I’m A Celebrity star Oti Mabuse has admitted that neither she nor her husband Marius Lepure are fond of cooking at home, as she revealed his unappetising signature dish.
The professional dancer, 34, is set to appear on Dame Mary Berry’s festive special, Mary Makes Christmas, where the legendary chef, 89, will teach her to make Christmas treats.
But on the show, Oti admitted that none of her family enjoy being in the kitchen as she begged Mary to not to ‘cancel her’, according to The Mirror.
After spending three weeks on I’m A Celebrity surviving on mostly rice and beans, many would assume that the former Strictly star would be eager to eat anything else.
But no one could blame Oti for longing to be back on the jungle diet after she revealed the only dish husband Marius, 42, will make her at home.
She admitted to Mary: ‘He will make you rice with ketchup for dinner. That’s it! We have so many cook books. None are used.’
I’m A Celebrity star Oti Mabuse has admitted that neither she nor her husband Marius Lepure are fond of cooking at home, as she revealed his unappetising signature dish (pictured this month)
The professional dancer, 34, is set to appear on Dame Mary Berry ‘s festive special, Mary Makes Christmas , where the legendary chef, 89, will teach her to make Christmas treats (pictured)
But on the show, Oti admitted that none of her family enjoy being in the kitchen as she begged Mary to not to ‘cancel her’, according to The Mirror
While the mother-of-one confessed that she also doesn’t really love to cook, saying: ‘I would say it is more functional cooking. I haven’t got to a stage yet where I’m going “I’m enjoying this”.’
Oti explained that she and Marius are taking their 13 month old daughter to spend Christmas with her family in South Africa this year.
But when Mary asked if she would be taking on the Christmas dinner for everyone, a sheepish Oti begged: ‘Please don’t cancel me Dame Mary Berry! We usually book somewhere because no one wants to cook over Christmas.
‘But a lot of families do this in South Africa. It’s outside and it’s a picnic and the sun will be shining.’
The festive episode will see Mary give Oti a lesson in how to rustle up snowball meringues and spicy chutney.
While she also tries her best to persuade the food writer to have a go at Strictly Come Dancing, as she praised her for being so ‘light on her feet’ in the kitchen.
However, Mary previously insisted in October that the BBC dancing competition would be the ‘last thing in the world’ she would do and added she needs to be careful as she approaches her milestone 90th birthday.
She confessed: ‘It’s the last thing in the world I would do. I’m a dreadful dancer. I can’t move. I’d be an Ann Widdecombe Mark 2.
No one could blame Oti for longing to be back on the jungle diet after she revealed the only dish husband Marius, 42, will make her at home is rice with ketchup
Oti explained that she and Marius are taking their 13 month old daughter to spend Christmas with her family in South Africa this year (pictured last Christmas)
The festive episode will see Mary give Oti a lesson in how to rustle up snowball meringues and spicy chutney (pictured)
‘I wouldn’t wear a heel and I’m very careful not to fall over. On stairs I’ll hold the rail at all times because I don’t want to break my hip again.’
Oti’s comments about her home life come just a week after she arrived back in the UK with Marius and their daughter from Australia, following the I’m A Celebrity final.
Marius was there to greet the Dancing On Ice judge on the famous bridge after she was voted out, coming in fourth place in the contest.
Oti won praise in the jungle for her caring nature towards her fellow campmates and her emotional conversation with Reverand Richard Coles about the premature birth of her daughter.
She and Marius became parents in November 2023, but their little girl was born prematurely with an infection and spent six weeks in intensive care.
Recalling the ordeal to Richard, Oti explained how her baby was placed in an incubator after birth, and as she couldn’t hold her she used her voice to connect with her.
She said: ‘They find comfort in your voice. For two months, every single day we’d sing church music.’
Richard shared his own story, saying: ‘I remember going once to baptise a little boy, a premature boy, he was born very premature, he was only just alive…’
Oti’s comments about her home life come just a week after she arrived back in the UK with Marius and their daughter from Australia, following the I’m A Celebrity final (Marius pictured greeting her on the famous bridge)
She and Marius became parents in November 2023, but their little girl was born prematurely with an infection and spent six weeks in intensive care
Stopping what he was saying because he was overcome with emotion at the memory, Richard fought back tears, as Oti got up to hug him.
He went on: ‘I just remember he was this tiny little pulse of life, and David [his then partner] got a pipette of water and we blessed it, and we baptised him and he survived and now he’s a healthy young footballer, which is great! But I just felt so… it was such a precious thing.’
Oti agreed: ‘They are, my daughter was really, really tiny when she was born. It’s hell. It’s hell to be in the hospital, to hear those sounds, to not see your baby’s eyes for a week, it’s hell to constantly look for advice from the doctors.’
Trying not to cry, Oti shared what she called the worst thing for her, which was that ‘every night, you need to leave them, you need to leave your baby in someone else’s hands.’
Saying that she can’t wait for Richard to meet her, Oti asked: ‘Maybe you can say a prayer over her, I would really love that.’
Richard admitted: ‘I’ve already said a prayer for her actually.’ With tears in her eyes, she thanked Richard and gave him a big hug.
Richard also opened up about the loss of his former partner, David. He confessed to Oti: ‘I miss him… He’s just left a massive hole in my life and I’m living my life around that loss.’
Oti previously opened up on her health struggles after giving birth to her daughter, revealing it left her with sepsis and diabetes
Oti previously opened up on her health struggles after giving birth to her daughter, revealing it left her with sepsis and diabetes.
She is pre-diabetic and was diagnosed with gestational diabetes at 28 weeks, before also experiencing complications after the birth when she contracted sepsis.
Gestational diabetes is when you have high blood sugar during pregnancy, whereas pre-diabetes is when blood sugar levels are above the normal range, but not high enough to be diagnosed.
Oti gave birth naturally and said she was ‘singing Chicago the whole time,’ with the problems arising afterwards.
She explained: ‘Once I gave birth to her it became more traumatic, I had sepsis and I didn’t know. I had all these things, I had the diabetes, I had pelvic pain so turning and getting up and walking was very painful.’
‘Then I found out that I had sepsis. It was one thing over the other. We spent 10 minutes together and she was taken away with my husband and the doctors.’
‘She was in the incubator and that was the first time we actually saw her. She was covered up and she had all these machines and wires and everything covering her face….’
‘This premature world only comes to light when you’re going through it…. It was a really, really scary time.’
