Dancing With The Stars: Who Will Win This Year’s Series?
Daire Walsh
We are now entering into week five in the latest series of Dancing With The Stars and although nine contestants are still remaining, betting sites are continuing to take a look at who they expect to come away with the competition’s top prize.
Following the exit of former Mrs Brown’s Boys star – and current Fair City actor – Rory Cowan a week earlier, last Sunday saw Miriam Mullins’ time on the show coming to an end.
A Cork native who first came to prominence on the social media platform TikTok (and has also been working as a presenter on the Leeside-based Red FM), Mullins was eliminated despite scoring a considerable 20 points from the judges for her cha-cha-cha with professional partner Montel Hewson.
However, the fact that they scored higher than two of the other contestants on the night matters little as it is the public that ultimately decides who goes through to the next week of DWTS.
The standard of the competition is increasing with each passing episode and the same is to be expected this weekend when the nine surviving celebrities and their partners reassemble on the dancefloor.
Whelan Remains The Favourite For Dancing Title
Already one of the main standard bearers for the 2024 edition of this programme, David Whelan once again shone brightly for last Sunday’s Movie Week and received an outstanding score of 27 (or nine each) from judges Brian Redmond, Lorraine Barry and Arthur Gourounlian.
A member of the band Wild Youth, who represented Ireland at last year’s Eurovision, Whelan was the 11/8 favourite prior to last weekend’s episode being aired.
Thanks to his impressive showing in the fourth week of the competition, he is now 11/10to emerge as the top performer in the latest series of Dancing With The Stars.
Hydrangea, Mia And Fox Amongst Those Also In Contention
Previously, RTE presenter Laura Fox was the second favourite to win the competition. A score of 22 points for a Viennese Waltz to Somewhere Over The Rainbow keeps her at a steady 9/2 – a slight change from her 4/1 status this time last week – but there are now two contestants ahead of her as joint second in the betting stakes for this year’s fare.
After scoring 25 points for a Salsa to Dua Lipa’s Dance the Night (from the massively successful Barbie), Northern Ireland drag queen Blu Hydrangea has moved from 8/1 to 4/1, and now must be seen as a major contender for the top prize.
Virgin Media’s Katja Mia is another one to have shown steady progress with each passing week and did her chances no harm by scoring a combined tally of 23 points for her Paso Doble, in unison with Ervinas Merfeldas.
She is also rated at 4/1 with betting apps and will be hoping that her stay in the competition can be extended for at least the next few weeks.
While Whelan is certainly the favourite at this current standpoint, himself, Hydrangea, Mia and Fox appeared to be the competition’s main leaders for the moment.
Davison And Murphy Seen As Outside Bets
The former winner of the Miss World pageant – and a daughter of the Argentine-born Irish singer Chris De Burgh – Rosanna Davison looks like an outside bet at 14/1.
She secured her best score of the series so far last Sunday as she and partner Stephen Vincent were awarded 24 points for a Contemporary Ballroom to Pink’s Just Like Fire from Alice Through the Looking Glass.
Also rated at 14/1 is another Fair City star in the shape of Shane Quigley Murphy. Like Laura Fox, he was the last celebrity to be called safe in advance of Miriam Mullins’ elimination last week.
It certainly would have been harsh for Murphy to go home early as he drew a respectable 21 points from judges for his dance with Laura Nolan to the ELO classic Mr Blue Sky.
He had garnered 24 seven days earlier, however, and this might explain why he has dropped from being a 7/1 prospect just before week four commenced.
Sporting Stars Smyth And Russell Remain In The Hunt
Jason Smyth and his partner Karen Byrne also dropped off from an excellent 24 points for their previous dance to only get 18 for a Rumba to Tom Jones’ With These Hands.
The Paralympics legend displayed extraordinary commitment by dressing up like Johnny Depp’s titular character from Edward Scissorhands, but he is only seen as having an outside chance with current odds of 20/1 with new betting sites.
Having only managed 12 points for his dance in week three, former horse racing jockey Davy Russell’s future in the competition seemed to be in serious jeopardy.
Yet the Cork man isn’t someone who is willing to go down without a fight and he produced a vastly improved performance last weekend.
For his Charleston to the music of Star Wars – which required him to dress up like the film’s hero Luke Skywalker – Russell and Kylee Vincent drew a solid 21 points.
This has helped him to move from 66/1 to 40/1 and there is every chance he could remain in contention for another couple of weeks at least.
Dunne Still In With The Chasing Pack
After coming through the first week of eliminations, former RTE newsreader Eileen Dunne once again progressed last Sunday.
Like seven days earlier, she was awarded 17 points in total for her Tango to Cher’s Super Trouper from Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.
She may remain a rank outsider at 100/1 with specials betting sites, but given the regard she is held in for her many years of service to the national broadcaster, don’t be surprised if she goes deeper in this series than you might have envisaged.