Dancing With The Stars: Who Will Win This Year’s Series?
Daire Walsh
This Sunday will see the fourth week of the latest edition of Dancing With The Stars being broadcast to homes right across Ireland and with one contestant having already been eliminated, betting sites are continuing to take a great interest in the main contenders for the competition.
A former star of Mrs Brown’s Boys who currently features in the long-running RTE soap Fair City, Rory Cowan was the first person to be voted off this year’s DWTS.
After registering just 11 points in week one of the competition, the Dublin-born actor and entertainer – who also spent some of his childhood in Westmeath and Limerick – was on the back-foot straight away and didn’t display any major signs of improvement in the fortnight that followed.
Although he produced a tally of 14 points in week two, his Salsa with series newcomer Jillian Bromwich (to the tune of the Los del Rio hit Macarena) only delivered 13 points last Sunday.
This left them with the lowest combined total from the opening three rounds and while it isn’t always the weakest competitor that gets voted off by the public, it proved to be the case in this instance.
Whelan Remains Out In Front As DWTS Favourite
Given there were longer odds on former RTE newsreader Eileen Dunne to win the contest outright, Cowan’s exit at the weekend does alter things towards the bottom of the betting for Dancing With The Stars.
Yet when it comes to the favourites to claim the ultimate prize in 2024, not a huge amount has changed in the wake of last Sunday’s show.
Installed at 11/8 as the most likely contestant to come away with top honours at the end of week one, 2023 Eurovision hopeful David Whelan is available at the same odds at the time of writing.
The Wild Youth musician picked up 24 points on Sunday for his Viennese Waltz to Good by John Legend with his incredibly capable dance partner Salome Chachua.
He has accumulated a total of 71 points from the competition’s three judges – Brian Redmond, Lorraine Barry and Arthur Gourounlian – to date and remains out in front of a packed field.
Hydrangea And Fox Keeping Up The Chase
Already featuring quite highly in the eyes of betting apps across the entertainment market.
The 20 points that Northern Irish drag queen Hydrangea garnered in unison with Simone Arena in week two affected their odds slightly, but an excellent tally of 25 for a Tango to Lady Gaga’s Applause gave them the highest score of last Sunday night.
As a result, Hydrangea has moved from 10/1 to 8/1 and the Belfast-raised performer is very much in contention for the ultimate prize as a result.
Fox is available at 4/1 after producing another strong showing in last weekend’s episode. Complimenting the 21 and 22 point totals she received in the opening two weeks, Fox and her professional partner Denys Samson were awarded 23 points for a Paso Doble to Santa Esmeralda’s cover of Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.
Mia And Murphy Are Others In The Reckoning
Virgin Media presenter Katja Mia is also very much amongst the chasing pack and has impressed judges and audiences alike with the way she has improved week-on-week. Like the aforementioned Fox, she was given scores of 21 and 22 in the opening two weeks of this 2024 competition.
However, she went a step further than her Galway counterpart as she earned 24 points for her Cha-Cha-Cha with partner Ervinas Merfeldas to Cuff It by Beyonce Knowles.
There are odds of 7/1 available on her to win a competition that is broadcast by her current employers’ main rivals and Mia certainly looks like someone who could go very far in this particular iteration of Dancing With The Stars.
While Cowan’s Fair City colleague Shane Quigley Murphy has only shortened slightly from 8/1 to 7/1 as a potential DWTS winner, his performance on the dancefloor improved dramatically last Sunday.
Awarded 20 points seven days earlier, he enhanced this total by four points a week later – winning over the judges with his jive to Tom Grennan’s All of These Nights with professional partner Laura Nolan.
Smyth, Mullins and Davison Shouldn’t Be Ruled Out
Despite being outside of the main contenders, Jason Smyth, Miriam Mullins and Rosanna Davison are certainly not out of the reckoning by any means.
Whereas Mullins and Davison are available at odds of around 10/1 to win this year’s DWTS, Smyth is just behind them at 16/1 with new betting sites.
Week two proved difficult for Paralympics legend Smyth as his partner Karen Byrne was unable to take part due to illness. He did come away with a respectable score of 17 from the judges for a Paso Doble, but the Derry man was grateful to be reunited with Byrne for week three.
Rated at 20/1 before last Sunday’s fare, Smyth and Byrne delivered a Contemporary Ballroom dance to Show Me What I’m Looking For by Carolina Lia that saw them being awarded a combined total of 24 points by the judges.
More importantly, it also helped to shine a light on the visual impairment that Smyth has to deal with and indeed had to deal with over the course of his distinguished athletics career.
Awarded 21 points the week before, Mullins dropped down slightly to 20 in week three for her Foxtrot with Montel Hewson to Niall Horan’s Heaven.
Yet as she is a prominent figure on the social media platform TikTok, Mullins is someone who could feature for several weeks – if she gets enough of the Irish public behind her.
After improving on her opening week total of 17 points to gain 23 in the preceding week, former Miss World Davison was somewhere in between with 20 points last Sunday for her Quickstep to Things by Robbie Williams and Jane Horrocks alongside Stephen Vincent.
Yet the Dubliner has shown that she is capable of much more than that and shouldn’t be ruled out despite her current status as an 11/1 shot.
Dunne And Russell Rank Outsiders For Top Honours
Having been rated at 150/1 for the opening two weeks, the aforementioned Dunne has now moved up to 100/1 with specials betting sites after making it through the first night of elimination last weekend.
This comes on the back of her best display to date on the dancefloor as Dunne secured 17 points for her Waltz to Liza Minnelli’s Try to Remember with Robert Rowinski.
Former horse racing jockey Davy Russell had the difficult task in week two of preparing a dance with a stand-in after his main partner Kylee Vincent took ill on the morning of the show.
He managed to come away with 15 points under extremely testing circumstances, but despite being reunited with Vincent last Sunday, he only managed to pick up 12 points from the judges for his Samba to Iko Iko (My Bestie) by Justin Wellington and Small Jam.
As a consequence, Russell is near the foot of the Dancing With The Stars betting table at 50/1.