Quentin was voted off the show in the fifth week, after a cha-cha-cha in which she licked the arm of her partner, Johannes Radebe. The Daily Telegraph quoted dancers describing the gesture as “grotesque” and “inappropriate”. The Sun said fans were “horrified”. Was she surprised by the reaction?
“It would not have occurred to me that that would have been a problem,” she says. She gives a chesty laugh hauled up from somewhere deep; I don’t think it is merriness. “Not until Johannes came off, because he’s always looking at Twitter, and he went: ‘Oh God.’ I said: ‘What, Johannes?’ He went: ‘People don’t like the fact you licked me.’ I said: ‘Why not?’ He said: ‘You licked a black man.’ I said: ‘Do you think it’s that, Jo?’ He said: ‘I’m sure it is.’ I said: ‘Fuck, that’s depressing.’ And the word came down: ‘People have been upset by you licking him.’”
Maybe the lick felt oversexualised. Would it be acceptable for a male dancer to lick a female partner? “Well, let me just say that Johannes was completely complicit,” she says. “I am not a licker. I did not take it upon myself to lick him. We talked about it. It was consensual licking.” She is riffing on the idea – giving hints of her early days doing standup. But then she starts to sound very cross. “It was meant to be funny,” she says, addressing an imaginary, disapproving person. “So get a sense of humour or fuck off. One or the other. I don’t care.”
It is interesting to me that Johannes thought there was disapproval of an interracial couple, especially as everyone is shipping Kai and AJ. I don't think it was that angle at all, but more ageism/cougar trope/people being unsure over consent at the time (even though article makes it crystal clear it was consensual and part of the choreo and Jojo was in on the gag)...but I could be wrong and there may have been a racist element too.
My point being, if Johannes genuinely thought race played a part last year then this year, you could understand him being terrified of both interracial disapproval and homophobia. He should stay off social media (I think he did steer clear from Twitter for a while) but the fact they are getting through each week must be overwhelming for him and emotional, as it validates who he is and what he does for a living. I don't begrudge him that.