Dancing With The Stars: Who Will Win This Year’s Series?
Daire Walsh
The concluding episode of the competition is coming fast on the horizon and with just four contenders remaining, betting sites are having a final look at who will be crowned Dancing With The Stars champion for 2024.
Despite being viewed as the main challengers for almost the entire duration of this year’s series, both Blu Hydrangea and David Whelan have found themselves close to elimination over the past two weeks.
Whereas Hydrangea (a Northern Irish drag queen) emerged victorious from a week nine dance-off against Virgin Media presenter Katja Mia, Whelan had to go through a similar process seven days later.
While the 2023 Eurovision contestant drew a perfect score of 30 from the judges for his Salsa to Olly Murs’ Wrapped Up with dance partner Salome Chachua, the voting public placed him in the bottom two alongside former national hunt jockey Davy Russell – who had garnered a combined total of 27 points for a Viennese Waltz with Kylee Vincent to Never Tear Us Apart by INXS.
Whelan Survives Dance-Off To Remain In The Running
Cork native Russell had become a very popular member of the show having initially struggled in the opening weeks of the competition, but Whelan and Chachua were always going to be a tough double act to overcome.
As has been the case for each dance-off to date in season seven, judges Brian Redmond and Arthur Gourounlian were in agreement as to who should be saved and even though her vote wasn’t required, Loraine Barry revealed that she also would have kept Whelan and Chachua in the competition.
Their presence will certainly help to make the Week 11 finale all the more intriguing and Whelan is still featuring highly in the betting stakes with BoyleSports currently offering odds of 2/1 on the Wild Youth band member securing the DWTS title.
However, at the time of writing, he no longer finds himself as the front-runner for an overall success in this dancing extravaganza.
Fox The New Favourite For DWTS Success
More recently seen on TV screens as the host of the long-running Sunday evening programme Ireland’s Fittest Family, RTE’s Laura Fox is the new favourite for DWTS glory at 7/4 with specials betting sites
This is in spite of the fact that her tally of 26 points for an American Smooth to Bobby Pickett’s Monster Mash with Denys Samson was the lowest score secured by any of the five contestants that participated in the Fright Night semi-final.
Nevertheless, this was still a respectable total and the Galway woman had plenty of credit in the bank after scoring 10 points each from Redmond, Gourounlian and Barry a week earlier for a Charleston to Do Your Thing by Basement Jaxx.
Irish bookmakers had Fox breathing down the neck of Whelan for a number of weeks and with that in mind, it is perhaps no surprise that she usurped him with the finishing line coming sharply into view.
Consistent Hydrangea Still In Contention Heading Towards Final
The aforementioned Hydrangea had generally been the second favourite for the top dancing prize in this competition, but the inaugural winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK is now third in the running at 3/1 with new betting sites.
This isn’t necessarily reflective of the performances that have been delivered by Hydrangea and professional dance companion Simone Arena as they followed up an impressive 29 points in week seven for a Viennese Waltz to Lose Control by Teddy Swims with three straight totals of 30.
Their most recent maximum effort was for last Sunday’s Charleston to The Cartoons’ Witch Doctor – an American novelty song that was first released in 1958.
There is every chance that Blu and Simone will produce another dance to get the judges and the audience off their feet this Sunday and it certainly would be foolish to rule them out of the reckoning.
Odds On Determined Smyth Have Been Cut
Finally, having been viewed as rank outsiders for so long, Paralympic legend Jason Smyth and his partner Karen Byrne have managed to make it all the way to the DWTS final.
Although Smyth’s central vision is affected by Stargardt’s disease (which means he is legally blind), he has continued to overcome obstacles in much the same way as he did on the athletics track.
Last weekend saw him and Byrne claiming their highest score of the 2024 series – a 27 for a Tango to Disturbia by Rihanna. Betting apps may still regard the Derry man as an outside bet to come away with the ultimate prize, but he finds himself joining Hydrangea on 3/1 ahead of Sunday’s show.