Strictly botch-up causes bets chaos

PUNTERS up and down the country went Strictly Bananas on Saturday night when the BBC elected to move the goalposts on its Saturday night show.

The semi-final of the hugely-popular Strictly Come Dancing was, to all intents and purposes, changed to a final, part one when co-presenter Tess Daly announced that viewers’ votes had been frozen and all three couples had dodged a dance-off.

The explanation has been well documented in the national press this week, but for those of you still unsure about the issue, the stumbling block for the Beeb surfaced when Rachel Stevens and Lisa Snowdon were tied after the judges’ votes.

Both were awarded top marks of three points, with Tom Chambers on one.

This meant that no matter how many viewers’ votes Chambers polled on Saturday, he could not be saved from a dance-off which he probably would have lost given the judges’ earlier marks.

As such, all paid-for telephone votes on the only surviving male contestant were rendered meaningless and, sensitive to previous telephone vote botch-ups, the Beeb produced their get-out clause.

All three remaining celebrities and their professional dance partners will compete in next Saturday’s final when the judges’ and viewers’ votes will be carried over.

Some will say this is a fair compromise, but you try telling that to many of the thousands of punters who staked their hard-earned cash on a variety of bets.

I checked out exchange site Betfair’s forum after the show and most contributors were livid.

I can understand why.

Many customers had backed Chambers to be the next celebrity evicted, forcing down his price to go to 5 to 1 ON.

Many of these same punters will have also laid Chambers to win the competition in the belief that he was about to lose the dance-off. Indeed, I saw Chambers’ price as big as 8-1 shortly after the first of Strictly’s two Saturday shows.

The flip side of the coin is the markets concerning Stevens and Snowdon.

Those who backed these contestants after Chambers’ third place in the judges’ vote will have taken a price far shorter than they will now be trading following the Beeb’s about-turn.

And exchange customers who were happy to lay those prices are in clover today.

They will be able to back Stevens and/or Snowdon safe in the knowledge that they will get a much bigger price than they laid!

But it’s not just the exchanges that have been thrown into turmoil.

Betting markets on these kind of shows are volatile and there will be many people who backed one of the three remaining celebrities with their bookmakers on the basis that one of them was going home on Saturday night.

The whole thing is a complete mess from a betting perspective, with punters completely misled and many of them holding betting slips which they would not have wanted had they somehow anticipated the BBC’s cock-up.

The Beeb might have acted in good faith, but their contingency plans did not allow for a draw after the judges’ vote so someone, somewhere is accountable.

So, having dodged a bullet, Chambers is back to even money favourite to win the competition, with Stevens on 7-4 and Snowdon 7-1.

Bearing in mind Tom’s popularity with the public – who will have a huge influence on Saturday’s final – it seems to me that the girls have been robbed of their best chance of winning the title once he survived the semi-final that never was.

That’s not fair on them, but the whole fiasco has been equally dismissive of those who have staked money on the various betting markets surrounding the programme.

Of course, that’s of no concern to the BBC, whose obligation is to the viewers and not the nation’s punters.

I suppose the moral of the story is think twice before betting on such shows no matter how strong your opinion is.

Because you never know when the rules are going to be changed.


Reds 4-9 to be big in Japan

LOVE him of loathe him, it’s hard to take your eyes off Cristiano Ronaldo.

Already crowned European Footballer Of The Year, Ronaldo has been shortlisted for the world player award, so a bold showing in the Fifa Club World Cup will surely clinch it for the Portuguese star.

Ronaldo and his Manchester United team-mates are 4-9 favourites to win the competition in Japan and kick off the tournament tomorrow (10.30am) with a semi-final against Asian champions Gamba Osaka.

Channel 5 will be screening the game live so you can be sure that any workplace boasting a television and within 10 miles of Manchester or London (only joking, you Reds) can expect reduced output for the best part of two hours.

United should be much too strong for Osaka, while a final on Sunday against Mexico’s Pachuca or Ecuador’s Liga de Quito will hardly give Sir Alex Ferguson sleepless nights.



ENGLAND’S cricketers may have succumbed to India, but they performed admirably for most of the first Test and, more importantly, won admirers all over the world for their decision to defy the terrorists and play their part in giving a grieving host nation a sporting spectacle to remember.

Skipper Kevin Pietersen will need to raise morale for the second Test in Mohali, starting on Friday morning, but that is easier said than done and the bookies quite rightly make the hosts evens favourites to win again.

The wicket in Mohali tends to favour batsmen, so the draw has to come into the equation at 11-8, while England are the outsiders at 15-2.

Meanwhile, Australia’s home series against South Africa began in Perth this morning and I was hoping to see the Proteas make a good start after recommending them at 3-1 to win the series.

Best prices before the start of play were 10-11 Australia, 11-4 South Africa and 100-30 a drawn series.