Johannes Radebe

Radebe was born in Zamdela, Orange Free State, South Africa.^[3] His father, who worked for Coca-Cola, separated from Radebe's mother while he was still at school.^[4]

Radebe is gay and has spoken out about the homophobic bullying he received as a child.^[5] He has also spoken of how his race and class would count against him when competing at ballroom dancing competitions as a youngster.^[4]

He and his sister attended a dance school in their local area.^[6] At the age of 13, he left home to live with a dance coaching couple in Gauteng province, and he attended secondary school in the Johannesburg suburb of Ennerdale.^[3][4]

While living in Johannesburg, Radebe spent some time homeless, sleeping in the dance studio where he worked or in the back of taxis.^[4]

Radebe began his career as a dance teacher in Johannesburg, before spending seven years dancing on cruise ships.^[4]

He has won the Professional South African Latin championships twice and has been the Amateur Latin South African champion three times.^[7]

Radebe was a professional dancer on South Africa's version of Strictly Come Dancing^[8] in 2014 on SABC 3 and Dancing with the Stars in 2018 on M-Net. Subsequently, he joined the touring cast of dance show Burn the Floor.^[4] In 2018, the BBC announced that Radebe would join the cast of professional dancers on the British Strictly Come Dancing, although he was not allocated a partner in his first series. In 2021, Radebe was announced as a contestant on Celebrity MasterChef.

In 2022, he choreographed the West End-themed Rusical on the first series of RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs. the World.^[9] In December 2022, he was contestant on the Celebrity Christmas Special of BBC's The Great British Sewing Bee, which he won.^[10]

Highest and lowest scoring per dance

For his first competitive appearance in this show, in the seventeenth season series, he was partnered with actress Catherine Tyldesley.^[11] The couple were eliminated in week 6, placing them in 11th place, with an overall average score of 25.5.

• *Score awarded by guest judge Alfonso Ribeiro

For series 18, he was partnered with actress, Caroline Quentin.

• *Score awarded by guest judge Anton Du Beke

For series 19, he was partnered with chef John Whaite. They are the first male same-sex pairing in the history of the UK format. The couple reached the final, where they finished as Runners-Up to winners Rose Ayling-Ellis, and her partner Giovanni Pernice.

• Green number indicates when John and Johannes were at the top of the leaderboard.
• *Score awarded by guest judge Cynthia Erivo.

For series 20, he was partnered with comedienne, Ellie Taylor.

• Green number indicates when Ellie and Johannes were at the top of the leaderboard.
• Red number indicates when Ellie and Johannes were at the bottom of the leaderboard.

For series 21, he was partnered with former professional tennis player, Annabel Croft.

• Red number indicates when Annabel and Johannes were at the bottom of the leaderboard.