Could he? Could he really?
Only a month ago Anton du Beke was celebrating his first ever ten scores – after 17 series of Strictly Come Dancing.
Now he’s in only his second ever final – and in a shock twist the bookies have slashed the odds on him and partner Emma Barton carrying off the Glitterball trophy!
Bookmaker thepools.com had Anton listed as a 5/1 chance before the semi-final. Now he’s been slashed to 9/4 , behind hot favourite Kelvin Fletcher, who has been odds on pretty much since the series began. The Emmerdale actor is currently 2/5 .
That’s no surprise. The Emmerdale actor is the best dancer in the competition.
But the best dancer doesn’t always win Strictly, because the show is decided by the public, not the judges, and the public loves Anton.
(Image: Supplied by WENN)
In more than half of the 16 completed series of the show the public have not voted for whoever was at the top of the leaderboard.
Last year, for instance, Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton received lower scores on average than co-finalists Ashley Roberts and Faye Tozer, but sashayed away with the Glitter Ball trophy.
The previous year Alexandra Burke finished at the top of the leaderboard for the final, but the trophy ended up with Joe McFadden, who came second.
While Darren Gough, Tom Chambers and Jay McGuinness all came third but won the 2005, 2008 and 2015 competitions respectively.
Kelvin is clearly the man to beat. Karim Zeroual is the next best dancer in the competition, but in a shock twist found himself in the dance off last weekend. As a result he’s currently a huge 10/1 to win on Saturday night.
Karim is a TV presenter, the occupation which has historically yielded 31 per cent of Strictly winners, with actors winning only 25 per cent of the time.
But finding himself in the dance off last weekend with partner Amy Dowden suggests the public prefers Anton and Emma.
Could that be enough to see off Kelvin and Oti Mabuse?
All will be revealed on Saturday night.
Why not use a Free £5 Bet to take a chance on Anton causing an upset? Details here:
