Blackpool is absolutely huge in Strictly but when you come from South Africa and you have your first impressions and you arrive in Blackpool, well it's different. It's different let's put it that way. But what I'll also say, if you walk into the ballroom it's absolutely spectacular.
Motsi Mabuse
In a way, it is easier to be the younger sibling, as the older one has to pave the way.
I respect traditions, you can't walk all over them, but at the same time our world is changing. Life is about moving on.
I've learnt to not look that deeply into what people say as it's mostly a reflection of themselves.
People usually first ask me about 'Let's Dance' and then they ask me about my decollete.
I am absolutely overjoyed to be joining 'Strictly.' I have so much respect for the other judges and hope to add my own bit of sparkle to the show.
I can't just go out in a T-Shirt and say, 'Hey, today I'm not wearing a bra.'
People only go by looks. If you have big breasts it doesn't mean that you are dumb.
I have found clarity in my head and heart from being a mum.
I've learnt the power of words. I've had the worst thrown at me.
I try to see the lightness of life, and that comes from having a hard time growing up.
Growing up in a system that tells you just because of your skin colour you are not good enough - you learn at a very young age to toughen up.
My daughter does not travel with me. She has a much more stress-free life at home with her daddy.
I just want my daughter to grow up in a society where she feels accepted being South African, German and Ukrainian.
The biggest issue for me has been the language because I speak so much German now. I've had to focus on my English and find more words to describe what I want to say and also soften my tone. It was quite stiff from 20 years of speaking German, so when I started speaking more English, oh my god, my tongue was like: 'Argh'!
I don't get that involved in politics because I'm in my dance bubble.
There's no stopping same-sex dancing couples. I don't understand how people being happy can affect others so much - just let them be.
I missed my youth because I was dancing, I didn't do all the crazy stuff. I didn't have boyfriends or anything - the first man I met I married!
I always wanted children but I was scared. Being responsible for a baby is such a big thing so I was nervous!
I don't want my daughter to ever feel that she can't do something because of her skin colour.
I've got a big mummy heart.
My daughter thinks that only her mum is on the television. Every time she sees the screen anywhere she's like mummy! Because we don't let her watch the TV.
I never see Oti! I see her on the dance floor, I see her shortly at the after party but that's it. In the week she's doing her 'Strictly' zoom and I hardly ever see her.
Once you've been in the public eye, you are always going to be criticised.
Strictly is the master of all dance programmes. It's so big!
You learn not to take things personally, but it can be hard.
Our parents made a lot of sacrifices because dancing is not the cheapest sport. The dresses are expensive, so my mum learned to sew, and she started a catering company to pay for the lessons and the travel abroad for competitions.
I'm so thankful for dance because if I had grown up with just the bitterness of the very hard childhood we had, and I'd never 'experienced the love of the dance world, then I probably would have been a very sad person.
You'll always have someone attacking you in some way. But it's weird from someone who's never met you.
I know how it feels to work hard and to work with a celebrity.
There is a word in German, called gerechterweise, which means fairness. I need to be fair, it's just the part of my personality.
I've danced before, so I know how it feels to stand in front of judges and be critiqued.
I'm not the kind of judge where you get away with everything, because I know my basics. But I'm the judge where, if you emotionally capture me, then you've got me, I'm in your team.
In my normal life I don't walk around with make-up. I'm just a mum at a dance school.
I celebrate life every day. I just wake up and say, 'Thank God. I have a bed. I have my husband. I have my baby.'
I always say to my friends and my family, 'Let us live in a space that if we never see each other again we don't have bad energy there.'
The world of dance is where I felt accepted as a human being.
I think a person of colour in any situation should be qualified to do the job. Not just because of the colour of their skin.
In South Africa there are many women with a large chest. There you are not embarrassed when you visit a lingerie store to get a bra fitted.
One of the main points everywhere in my life is fairness. Coming from South Africa and being treated unfairly all your life because of your skin colour, that's been a huge point.
My favourite part of Christmas is being together as a family.
I have learned that it's OK for me to say no to things.
To watch people dancing is the most entertaining thing on the planet and, as they take in more alcohol, the better it gets!
To feel like someone is excluded is something I'm very sensitive about. I'd never want any human being to feel that they are not welcome because of a certain thing, whether it's religion, sexual orientation, their sex or their skin colour.
In Germany, you have to see that there are not a lot of black people in the media. I am a tiny bit of colour on German TV and there are a lot of kids who write to me.
I'd always dreamed of a fairytale wedding.
