The Holby City actor is only one of two contestants left in the competition yet to face a dance-off
There was yet another shake-up in the Strictly Come Dancing 2017 betting market after a weekend of drama saw the bookmakers’ favourite face the dance-off for the second week running. After Debbie McGee was forced to dance for her survival at Blackpool last week, this week it was the turn of Alexandra Burke to battle it out in the dance-off after finishing in the bottom two after the public vote.
That shock result saw Joe McFadden hit the top of the market for the first time since the show began. McFadden and his partner Katya Jones finished top of the leaderboard on Saturday night after their impressive quickstep scored 38 points from the judges. They followed up that effort with second place in the first ever ‘Paso Doble-thon’ to help them finish at the top of the pile ahead of Debbie McGee in second.
That strong performance forced bookmakers to take evasive action, cutting the actor into as short as 15/8 favourite to win the show, having been as big as 11/2 just a week earlier and a massive 16/1 before the series started. Indeed Oddschecker punters were equally impressed, with over 33% of all bets placed on the winners market this weekend for the 42-year-old from Glasgow, making him the most popular pick ahead of McGee in second with 24%.
9/4 favourite going into week 10, Burke’s surprise appearance in the bottom two has led to her odds drifting to as big as 4/1 with one firm, her biggest price since the show began. Also on the drift is former Holyoaks and Emmerdale star Gemma Atkinson. Despite having not featured in a dance-off all series and being saved by the public at the weekend having finished second-bottom on the leaderboard, bookies were less than impressed by her Samba and pushed her odds out to 13/2 from 7/2 before the weekend.
Oddschecker spokesperson George Elek: “The last couple of weekends have thrown up some shocks with both Debbie McGee and Alexandra Burke having to face a dance-off. Bookmakers have reacted on both occasions by lengthening their odds but last year’s winner Ore Oduba also finished in the bottom two en route to winning the show so Burke backers shouldn’t be too alarmed. As for Joe, his incredible journey from 16/1 ‘dark horse’ to bookies favourite is now complete and he will face a different kind of challenge next weekend as he bids to put in a favourite’s performance to maintain his position at the top of the market”.
