Johannes Radebe: ‘As long as my body will allow, I will do Strictly. That’s my sparkly, magical world’

“I had a vibrant upbringing,” says Strictly Come Dancingstar Johannes Radebe as he recalls his childhood in an impoverished South African township. “I was surrounded by love. I was never lacking in that regard. Let’s get that right, given everything that comes after that.

“I always say that home felt comfortable, secure and safe, but the minute I stepped outside my mother’s door, I had to deal with a lot as a young child. I didn’t process it. I thought: ‘That’s just the way of life.’ Growing up in a township, it was safer but it was not safe.” 

Radebe speaks candidly about some of the most painful times of his life – homophobic bullying, his father’s alcoholism and death, and facing homelessness as a young man. Dance was an escape. He found joy, purpose and community in its sparkly world.

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Now one of the most beloved professional dancers on Strictly Come Dancing, having recently completed his eighth season, Radebe has won the hearts of the British public and is thriving. He will soon make his West End debut as Lola in Kinky Boots.

“I pinch myself every day, because life has flipped. It did a 360 on me. I know what it is to be low, and I know now what it is to feel like everything is amazing,” Radebe says. 

The Strictly star recently made an emotional return to South Africa with Water Aid, a trip he says made him appreciate how far he has come. In Limpopo in the north of South Africa, fewer than a third of people have piped water in their homes. Water Aid helps give people access to clean water and decent toilets. 

Radebe had piped water at home growing up in Sasolburg in the Free State province, but his mother had to fetch water from a river for her family as a girl. She joined Radebe on the trip and spoke more openly with him about the challenges she had faced as a little girl. 

“Never have I ever struggled with clean water,” Radebe says. “I realised how we take that for granted. Water Aid is doing amazing work. It has given people dignity.” 

In a primary school, Radebe heard how children missed school due to sickness caused by poor water supply and lack of hygiene. Students were forced to skip lessons because they had to queue for toilets, which had broken doors and no running water or soap.

Water Aid worked with the school to install taps with clean water and new flushing toilets and teach better hygiene practices. Radebe explains: “They have restored people’s faith. It’s lovely to see a thriving community. It was beautiful.” 

“These young women have dreams,” he adds. “They want to be doctors, astronauts, teachers. They’re robbed of their childhood because of their circumstances.” 

Radebe told them about his own childhood struggles and journey to achieving his dreams. It is a story he tells in his 2023 memoir Jojo: Finally Home, which is currently in development for a BBC film adaptation. 

The Strictly star says it is “beautifully overwhelming” that his story will be told on screen, and he hopes it will help others feel less alone. “There are Jojos in the township that are still in the same place I was, and it pains me. I want to say to people: ‘It gets better. I’m happy.’”

Some of the most difficult experiences Radebe faced were not a result of poverty but school bullies. In one harrowing incident, he had his head shoved in a toilet. 

“I think it made me who I am,” Radebe remembers of the bullying. “It taught me resilience and to be oblivious to a lot, which I find I’m working through now as an adult. I had to ignore a lot of things in order to still want to be here.  

“There were times when I thought: ‘Is it worth it, this whole thing of life?’ If any child is experiencing such thoughts at that age, there’s something wrong. I used to question what was wrong with me. Because it was vile. It was vile. I’m glad that I can even talk about it.” 

Dance was a refuge. Radebe remembers going to his first competition in Johannesburg City Hall and his fascination with the glittering costumes and the ornate architecture. He had always loved to dance, but he fell in love with the sparkles and the community that day. 

He had played rugby, football and netball growing up, but dance was where he found a home. 

“I want to live here. I belong,” he remembers thinking. He went around the country dancing, discovering the world beyond his township.  

“Dance allowed me to express myself as a young boy, so there was never any restriction as to who I wanted to become. Dance took over my life. If I’m not at dance practice, I’m at home, sewing my costumes in the bedroom, my mother locking me away from my father. Every time he drove in, it was like: ‘He’s here!’ And I would need to pack everything away.” 

Radebe’s father battled with alcoholism and was verbally abusive and unfaithful. The parents separated before Radebe’s father died of tuberculosis when he was 14. 

He struggled with grief but also confusion because of his father’s behaviour.  

“I would do anything for a soccer game with my father again. It would mean the world, because it would afford me just another chance to firstly, apologise to him, and for him to maybe explain where he was coming from because of the decisions that he made.  

“Mostly, I just want to say I understand. I’m grown now. I get it. I forgive him, and I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I didn’t understand at the time, but I get it now.” 

Having such open conversations wasn’t common practice when Radebe was growing up. 

“Where I come from, in that community and how we were brought up at home, we don’t talk about things. One thing that I always carried was my father’s passing, which forced me to grow up, and I felt the need to take on the responsibility to look after my family, which I didn’t have to, because my mum was not asking me to. But I chose that,” Radebe says. 

“With that decision, I had to leave home, and there was no need for me to go back home when I didn’t make anything. I would send money home, and then I’ll be left with nothing. That forced me to be in situations that I hated.” 

He slept in the dance studio where he was teaching for close to a year. On the nights he was unable to sleep there, he would head to the mini-bus taxi rank in the heart of Johannesburg and pay the drivers to sleep in the back of their vehicles. The next morning, he would wash in filthy basins at the taxi rank and head back to the studio. 

Sometimes friends let him stay on their sofas for a night. Sometimes older men he had met at queer clubs would let him stay in their spare room. He was just 19 at the time.  

“It made me realise where I don’t want to be. I just said to myself, it’s transitional. It won’t be forever. It can’t be forever. Something has to come out of this, because this is the pits. That was my prayer to God. I was quite angry. Because I was brought up in Christianity, I said: ‘If you are out there and you can hear my prayer, I did not deserve this. Nobody deserves this.’” 

Eventually, dance saved him. He started getting jobs which paid, and his professional career took off when he became a dancer on cruise ships when he was 21. It gave him the opportunity to travel the world in his 20s and led to him starring on South Africa’s version of Strictly Come Dancing – before he was spotted for the UK version. 

Radebe moved to London and joined the show in 2018, allocated his first celebrity dance partner in his second season. He made Strictly history in 2021 when partnered with John Whaite, the first same-sex pairing the show had ever had. 

After the most recent series with actor Alex Kingston, there were rumours Radebe might leave the show to pursue his West End dreams.  

But Radebe says: “The truth is, that’s my sparkly, magical world. There’s no show in the world like Strictly Come Dancing. So I would be stupid to want to walk away from that magic. As long as my body will allow, I will do the show.” 

Viewers are unlikely to see Radebe step into Tess Daly or Claudia Winkleman’s presenting shoes after they leave next year. He laughs at the suggestion: “I would be wasted as a presenter.” But one day, maybe, he could see himself being a judge. 

Kinky Boots is ahead of Radebe in 2026, starting in March on the West End, after a successful tour across the UK and Ireland last year. 

Radbe had worn those iconic red heeled boots for a group number on Strictly in 2019, which he describes in the book as his “moment to definitively declare my sexuality”.  

He admits that there have been times where Strictly has thrust him into the public world in a way in which he has sometimes felt unprepared for, but the character of Lola – a drag queen and cabaret performer – is a reminder of the importance of showing your true self. 

“I’m in my element. Lola is everything that I wish to be and I want to be. That’s fierce. That’s bold. I think the story of the show and messaging of the show is just what’s needed in the world right now,” says Radebe. “Accept others for who they are.” 

It is a complicated time for gender expression as LGBTQ+ rights are rolled back globally.

“If you change a mind, you can change the world. That’s one of the messages in the show. People walk out of those theatres renewed. I’ve had parents thanking me for being that kind of representation to their kids,” Radebe adds. 

“Let’s accept one another for who we are and see how much better this world would be. And I think you don’t have to know the show to love it. It’s appealing for all ages. I think it’s come at the right time. I wish we could take it to America.” 

Radebe says it took time to accept himself, but he has found peace now in showing in the world as authentically as possible. If he could the little Jojo advice, he would say: “Always be yourself. The world will adjust.” 

His mother reminds him of his worth. When people ask her what Radebe does for a living, she says: “He brings people joy.” 

“I’m no surgeon. I’m nothing in that regard. But ever since she said that, I realised the impact of what we do on Saturday night. Even though it might seem like silly things and dressing up and strutting about, it brings joy to people.” 

Johannes is supporting WaterAid’s Winter Appeal: ‘Everything starts with water’. Find out more and donate at wateraid.org.

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