Dancing With The Stars: Who Will Win This Year’s Series?
Daire Walsh
This Sunday will see RTE broadcasting week three of the newest edition of Dancing With The Stars and with elimination coming into play for the first time in 2024, betting sites are once again taking a look at who the main contenders are for the overall top prize.
When the series first aired back in 2017 – following in the footsteps of the UK version that had originally been established all of 20 years ago – former Kerry GAA star Aidan O’Mahony and his professional dance partner Valeria Milova emerged as the inaugural winners.
Since then, figures across the mediums of entertainment (Jake Carter), broadcasting (Mairead Ronan, Carl Mullen and Lottie Ryan) and sport (Nina Carberry) have all come out on top.
While the Covid-19 pandemic ensured it was absent from TV screens in 2021, it has otherwise been a regular fixture on the RTE calendar during the early months of the year since its 2017 debut.
Whelan Remains Leading Contender For Top Dancing Honours
After accumulating 23 points in the opening week of the competition for his Tango with Salome Chachua, 2023 Eurovision hopeful David Whelan was installed as the favourite for this year’s DWTS title at 11/8.
The Wild Youth musician went one better last Sunday as he amassed an excellent points tally of 24 in unison with his Georgian partner for their Charleston rendition.
His odds have dropped slightly this week to 6/5, but he is still the frontrunner for top dancing honours in a packed field.
Fox And Mullins High Amongst Chasing Pack
Recently seen on TV screens as hosFt of the long-standing RTE production Ireland’s Fittest Family, Laura Fox came in as the 4/1 second favourite at the end of week one.
The odds have shortened to 7/2 with betting apps on the Galway native ahead of a crunch period in the competition, helped in no small way by the 22 points gathered for her contemporary ballroom dance to the Taylor Swift hit Cruel Summer with her professional partner Denys Samson.
When we analysed bookies odds for the competition last week, Northern Irish drag queen Blu Hydrangea was keeping up the pace with Whelan and Fox in the betting stakes.
However, the 20 points she secured with Simone Arena for an American smooth dance to Madonna’s True Blue was four shy of their week one total and Hydrangea has now slipped down to joint fourth favourite at 7/1.
Rosanna Davison finds herself floating in a different direction as she moves from 9/1 in the overall betting to now being available at the same odds as Hydrangea.
This comes as little surprise given she drastically improved on the 17 points that she and Stephen Vincent got last week to finish with 23 points for an enchanting Salsa at the very beginning of last Sunday’s show.
Despite dropping down from 5/1 to 6/1 in the eyes of BoyleSports, Cork’s Miriam Mullins is now considered the third favourite for the top prize in the latest version of Dancing With The Stars.
She gathered 18 points in the opening week of the competition, but an enhanced total of 21 for her Samba with partner Montel Hewson in week two shows that she is one to look out for this year.
Mia And Murphy Not Out Of The Race Heading Into Week Three
Known for her work on RTE’s rival station Virgin Media, Katja Mia displayed a strong level of consistency in the opening two weeks of the competition.
Following up a score of 21 at the first time of asking, Mia drew a tally of 22 from the judges for her Foxtrot with Ervinas Merfeldas and has moved up slightly from 9/1 to 8/1 with new betting sites.
The same odds are also now available on Fair City actor Shane Quigley Murphy, who delivered a Waltz with partner Laura Nolan that garnered him 20 points last Sunday – an improvement on the 18 they got a week earlier.
Russell And Smyth In Difficult Position Following Their Partners’ Illnesses
At 13/2 and 8/1 this time last week, sports personalities Davy Russell and Jason Smyth remain outside of the main contenders for Dancing With The Stars supremacy.
Things became even more challenging for the pair on Sunday as their respective partners Kylee Vincent and Karen Byrne were forced to pull out of week two’s fare because of illness.
Paralympic legend Smyth did have some time to put together a Paso Doble routine with his stand-in partner Juliia Vasylenko and it was enough to gain a respectable 17 points from the judges.
He now finds himself at 16/1 heading into week three of the competition.
For Russell, it was far more of an obstacle as his partner had only pulled out on the morning of Sunday’s show.
While he was praised for the manner in which he produced a quick step dance with Laura Nolan at such short notice, the former jockey only came away with 15 points and has now dropped down to 14/1 in the overall betting.
Cowan And Dunne Remain Likely Contenders For Elimination
Yet last week saw Murphy’s fellow Fair City cast member Rory Cowan and veteran RTE newsreader Eileen Dunne as the most likely candidates for an early elimination and that remains the case heading into week three.
Although he improved on the 11 he got last week for his Charleston with Jillian Bromwich by securing 14 points for a Viennese Waltz, the odds on Cowan have lengthened from 33/1 to 50/1 with specials betting sites.
Dunne was previously rated as 66/1 to pull off a shock win at the end of this year’s competition and BoyleSports once again are offering these odds on the Dubliner – who brought a 42-year stint with the national broadcaster to an end in November 2022.
Awarded 14 points by the judges last week, she came away with 13 in week two for her cha-cha-cha with Robert Rowinski.