Two Prop-er Bets
Dancing On Ice – Next Elimination – Kieron Richardson 11-4 (Betfred), Gary Lucy 6-1 (Boylesports, Paddy Power, Stan James and William Hill)
Well, that was one to forget. Mikey knocked out in bizarre circumstances, given he was likely 2nd top on the public vote and put in his best performance for weeks, yet the way the polling went elsewhere still forced him into the bottom two, before losing 3-2 to Danniella in a keenly-fought skate off.
Danniella, another of our series-long fancies, now looks in serious jeopardy, having been in the bottom 2 for the last two weeks, but all is not lost as there doesn’t look to be much between her, Gary, Danny and Kieron, and it’s pretty much anyone’s guess which two of these will end up in the skate off this Sunday, and which two ultimately make it through to the final alongside Hayley.
Hayley bagged a maximum 30 last Sunday and as long as she avoids injury she looks a certainty to win the series and there is very little value angle left in the outright betting market. Her and Dan’s performance last Sunday was probably the best we’ve ever seen in the history of DOI:
Nicky and Karen keep acknowledging Gary for his good skating technique, but the performance side continues to be extremely lacklustre and it was only Jason Gardiner’s slaughtering of him last Sunday that probably helped boost his public vote enough to condemn Mikey to the skate off instead of him.
It is prop week on Sunday so performance will be a key ingredient and rumour has it Gary and Maria have two canes to contend with. Last week Gary scored less than Danny and Kieron who both continue to improve, but you sense Gary is beating Danny and Kieron in the public vote. That said, the public vote this series has been quite fluid, bar Hayley, so 6-1 with Boylesports, Paddy Power, Stan James and William Hill is too big and merits support on the next elimination market.
With regard to Danny, his biggest concern has to be the adverse publicity he has received in recent times – unhappy about not doing the tour, falling out with Gary, appearing with his dad last week who, it has been reported, has served time.
His partner Frankie has just taken up residence with David Seaman and has been portrayed as something of a marriage breaker in the tabloid press. And she wasn’t the most liked pro skater on the show in the first place so Danny will need to get himself high up on the leaderboard again on Sunday to try and give himself a buffer from the bottom two.
Danniella failed to get a bounce last week but after two consecutive skate offs, it could be third time lucky given a favourable edit and a good performance with her prop, more so if she is no worse than third on the judges’ leaderboard.
It is a very tight and difficult call but overall we also recommend backing Kieron at a best-priced 11-4 with Betfred to be eliminated, purely because he looks most likely to be loitering at the foot of the judges’ leaderboard and offers a point better value on the elimination odds compared to Danniella.
On the Top Male market, if you have followed our advice you’ll have Gary at 15-8, Kieron at 7-1 and Danny at 8-1. If nothing else, you are guaranteed a return and have the option of laying off on all three at much shorter odds now.
Rob Furber