Oti Mabuse wasn't "100% in" her marriage to Marius Iepure because of the pressures of Strictly Come Dancing . The 34-year-old dancer - who partnered Kelvin Fletcher and Bill Bailey to victory on the Latin and ballroom show in 2019 and 2020 - admitted she couldn't think of anything but the programme during her seven-year stint and never felt she was "good enough" to be a role model for other black women. During a conversation on Paul Carrick Brunson's We Need To Talk podcast, Oti said: "It is all you think about 24/7.
It's all you do. You're on tour, you're doing other Strictly-associated shows. You're not really 100% in the marriage, because this is gold.
The trophy is handmade, by the way, and you're fixated on it." She went on: "In my head, I felt, 'I'm not good enough. I'm not good enough in my job'.
All of this pressure that I [had] - I'm representing black women. I'm representing African women. I stand for so much - if I can't get this job done, I'm not good enough.
I don't deserve to be here'." Oti's husband Marius - who she married in 2014 - stepped in when Oti had broken down in the shower after feeling that the job had taken over her life. She added: "[Marius] came in, he got in the shower, fully clothed, he picked me up, and he just hugged me and held me.
He said, 'It's just a job. You have family, you have friends, you have me and you have food'." "In that moment, I realised that no matter how much I have this career - and I love the show and everything it encompas.