What Are the Best Bets This Celebrity TV Silly Season?
That time of year is almost upon us. Not the time to deck the halls with boughs of holly, but the time the floodgates have been fully opened on TV’s silly season! Terrestrial television viewers will soon find their screens awash with reality gameshow-type programming, regardless of the channel they tune into.
Jody Cundy (top left) is the favourite to be the next celebrity eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing 2023. ©BBC
One of the biggest, Strictly Come Dancing, is already underway. Big Brother, returning to British TV screens after a break of almost five years, is in the process of bedding in – in every sense of the word – its 2023 contestants.
We also have I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here to look forward to. Love Island: All-Stars, Dancing on Ice, and Britain’s Got Talent are on the horizon. And X Factor? Simon Cowell has been quoted as saying that X Factor will “more likely than not” return to our screens in 2024.
Strictly Betting on the Next Dance Out
It is good news for bookies and punters alike. The best online betting sites love the betting markets novelty shows of this ilk creates. In addition to speculating on the outright winner, the sex of the winner is another popular market. Furthermore, week-on-week, there is betting on the next eliminated contestant.
The departure of Les Dennis and Nikita Kanda means 13 celebrities remain in contention for the 21st series of Strictly Come Dancing. Jody Cundy is the 6/5 favourite to join them on the sidelines as the next eliminated contestant this weekend.
At the head of the outright betting are Nigel Harman and Bobby Brazier. Throughout the week, their odds have fluctuated between 12/5 and 3/1. Angela Scanlon, Amanda Abbington and Ellie Leach are the three other contestants currently priced under 10/1.
Bewilderingly, Layton Williams, the top scorer in week two and the contender with the highest average score after three dances is top-priced at 12/1 by the leading novelty betting site, bet365. He was 4/1 when the contestants were first announced.
Hallie Good Betting and Viewing Value
It is 25-year-old Yinrun, a Chinese native, that the bookmakers have installed as their early favourite for the re-booted Big Brother TV series. All 16 original contestants remain, but the public is not enamoured with Henry Southan. The food writer has already been dismissed as a 40/1 no-hoper by the Betway sportsbook.
Novelty betting sites are also keeping Hallie Clarke on their side. The 18-year-old declared to her fellow housemates she was transgender on the second day of filming. Subsequent conversations between her and other contestants have won public approval, and the Londoner is now trading on 6/1.
Big Brother UK, no matter what channel has broadcast the show, has always included members of the LGBTQIA+ community. And they have – particularly transgender contestants – always done well. 2004 winner Nadia Almada was transgender, as was the 2012 victor Luke Anderson.
Here’s to Hallie being her authentic self ❤️ #BBUK pic.twitter.com/hS8zOrk6TS
— Big Brother UK (@bbuk) October 9, 2023
The youngest-ever Big Brother winner is Cameron Cole. He was 19 when he won Big Brother series 19 in 2018. So, Hallie does have some stats going against her. Nevertheless, she rates fair value at this early stage of proceedings.
A Final Fairytale Appearance for Frankie
The ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here’ contestants are yet to be named. Nevertheless, bookmakers like Grosvenor Sports are eager to generate interest in the ITV show and have started markets on who will participate in the forthcoming series.
Amongst the names being bounded about is the retiring jockey, Frankie Dettori. The Italian has pledged to ride in the Melbourne Cup on November 7th, so he will be in the right part of the world when I’m a Celeb filming begins.
Dettori has crossed into mainstream television many times before. In 2013, he was a contestant in the celebrity version of Big Brother. And so, the rumour mill may be correct, and Frankie could become the second jockey to take part in I’m a Celebrity, following Willie Carson, who finished fifth in 2011.
52-year-old Dettori does not yet have a confirmed mount in the famous Melbourne Cup. However, he has been linked to the ride on the 2021 Melbourne Cup third, Spanish Mission. Victory aboard this horse would be a fairytale as the former UK-trained American-bred horse’s career appeared over when he suffered a tendon injury in 2022.
