Sophie Ellis-Bextor backed into Stricly Come Dancing favouritism
Published:A wave of support for Sophie Ellis-Bextor to win series 11 of Strictly Come Dancing has seen the singer’s price tumble into 2/1 joint-favouritism just two weeks before the winner is crowned.
Ellis-Bextor, who is partnered by series one champion Brendan Cole, is now seen as the main challenger to long-term favourite, and former Coronation Street actress, Natalie Gumede, who is also afforded odds of 2/1.
Alex Donohue of Ladbrokes said: “Sophie has shaken things up and she’s now the main threat to previous favourite Natalie. At one point it looked like Abbey Clancy or Susanna Reid would emerge as contenders, but we think they have missed their chance to become Strictly favourites now.”
Despite not topping the leaderboard for seven straight weeks, the Murder On The Dancefloor vocalist has yet to endure the heart trembling experience of the dance off, and seems to be stuffed deep into the voting public’s good books if the betting activity is to be believed.
Strong performances from Clancy, who recorded the series’ first perfect score in week 10, and Reid, week eight’s joint-top scorer with Gumede, are seemingly not enough to see them crowned queen of the ballroom, as their respective odds of 4/1 and 9/2 indicate.
Meanwhile, the sole remaining male contestant in the competition, Patrick Robinson, is rated as the rank outsider at 16/1 even though his total of 41, a score combined from his Rumba and Swing-a-thon efforts, saw him top the scoreboard last week.
It’s therefore no surprise to see the Casualty star priced as the odds-on 8/13 favourite to fall at the final hurdle during the semi final, while newsreader Reid is second-favourite at 9/2.
Abbey Clancy, is perhaps the pick of the prices to finish in the bottom two during the semi final, a fate she’s faced once before, at 11/8.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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