Entertainment
Who is Cynthia Erivo as she steps in for Motsi Mabuse on Strictly Come Dancing?
Cynthia is joining Strictly for a second week (Picture: Rich Fury/Getty Images)
Fresh from saving the day in last week’s musical week, Cynthia Erivo will once again fill in for a missing judge on this weekend’s Strictly Come Dancing.
The 34-year-old Oscar nominee, who is famous as a star of musicals herself, will be taking Motsi Mabuse’s seat to judge the remaining dancers.
Mabuse will miss Saturday’s show after coming into close contact with a person who tested positive for Covid.
In an Instagram post, Mabuse explained she was fully vaccinated, which would normally mean exemption from isolation, however, she is currently in Germany and not able to travel back due to UK government guidelines, which do not recognise the vaccines she received.
Who is Cynthia Erivo?
London-born Cynthia is a multi-award-winning actress with Daytime Emmy, Grammy and Tony Awards under her belt.
Cynthia starred in The Color Purple on Broadway (Picture: Jemal Countess/Getty Images)
Her first TV role was in Michaela Coel’s 2015 series Chewing Gum and she has starred in films including Bad Times at the El Royale as well as portraying American abolitionist Harriet Tubman in 2019’s Harriet.
She is perhaps best known for her hugely successful career in musicals, having recently been cast as Elphaba in the movie adaptation of Wicked, one of the biggest musicals on Broadway and London’s West End, opposite Ariana Grande’s Glinda.
She has also starred in the UK tour of Sister Act and the Broadway tour of The Color Purple, as well as taking part in I Can’t Sing! The X Factor Musical.
She has also starred in Sister Act (Picture: Tristram Kenton)
Erivo will be judging the remaining couples for a second week, following last week’s Musicals Week which saw Tom Fletcher exit the show.
This weekend will see AJ Odudu and her partner Kai Widdrington take on their Couple’s Choice routine to Janelle Monáe’s ‘Make Me Feel’, while Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice will perform the Paso Doble to ‘California Dreamin” by Sia.
Tilly Ramsay and Nikita Kuzmin will be taking on the Samba to Dua Lipa’s ‘Levitating’, while Dan Walker and his partner Nadiya Bychkova are set to try their hand at a Rumba, which will be set to ‘Desperado’ by Eagles.
John Whaite and his partner Johannes Radebe will perform the Argentine Tango to David Garrett’s ‘The 5th’, while Rhys Stephenson and Nancy Xu will take on a romantic Waltz to ‘You Light Up My Life’ by Whitney Houston.
MORE : The title of Cynthia Erivo’s new sci-film is… really something
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