BBC Studios’ Dancing With the Stars returns to South Africa with Rapid Blue

Dancing With the Stars last aired in SA on M-Net in 2018

MIP AFRICA: Another season of shiny-floor competition show Dancing With the Stars is heading to South Africa, with Rapid Blue producing the BBC Studio (BBCS) format alongside Primedia Studios.

A broadcast channel for the new season has not yet been announced but it previously aired on South African public broadcaster’s SABC2 and then SABC3 as Strictly Come Dancing SA for eight seasons, also made by BBCS-owned Rapid Blue.

After that it switched to pay TV broadcaster M-Net in 2018 for a single season, still with Rapid Blue, under the show’s American moniker of Dancing With the Stars SA.

Now Primedia Studios and Rapid Blue have signed a licence agreement to bring Dancing With the Stars back to South Africa, it was announced on the first day of Mip Africa here in Cape Town.

In the revitalised show, audiences will see A-list local celebrities teaming up with professional dancers to learn, master and perform Latin and ballroom routines and be judged by a panel of ballroom experts.

“Primedia Studios is delighted to be joining forces with esteemed and prolific production company Rapid Blue, which also produced the country’s previous spectacular and much-loved local edition of Dancing With the Stars,” said Jan du Plessis, president of Primedia Studios and former director of content at M-Net.

“We are incredibly proud to add this global phenomenon to our Primedia Studios fantastic shiny-floor content slate. It underlines our quest to bring the biggest and best international formats to mass South African audiences.”

Ziyanda Ngcaba, MD of Rapid Blue, added: “We are so excited to see this worldwide hit return to South African screens. Dancing With the Stars has seen South Africa’s very own superstars performing and judging on versions across the world, with Oti Mabuse, Motsi Mabuse, Johannes Radebe, Keo Motsepe and Cameron Lombard showcasing South Africa’s immense dancing talent.”

This year, the Dancing With the Stars format will be produced in multiple countries, including the UK, US, Denmark, Spain, France, Germany and Italy. It also recently returned to Telecinco in Spain.