Oti Mabuse has signed up to co-host BBC1’s Sports Relief – amid fears she could quit Strictly
STRICTLY dancer Oti Mabuse has signed up to co-host BBC1’s Sports Relief – amid fears bosses think she could quit the dance show.
She’ll join regular presenters Gary Lineker and Paddy McGuinness to present the fundraiser when it returns on March 13.
The 29-year-old has impressed TV bosses since joining Strictly Come Dancing as a professional dancer in 2015.
Since then she’s won the 2019 series with Kelvin Fletcher and even been snapped up as a dance captain on the channel’s latest dance show The Greatest Dancer.
Now she’s going to be one of the celebrities signed up to guest host Sports Relief next month as she sets her sights on a new chapter in her career.
A source told The Sun Online: “Oti is in high demand with telly bosses who think she deserves to be centre stage on more prime-time shows.
“She has always stood out from the other Strictly professionals with her bubbly personality and talent. Now they’ve seen an opportunity for her to shine on her own.
“Sports Relief is a big step up as she swaps her dancing shoes for on-screen presenting – but producers know she’s got what it takes to be a huge star and they’re lining up to work with her.”
Meanwhile The Sun Online Strictly bosses fears Oti would quit the show after being left “devastated” about rumours she was romantically involved with her dance partner Kelvin.
His wife, Liz Marsland, was reportedly “fuming” after pictures emerged showing him ushering married Oti into a hotel room at 3am.
Sources said she was left asking: “Do I really need all this BS?”
BBC’s Sport Relief airs every other March with hosts including Davina McCall, Claudia Winkleman,
Ore Oduba and Freddie Flintoff.
It was announced this year’s fundraising challenge would see celebrities trek, skate and cycle across a frozen lake in Mongolia.
But coronavirus fears forced a location switch last week and now they’re doing a 100-mile trek across a Namibian desert instead.
Set to air on BBC One in the run-up to Sport Relief on March 13, Nick Grimshaw, Judge Rinder, Frankie Bridge, former EastEnders star Samantha Womack and newsreader Krishnan Guru-Murthy will take part.
Chris Hughes was set to join the star-studded line-up, but lost his place on the show following his brawl at the National Television Awards.