Strictly Come Dancing: Johannes Radebe’s 11 Most Iconic Moments

After years as one of Strictly Come Dancing’s most beloved dancers, Johannes Radebe is joining the show’s presenting team for the 2026 series.

Earlier this week, Johannes was announced as one of Strictly’s three new hosts alongside TV personality Emma Willis and comedian Josh Widdicombe, marking a huge step for the South African performer, who joined the show in 2018.

During his time as a Strictly pro, he has been partnered with Catherine Tyldesley, Caroline Quentin, Ellie Taylor, and Annabel Croft, perhaps most notably getting to the finale in the show’s first all-male partnership with chef John Whaite in 2021.

Since his debut, the dancer affectionately known to viewers as Jojo has become a fan favourite, thanks to his creative dance routines, beaming smile and gentle demeanour.

As he gears up for the next stage of his Strictly career, we’re looking back at some of Johannes’ highlights from his time on the show…

Johannes delighted fans and stole the entire show back in 2019 when he strutted onto the Strictly dance floor in a pair of stiletto boots, for a group number featuring the entire troupe of professionals and judges.

Set to a mash-up of David Bowie’s Fame and Blondie’s Rapture, Johannes’ part of the routine saw him strutting across a runway in high heels, striking some fabulous poses and displaying some impressive fan-ography.

As shocking as it is to remember now, in his first year on the show, Johannes didn’t actually receive a partner, so this fashion-themed dance the following season really let fans see him in his full fabulousity.

To this day, this routine is still ranked as one of the best numbers in Strictly’s 22-year history.

It took Strictly the better part of two decades to embrace same-sex partnerships, with Nicola Adams and Katya Jones being the first such pairing to compete on the main show.

Johannes helped pave the way for this change when he performed a landmark dance alongside Graziano Di Prima in 2019, set to Emeli Sandé’s Shine.

Johannes later told the Guardian that this performance “felt like my coming-out party”, adding to Hello! magazine: “For the first time in my life, I feel accepted for who I am. That says so much about the people of this country.

“To be able to dance with a friend I respect and adore is joyous. There’s bromance galore between us, but there were no male and female roles, just free movement.”

In 2020, Johannes led a tribute to Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert, alongside fellow pros Gorka Márquez and Giovanni Pernice.

The trio put on their best drag to pay tribute to the stage show inspired by the 1994 camp classic, in celebration of Strictly’s annual Musicals Week special.

After initially hitting the floor in denim, the group delivered a seamless reveal into platform heels and sequined jumpsuits as CeCe Peniston’s Finally kicked in.

The performance delivered some much-needed escapism at the height of Covid restrictions, and has gone down as one of the best openers the show has ever seen.

As part of the groundbreaking first all-male Strictly Come Dancing partnership, Johannes and Bake Off winner John Whaite scored a near-perfect 39 for this swashbuckling routine during Movie Week.

Donning bandanas and white shirts to dance dramatically to the Pirates Of The Caribbean soundtrack, Johannes and John’s performance was so strong that even the usually-hard-to-impress Craig Revel Horwood confessed he hadn’t even made any notes as he was so focused on the routine.

Meanwhile, Shirley Ballas and Motsi Mabuse gave the pair a standing ovation, leaving Johannes visibly emotional in the Clauditorium – not least because the routine marked the first time since joining the series that he’d received scores of nines and 10s from the panel.

Even more impressively, this dance was only John and Johannes’ third time performing in the ballroom together, with even more show-stopping routines to come over the course of their partnership.

Another more emotional, but just as iconic, Johannes and John moment came when the duo danced a slow, intimate Rumba to Shape Of My Heart by Sting.

Following the sensual routine, John admitted that he and Johannes had “expected to get flak” for their “romantic Rumba”, only for the reaction from the fanbase to be quite the opposite.

John told Rylan Clark on It Takes Two: “We’ve done all these very masculine things, all these very powerful things, which have been great. But to finally show a sensitive, emotional side, it’s beautiful.”

Johannes agreed: “I think it’s an opportunity for me and John to be vulnerable on that dance floor, because we haven’t had the opportunity. I’m loving every minute of it.”

During the results show for Movie Week in 2021, Johannes delivered another heartwarming professional dance.

This time, he was paired up with Kai Widdrington for a period-drama-themed group dance, in which Johannes played a young king with no one to dance with, until Kai stepped in to twirl him across the dance floor.

“For the kids watching this at home, struggling with their own sexuality and feeling a bit different to the others, seeing this front and centre of prime time TV will mean so much and do so much good,” one viewer poignantly wrote on social media.

Johannes’ relationship with former tennis player Annabel Croft made for emotional viewing from the start, as the athlete had lost her husband of 36 years, Mel Coleman, to cancer shortly before the series began.

However, no performance of theirs garnered more tears than their Couple’s Choice, a slow dance to Wings by Birdy, dedicated to her late husband.

Throughout their partnership, Annabel praised “angel” Johannes for his sensitivity during a “difficult” and “dark time” in her life.

“I don’t know where I would be if I hadn’t had Strictly Come Dancing at this period of time because it has been such a distraction away from terrible grief and you know, I had no concept of what grief was,” she told Good Morning Britain at the time.

“So, to be able to get up in the morning and to have a purpose rather than just sobbing at home, even though that still happens.”

Johannes and Gladiators star Montell Douglas delivered a celebratory Couple’s Choice dance to Skeleton Move by Master KG in 2025.

The Caribbean-inspired routine was dedicated to Montell’s late grandmother, with the athlete admitting she hoped to bring the love, warmth and vibrancy of her family to the Strictly ballroom.

Before taking to the floor with Johannes, the Olympian explained: “This Couple’s Choice dance pays homage to my Caribbean roots. It is Caribbean-inspired, Afro-infused, and it brings together mine and Johannes’ cultures so beautifully.”

She and Johannes scored a near-perfect score of 39 for the performance, which Motsi said she “absolutely loved”.

Meanwhile, Shirley told Montell that her grandmother would be proudly “looking down” on her, suggesting she had “sprinkled her magic dust” on the “exceptional” performance.

Although an icon himself, for 2024’s Icons Week, Johannes and the rest of the group paid homage to Beyoncé for a show-stopping results show performance.

Taking the lead, Johannes performed to a Beyoncé medley in a Cowboy Carter-inspired all-black outfit, complete with a long leather coat, high-heeled boots and a Steson.

Channelling his inner Sasha Fierce, Jojo was joined on the dance floor by fellow pro Lauren Oakley, sporting a black fringed wig which, naturally, many viewers confused for Claudia Winkleman.

Doctor Who actor Alex Kingston made history on Strictly with her “perfect” dance to Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car, when it became the first Rumba to ever earn a 10 from the judges so early on in the contest.

Even the self-proclaimed Queen Of Rumba, Shirley Ballas, was so moved by Johannes and Alex’s performance that she gave it top marks.

“In all my time on Strictly, I have never seen a pair of legs work like that,” she beamed, describing the performance as “an absolute perfect routine” and “fantastic”.

“Your choreography was stunning,” she told Johannes. “The temperature between the two of you was portrayed beautifully.”

In a memorable and arguably quirky moment, Shirley went as far as asking if she could “give the queen a kiss”, before rising from behind the judging panel’s desk to do so.

Fans were in hysterics when Alex and Johannes stayed in character throughout 2025’s Movie Week special, for which they delivered a tribute to The Devil Wears Prada.

The ER star and her partner danced the Quickstep to Suddenly I See by KT Tunstall, with Alex dressed as Miranda Priestly in a short grey wig and sunglasses

While the dance placed fourth on the leaderboard, the audience was in hysterics as Alex played up the steely Meryl Streep character on and off the dance floor.

The performance also included a new side of Jojo, as he transformed from a diva into a hapless assistant, collecting Alex’s bag for her at the start of the routine.

Strictly Come Dancing will return to BBC One later in the year.