Hamza Yasim is now the favourite to win Strictly Come Dancing, following his amazing performance on Saturday night, eclipsing Will Mellor in the betting after the frontrunner received his lowest score yet.
Wildlife cameraman and presenter Hamza, best known for his work CBeebies and shows like Countryfile and Animal Park, got off to amazing start on his Strictly journey, when he and professional dance partner Jowita Prystal were joint top of the leaderboard after the first live show.
Hamza hadn't matched those heights, after his scores dropped slightly in weeks two and three, but the 32-year-old enjoyed an emphatic return to form at the weekend, when he and Jowita blew everyone away with their amazing samba to Sash 90s hit Ecuador. Their routine was packed full of content, including some daring lifts and the pair were rewarded with a near full house of 10s, giving them an amazing 39 out of 40, the highest score of the series so far.
While Hamza and Jowita had a week to remember, Will, bookies' favourite to win since week one, had one to forget. After being struck down by a virus earlier in the week and forced to miss training as he was floored by illness, Will struggled through his rumba with pro partner Nancy Xu on Saturday night and got just 23 out of 40, including just a 4 from Craig Revel-Horwood.
READ MORE : Shirley Ballas called out for 'ridiculous' reason for keeping Kym Marsh on Strictly
It hasn't taken bookies long to readjust their odds and Hamza is now 9/4 to lift the Glitterball with BetVictor, with Will still very much in the reckoning, despite his disappointing showing, on 10/3. Current outsider is EastEnders' star James Bye on 100/1, with him also favourite to be the next celebrity to get the ballroom boot.
Discussing the change in odds, BetVictor’s Sam Boswell said: “Will Mellor (10/3) has dominated the odds as favourite but now Hamza Yassin overtakes him as the new favourite to win Strictly, at one point on Saturday night Hamza drifted as high as 12/1, and now his odds have been slashed to 9/4 to take home the glitterball trophy.
“Hamza’s Samba performance saw him sitting pretty at the top of the leaderboard, scoring a total of 39 – just one point off a perfect score and the highest score of the competition so far. It's a marked improvement on his Week 3 dance, which saw him in 10th place with 25 points.”
He added: “The market predicted right last week as Matt Goss was eliminated, after a shock dance-off with Kym Marsh who is now 8/1 to be next eliminated. Now James Bye and Jayde Adams are joint favourites to be next eliminated at 9/4, with Ellie Taylor behind them at 4/1.”
READ NEXT:
