Presenter Thembisa Mdoda is ready again to put her best foot forward.

She is among 12 untrained celebrities who will, with the help of expert dancers, vie for the top prize in the Dancing with the Stars contest on DStv Channel 101.

Mdoda, 35, reckons viewers can expect a show 10 times better than any other dancing show produced in Mzansi.

"Each dancer is putting in many hours of practising. We have injuries and our bodies are terribly sore but we continue," she says.

The award-winning presenter started the year on a high note after she left Our Perfect Wedding (OPW), a gig that earned her many accolades.

She confidently says she is living her best life, just the way she imagined it would be.

She confidently says she is living her best life, just the way she imagined it would be.

Mdoda knew at the age of six she wanted to be in the performing arts and, while most kids were watching Pumpkin Patch and Kideo, she was enjoying soapies like The Bold and the Beautiful.

It ignited her love for the industry.

"When I saw Brooke cry or kiss, I knew I wanted to cry and kiss like that on TV one day,"

Her parents supported her career choice as her mother Yolisa Mda was a presenter on TV2.

"When I saw her, it was more confirmation that I want to be like that; I want to be like her."

After graduating with dramatic arts from the University of the Witwatersrand, she was exposed to theatre productions and international movies.

She remembers how, shortly after leaving school, she had to do a sex scene in an international French film, Le Boeuf sur le Toit (The Bull on the Roof).

"I must thank the producers for helping me pull off the scene in the most comfortable way, but I told myself I am never doing this again - any time soon."

She says that she went into Our Perfect Wedding knowing she wanted to change things and become a household name. Her focus earned her a Safta for most popular TV presenter, two awards at the DStv Mzansi Viewers Choice Awards for top TV presenter as well as the ultimate viewers' choice.

Mdoda, who stars in a new drama, Unmarried, that premiered two weeks ago on 1Magic, plays the role of Thembi, who has been living with her boyfriend for 15 years.

"Thembi gets caught inbetween love, friendship, crying and heartache," she says.

She also features in the local film, Baby Mamas, to be released this year. Her goal is to continue acting and to become a film producer, one step at a time.