‘The Strictly wrap party is the best night of the year’

Strictly Come Dancing professional OTI MABUSE loves celebrating back home in South Africa and staying away from the dancefloor at Christmas parties.

I’VE GOT SO MUCH I WANT TO ACHIEVE THAT I’M WORKING AS HARD AS I CAN

New Year is really a time for friends and family. I’ll be flying back home to South Africa to spend time with my family – I have two baby nieces and a nephew aged seven and can’t wait to see them. I always go home over Christmas and New Year.

We all sit around having a big dinner, playing games – we’re a very competitive family – and hang out, talking about all the things we used to get up to. Scrabble is a big deal in our family and a real chance to show off what we’ve learnt in the past year. It can get quite serious because nobody wants to lose!

The Strictly wrap parties are brilliant. They’re always held at the end of the year and are often quite emotional, remembering the good times and knowing that we’re all going to miss each other. Everyone’s in tears because it’s the last time we’re going to see each other for a while. It’s held at the studios in Elstree and it’s an intimate do – just the dancers, celebrities and production team. We’ll sit around a table, eat and watch other people dance – we’re so tired after the series that we won’t be dancing!

I love to catch up on my sleep when I get a break, but I like to get back to dancing quickly, too. I’m back with my new TV show The

Greatest Dancer in January. It’s going to be phenomenal. We’ve shot the auditions and it’s such a great experience being on the other side of the table. I’m used to being judged and critiqued and it’s given me a different appreciation of all the hard work that goes into it. I’d love to do more TV, presenting, teaching and competitions in 2019. I’ve got so much I want to achieve that I’m keeping my head down and working as hard as I can. When I finally celebrate – everyone will hear about it! My goal for 2019 is to win The Greatest

Dancer with my team. I know it’s not up to me, it’s up to the British public, but I can hope. Actually, I want to win every show that I’m on!