Is Johannes Radebe leaving Strictly Come Dancing? Fans speculate after emotional exit
"To my Strictly family, I’m forever grateful," Johannes bids farewell
By Aaron Sugg
Johannes Radebe exited the Strictly Come Dancing competition with his celebrity dance partner Alex Kingston last weekend, delivering an emotional farewell speech as he said goodbye to his Strictly family on Sunday (31 November).
Alex lost the dance-off to EastEnders actor Balvinder Sopal after an injury left her struggling through a cha-cha-cha, making for an emotional departure.
However, it was not just the actress’s exit that struck viewers – her professional dancer Johannes also delivered a speech, leaving Strictly fans convinced he is leaving the show entirely.
“Bye to my Strictly family, I love you” – Johannes Radebe’s farewell speech as he and Alex Kingston exit Strictly Come Dancing
Speaking to Tess Daly in their exit interview, he said: “Bye to my Strictly family, I love you. To my Strictly family, I’m forever grateful. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
He also expressed his love for Alex: “Thank you, because I have never grinned this much in my life over the past couple of weeks with you. Thank you, Alex, for being a trooper. I appreciate the laughs and I’ll hold on to the memories. As far as the dancing goes, I think we’ve achieved what we both wanted to achieve.”
Fans were quick to take to social media in disbelief that Strictly favourite Johannes could be leaving the competition. “JoJo sounded like he’s leaving in that speech,” one commented.
“So sad that it looks like our queen JoJo could be leaving Strictly” – one fan commented, speculating Johannes may be leaving Strictly
Another wrote: “So sad to see them go. So sad that it looks like our queen JoJo could be leaving Strictly, going by his speech. He is so special – would be a massive miss, but he is a star born for the stage.”
Johannes joined the Strictly Come Dancing cast in 2018 and made BBC history when he competed with John Whaite as the show’s first same-sex male couple.
In their final show, Alex described her dance partner as a friend for life: “I’ve never grinned as much as I have in the last few weeks. Thank you for being a trooper. I will hold on to the memories.”
The duo appeared on Strictly: It Takes Two yesterday (1 December) but did not comment on the speculation surrounding the stars potential exit.
It was announced earlier in the series that long-time hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman are leaving Strictly Come Dancing after 21 years of fronting the BBC show.
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