Strictly Come Dancing stars Richard Coles and Oti Mabuse nearly met a tragic end during the filming of their new Channel 4 travel series, Oti & Richard's South African Odyssey, when they were chased by a herd of rampaging elephants. The incident occurred after Coles naively approached the local wildlife too closely, prompting a protective mother elephant to charge at them.
Oti Mabuse Saves Richard Coles from Elephant Attack
Oti Mabuse, who is pregnant with her second child, recounted the harrowing experience to the Radio Times. “We were chased by elephants! I saw one hiding in the bush, coming to attack Richard, who was like… 'Oh my, what lovely animals! Oh, rather gorgeous!' But mum elephants can be very protective, and they’ve been known to tumble cars over, and suddenly it was coming at us fast, so I had to scream at our driver to reverse, and the elephants chased us out.”
Coles, a former member of the pop duo The Communards and now a Church of England priest, admitted he was oblivious to the danger. “I found everything so completely enchanting, I wasn't really aware of the danger. If it hadn’t been for Oti, I’d have been trying to pat the elephant as it turned our Jeep over, and we’d all have been trampled into the red earth of South Africa. One of the few remaining things on my bucket list is to die nobly, but I don’t want Oti to die nobly.”
Bonding in the Jungle and Misidentified as a Couple
The duo first met on the BBC dance show in 2017 and later bonded while roughing it in the jungle on ITV's I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! in 2024. During their travels in South Africa, they attracted curious looks. Coles explained: “We were walking along the seafront in Ballito, in KwaZulu-Natal, and a local lady said something I didn’t understand. Oti told me the lady had been speculating on whether I was Oti’s old white husband.”
Oti added that locals referred to Coles as her “ATM,” a nickname for a rich European man. “And I didn’t mind, because it meant I looked the part – only the pretty girls get that! And it was a compliment to you, too, Richard, because she was saying, 'That looks like a good time for both of you'.”
Sun Protection Woes and a Rainbow Nation Face
Coles also struggled with the intense South African sun. Oti laughed: “The make-up artist was for both of us! And Richard needed her, because the sun was really hot and he went through the full spectrum of colours: he was blue then green then red then orange. He was turning all the colours of the South African flag!”
Richard added: “It’s true, my face was a 'rainbow nation'.” The series, which follows the pair as they explore South Africa, is set to air on Channel 4.
