dancer, to look a certain way or conform to a certain body type.

Motsi’s on-screen persona is unwaveringly smiley, but her life hasn’t been without struggle (Credit: The Great British Bake Off/YouTube)

Motsi Mabuse on daily struggle against pressure to conform
The eldest of the two Mabuse sisters lives in Germany. She runs a dance school there, and remembers arriving in the country “with plastic bags and a 50p coin”. She’ll “never forget that feeling,” she has said. Nor will she be able to leave behind the “negative voice” inside her head when it comes to her appearance.
“It’s still there,” she told the Mirror in 2023. “The seed is sown when you start in the industry and it grows when you’re dancing. You have to stop it yourself and be like: ‘This is not realistic and you can’t look that way.’ Being able to shut down that negative voice is a daily fight.”

In spite of it all, she has enjoyed immense success and is popular among viewers (Credit: The Great British Bake Off/YouTube)