Oti Mabuse begs Mary Berry ‘not to cancel her’ as she admits to disliking cooking and reveals husband Marius Lepure’s unappetising signature dish

I’m A Celebrity star Oti Mabuse has admitted that neither she nor her husband Marius Lepure are fond of home cooking as she revealed his unappetizing signature dish.

The professional dancer, 34, will appear in Dame Mary Berry’s festive special, Mary Makes Christmas, where the legendary chef, 89, will teach her to make Christmas treats.

But during the show, Oti admitted that none of her family likes to be in the kitchen as she begged Mary not to ‘cancel’ her, according to The mirror.

After spending three weeks on I’m A Celebrity subsisting mainly on rice and beans, many would assume the former Strictly star would like to eat something different.

But no one could blame Oti for wanting to get back on the jungle diet after revealing husband Marius, 42, would be making the only dish for her at home.

She admitted to Mary, “He will make you rice and ketchup for dinner. That’s it! We have so many cookbooks. None are used.”

While the mother-of-one confessed that she doesn’t really enjoy cooking either, she said: ‘I would say it’s more functional cooking. I haven’t reached the stage yet where I’m going, ‘I’m enjoying this.’

Oti explained that this year she and Marius are taking their 13-month-old daughter to spend Christmas with her family in South Africa.

But when Mary asked if she would take charge of preparing everyone’s Christmas dinner, a sheepish Oti begged: ‘Please don’t cancel me, Dame Mary Berry! We usually book somewhere because no one wants to cook at Christmas.

‘But in South Africa many families do this. It’s outside and it’s a picnic and the sun will shine.’

In the festive episode, Mary teaches Oti a lesson in how to rustle up snowball meringues and spicy chutney.

While she also tries her best to convince the food writer to try Strictly Come Dancing, praising her for being so ‘light on her feet’ in the kitchen.

However, Mary insisted earlier in October that the BBC dancing competition would be the “last thing she would do in the world” and added that she must be careful as she approaches her 90-year milestone.

She confessed, “It’s the last thing in the world I would do. I’m a terrible dancer. I can’t move. I would be an Ann Widdecombe Mark 2.

‘I wouldn’t wear heels and I’m very careful not to fall. I always hold the handrail on the stairs because I don’t want to break my hip again.’

Oti’s comments about her family life come just a week after she returned to Britain from Australia with Marius and their daughter 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 and finished in fourth place in the competition.

Oti was praised in the jungle for her caring nature towards her campmates and her emotional conversation with her Reverend Richard Coles on her daughter’s premature birth.

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.

Oti recalled the ordeal to Richard, explaining how her baby was placed in an incubator after birth, and because she couldn’t hold her, she used her voice to connect with her.

She said, “They find comfort in your voice. We sang church music every day for two months.’

Richard shared his own story, saying, “I remember once I went to baptize a little boy, a premature boy, he was born very premature, he was barely alive….”

Richard stopped what he was saying as he was overcome with emotion at the memory and fought back tears as Oti stood up to hug him.

He continued, “I just remember him being a little lifeblood, and David [his then partner] got a pipette of water and we blessed it, and we baptized him and he survived and now he is a healthy young football player, which is great! But I just felt so… it was so precious.”

Oti agreed: ‘Yes, my daughter was very, very small when she was born. It’s hell. It’s hell to be in the hospital, hearing those sounds, not seeing your baby’s eyes for a week, it’s hell to have to constantly ask for advice from the doctors.’

Oti tried not to cry and told what she called the worst thing for her, which was that “every night you have to leave your baby in the hands of someone else.”

Oti said she can’t wait for Richard to meet her and asked, “Maybe you could say a prayer for her, I would love that.”

Richard admitted, “I’ve actually been praying for her.” 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 just left a huge hole in my life and I live my life around that loss.”

Oti previously opened up about her health struggles after the birth of her daughter, revealing that it left her with sepsis and diabetes.

She is pre-diabetic and was diagnosed with gestational diabetes at 28 weeks, before also suffering complications after birth when she contracted sepsis.

Gestational diabetes is when you have high blood sugar levels during pregnancy, while pre-diabetes occurs 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 all the time” as the problems arose afterward.

She explained: ‘Once I gave birth to her it became more traumatic, I had sepsis and I didn’t know it. I had all these things, I had diabetes, I had pelvic pain, so turning, getting up and walking was very painful.”

‘Then I found out I had sepsis. It was one thing over the other. We spent ten 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 had all these machines and wires and everything covering her face….”

“This premature world only comes to light when you go through it… It was a very, very scary time.”