Is Strictly’s Oti set to waltz on to BGT in place of shamed David Walliams?
OTI MABUSE is being considered as a replacement for David Walliams on Britain’s Got Talent, following his vile remarks about two of the show’s contestants.
Bosses of the reality programme have discussed how Miss Mabuse – a former professional dancer on BBC’s Strictly – would be perfect for the role.
She is currently at the centre of a tug of war between ITV and the BBC, who both want her to star on their shows because of her overwhelming popularity.
A television insider told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Oti’s name is in the frame. She is being touted as the perfect replacement for Walliams if ITV decide not to take him back. There are multiple conversations taking place as negotiations are currently taking place but Oti is a clear route many involved in BGT want to take. They think she would be perfect.’
Miss Mabuse, 32, made her debut as a television judge on another of Simon Cowell’s programmes, The Greatest Dancer, in 2018 and he grew very fond of her.
After she quit Strictly last year, the South African dancer was poached by ITV to be on the judging panel of their skating competition, Dancing On Ice. They also made her the presenter of her own dating show, Romeo And Duet.
But the BBC then took her back for a new quiz show, The Tower, which she has recently filmed for the broadcaster.
Walliams’s future on BGT remains in doubt after he described an elderly contestant as a c*** and made vile sexual remarks about a female who was also competing on the show.
The comments, made in January 2020 during auditions at the London Palladium, were picked up on the programme’s microphones and revealed earlier this month.
They left both production company Thames and broadcaster
ITV unsure about him returning for the 2023 series.
During the audition, an older performer engaged in banter with the judges in which he made a jibe about Walliams. After the audition, the pensioner left, at which point Walliams is said to have called him a ‘c***’ three times.
In another instance, after a female contestant auditioning on the same show had walked off stage, Walliams remarked: ‘She’s like the slightly boring girl you meet in the pub that thinks you want to f*** them, but you don’t… It’s the last thing on your mind, but she’s like, “Yep, I bet you do!”’
Walliams, who along with the other judges, Cowell, Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon was in talks about returning for a tenth series, is ‘under the microscope’, with some senior staff saying he should be instantly axed.