BBC Strictly Come Dancing - Week 10, Austin Healey still the Favourite

Austin Healey was back on form with a fantastic Tango in Week 9 of Strictly Come Dancing. Great music, Great choreography and a Great performance sees Austin maintain his place as the Favourite going into week 10.

The ever excitable Bruno Tonioli said of the dance, "You went for that Tango like a rampaging beast!". I think that meant he liked it.

This dance was Austin's best so far and scored an impressive 38 points. This was somehow beaten by a 39 from the new and improved Rachel Stevens.

With the shock exit of Cherie Lunghi, Strictly looks set to eventually become a three-way battle between Austin Healey, Tom Chambers and Rachel Stevens. There are some that would add John Sergeant to this trio. Good God!

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BBC Strictly Come Dancing - Week 8 - Lastest Odds to win

Wow! Austin Healey is such a strong favourite now he is almost unbackable. 6/5 is an extremely short price and the Bookmakers obviously fear that there is nobody who can beat him. Hmmmm, I'm not so sure it's as clear-cut as they think. Anything can happen in a single dance. Here are the latest market odds.

Austin Healey 6/5
Tom Chambers 3/1
Rachel Stevens 5/1
Cherie Lunghi 5/1
Lisa Snowdon 10/1
Christine Bleakley 16/1
Jodie Kidd 25/1
John Sergeant 66/1
Heather Small 66/1

A good outside bet would probably be to cover both Cherie Lunghi and Lisa Snowdon at 5/1 and 10/1 respectively.

Cherie has had two bad weeks with dances that haven't suited her, but now these obstacles are history and she will be back to full power. If she nails a dance, Cherie scores big, making her very tough to beat. 5/1 seems value.

Lisa Snowdon is not without a chance and at 10/1 looks attractive.

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BBC Strictly Come Dancing 2008 - Austin Healey, the one to beat

Austin Healey certainly looks the one they have to catch this year. After a dip in performance last week, week 6 saw him bounce back with the Viennese Waltz performed with professional dance partner, Erin Boag.

A great dance which saw Austin top the leaderboard with 34 points, 2 points clear of nearest rivals Tom Chambers and Rachel Stevens.

In was never in doubt that he would qualify into Week 7 and frankly, it will be a major shock if he does not reach the final. Although, in this competition, you can ill afford to be complacent.

The big four strongest supported in the market are, Austin Healey, Tom Chambers, Cherie Lunghi and Rachel Stevens. I wouldn't completely rule out Lisa Snowdon either as she continues to improve.

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X Factor - Week 4 - Who will Win?

This years X Factor competition broadcast on ITV, so far, has been one of the best ever. Last week Simon Cowell lost Scott Bruton and Cheryl Cole's three female acts still seem pretty much invincible. Louis of course, is left with just one remianing act who will struggle to make the final in a particular strong year.

Week 4 is themed Disco Night. Here is how the market currently favours each acts chances of winning the entire X Factor contest.

Diana Vickers 7/4
Laura White 7/2
Alexandra Burke 5/1
Austin Drage 7/1
J L S 8/1
Eoghan Quigg 8/1
Rachel Hylton 10/1
Ruth Lorenzo 20/1
Daniel Evans 33/1

Cheryl Cole's girls stubbornly remain 1st, 2nd and 3rd favourites to win making the Girls Aloud mentor 2/5 on to have the eventual winner.

Why Ruth Lorenzo remains a whopping 20/1 to win, to me, is a bit of a mystery. Her last two performances have been fantastic. Whilst I do not think she will be the overall winner, 8/1 would probably be more realistic. JLS seem a little short at 8/1.

Strong favourite to win now is Diana Vickers, way ahead in the market at 7/4. There is still a long way to go of course and anything can happen along the way. I thought Diana would struggle with last weeks Big Band night, but she took it in her bare-footed stride. I have similar reservations about her unique voice being able to handle Disco, but being the potential star that she is, she'll probably prove me wrong again. Hopefully this is the case as she is a joy to listen to.

Daniel Evans could find it hard to stay in this week.

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BBC Strictly Come Dancing - Week 7 - Support for Cherie

Cherie Lunghi has suddenly overtaken singer, Rachel Stevens in the betting market and now is favourite of the Ladies to win.

This is somewhat of a surprise. It follows a week where her Paso Doble didn't go entirely to plan. A slip-up at the beginning of the dance seemed to destabilize her, and from there on, she was just going through the moves and not really living this passionate dance. Her natural grace of movement perhaps made up for some of the earlier problems.

Judge Bruno commented, "You are naturally gifted. The performance just wasn't up to the standard of the actress you can be."

Despite everything, Cherie still scored a credible 31, 1 point shy of Rachel Stevens total. There is obviously money going on Lunghi to win and that is why her odds are shortening in the market.

Head Judge Len said, "you gave a good performance but not quite as good as you have been."

It was of course no surprise at this stage, Cherie swept through to the next round without any problems and it is likely she will bounce back to give a good performance this Saturday.

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X Factor 2008 - Week 3 - Diana Vickers 2-1 Favourite

This years X Factor contest is the highest quality one to date. After last weeks great performance of Man In the Mirror, Diana Vickers has moved from fourth favourite to win, to 2-1 Favourite! Given the standard of some of the other acts in the contest, this is a massive achievement.

It's still early days of course, but Simon Cowell said,"... I actually think you may be the one to beat."

Diana Vickers has her own unique style and Mr Cowell could well be right. One suspects there could be a few twists and turns in this competition yet to come, but Diana Vickers is looking like a major contender.

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BBC Strictly Come Dancing - Week 4 - Rachel Stevens

Even before the competition commenced, Rachel Stevens was the favourite of the female competitors to win this years BBC Strictly Come Dancing competition. Again, she performed almost flawlessly, but was outscored by actress Cherie Lunghi for a second time. Here is her Quickstep routine courtesey of the BBC and YouTube.

Rachel, who is a joy to watch still remains favourite of the women at 7-2 and Lunghi has gradually closed to gap and now stands at 9-2. Despite scoring higher each time, the view is that Rachel has the most scope for improvement with dance partner Vincent. In these competitions it always best not to peak too early as the viewing public always seem more supportive of people coming through or underdogs.

If Rachel is to win the sixth series however, she would need to topple both Austin Healey and Holby City Start, Tom Chambers. May she can. This years competition definitely looks between Healey, Chambers, Lunghi and Stevens.

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BBC Strictly - Week 4 - Austin the strong Favourite

Austin Healey is now a very strong favourite to win 2008's Strictly Come Dancing competition. His odds have shortened to a staggering 2-1 after his performance in week 3 shown below courtesy of the BBC and Youtube.

Can anyone stop him?

The voting public do tend to favour the underdog, but with Austin's ability combined with his overal popularity, beating Mr Healey will be incredibly difficult. Sports people in the competition also have a history of getting a lot better as the weeks go on. This is probably down to them generally being great technicians with above average learning speeds.

Actor, Tom Chambers is probably the closest challenge with singer, Rachel Stevens not far behind. If anyone but these three win the competition it will be a major miracle. Come on John Sergeant !

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BBC Strictly - Week 4 - Latest Odds

Week 3 is over and now we hit the start of the fourth week which sees the female celebrities compete for the second time. Here's how the market to win looks now.

Austin Healey 2/1
Tom Chambers 7/2
Rachel Stevens 7/2
Christine Bleakley 6/1
Cherie Lunghi 8/1
Lisa Snowdon 16/1
Heather Small 16/1
John Sergeant 33/1
Andrew Castle 40/1
Mark Foster 50/1
Jodie Kidd 50/1
Don Warrington 50/1
Jessie Wallace 66/1

Austin Healey is now a clear favourite, breaking away from Tom Chambers who now finds himself joint second in the market with former S-Club 7 member, Rachel Stevens.

Following a staggering improvement in performance, Don Warrington leaps from 100/1 to half that at 50/1 level with Jodie Kidd and Mark Foster.

Significantly, John Sergeant moves to his shortest price yet at 33/1 reflecting his popularity with the voting public. Jessie Wallace drops to be the rank outsider at 66/1 and the pressure will be on this week.

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