Max Bowden on how he thinks Jamie Borthwick will do on Strictly
Strictly Come Dancing only announced the final additions to the line up yesterday (August 13) but with all 15 contestants now in place two controversial participants are standing out as possible winners. Love Island's Tasha Ghouri and EastEnders Jamie Borthwick have both caught the eye of bookies in the early odds.
Both have proved contentious choices for this year's show. Tasha is a trained professional dancer whose announcement led to people on Instagram asking her whether her previous experience is an "unfair advantage".
Addressing the controversy on Kiss FM she said: "I've not danced for quite a few years - since Love Island, my career is so different. It's such a different dance style, I may actually not be good at it, like ballet - I'm not good at ballet. I'm trained in commercial street style. It's going to be very hard but I'm excited for a challenge."
Meanwhile Jamie's addition to the line up raised a few eyebrows as he won the Christmas special last year paired with Nancy Xu performing the Quickstep and transforming the dancefloor to a pub, in a special nod to EastEnders. As a result, some viewers slammed his inclusion in the series as he became the latest 2024 star to be hit with a “fix” row.
Tasha is currently the bookies favourite with odds of 4/1 while Jamie only trails narrowly behind at 5/1 according to SportsCasting traders
The pair are well ahead of the next favourites Shayne Ward and JB Gill who are both at 7/1. Both men appeared on the X Factor but in recent years Shayne has turned to acting appearing in Coronation Street while JB has become a children's TV presenter.
The Only Way is Essex star Pete Wicks comes in at 9/1. He is closely followed by Olympians Sam Quek and Tom Dean at 10/1. Although she is a winner in the Gladiators arena Montell Douglas only has odds of 14/1 to win Strictly in the early betting.
Miranda star Sarah Hadland and comedian Chris McCausland are both currently at 18/1 to lift the glitterball. Eighties punk icon and actress Toyah Wilcox is at 25/1 despite a decades long stage, screen and music career which clearly isn't deemed an advantage by bookies.
Coming up the rear are Morning Live GP Dr Punam Krishan at 33/1, opera singer and Go Compare man Wynne Evans with odds of 40/1 while DIY SOS presenter Nick Knowles and Arsenal legend Paul Merson are both at 50/1 at present.
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“With the Strictly class of 2024 line-up starting to take shape the oddsmakers have been beavering away pricing up the betting.
"After his top performance in the Christmas special - it’s Eastenders star Jamie Borthwick that is one of the pre-show favourites," SportsCasting spokesman Andy Newton said.
“Jamie, who plays Jay in the hit soap, caught the eye of show bosses after scoring a perfect 40 in one of their festive dances and with that experience under his belt looks like a cracking bet at 4/1 to win the 20th anniversary of the show.
“Just ahead of Borthwick in the betting is Love Islander Tasha Ghouri at 4/1. But at slightly bigger prices, former hockey star Sam Quek could go well at 10/1, while singers JB Gill and Shayne Ward, who are both 7/1, could easily have the X Factor on the dancefloor too," he said.
