Professional dancer Johannes Radebe has said he plans to buy his supportive mother a home in South Africa following his solo success.
The Strictly Come Dancing star has said he feels like his “dreams are coming true” after his solo tour Freedom was set to debut in the UK.
Talking about his success on This Morning, Radebe, 34, said: “I pinch myself every morning, this cannot be real.
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“To be able to share it with my mama who has obviously had to sit through my life with me going ‘I’ll make it one day’, it’s nice to share this moment and I said finally I will be able to buy her a home.”
Radebe made history on the latest season of Strictly Come Dancing as part of the first all-male couple, dancing with The Great British Bake Off 2012 winner John Whaite. The duo finished as runners-up behind Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice.
“Every touch, every look, everything about me and John felt authentic to me personally for the first time. I have been doing Strictly Come Dancing for years and that for me was healing in a lot of ways,” Radebe said.
“What has happened between John and I last year really changed my relationship with my mother – for the first time, we can speak about my sexuality openly.
“There was no problem but it was something that we never addressed, it was something we never spoke about.
“You know with African people, very conservative, and I respect that still, but it is nice the way it is now,” he said.
Radebe described his solo tour, which is influenced by his African heritage, as a “burst of colour and energy and everything fabulous”.
He said: “For the first time I am dancing to my own tune and that is so refreshing and personal.
“There is a whole genre of dancing that people haven’t seen me do that has influenced me as a dancer, all famous from the African continent, and I would love to see that in a theatre setting for the first time and I think it’s going to be absolutely stunning.”
The tour is travelling around the UK but Radebe said his dream is for it to go to Africa “to inspire the young Otis and Johannes” – referencing two-time Strictly champion Oti Mabuse.
He added: “Opportunities like this do not come around often to my people back home and it is a very big deal for a dancer to headline a show.
“There are no prospects for it, everybody can dance where I come from, but unfortunately there are no opportunities.”
