Strictly favourites may have negatively impacted their contest… by doing well (Picture: BBC / PA)
Strictly Come Dancing favourites may have damaged their chances of winning the contest by doing really well.
Yes, you read that correctly. Scoring highly at this particular point in the contest can be detrimental to their overall standing.
There is an odd tradition that’s formed over the years of Strictly – the pairs who finish on top in Blackpool rarely go on to lift the Glitterball trophy.
Sarah Hadland and Tasha Ghouri topped the leaderboard in the most recent episodes with the almost perfect scores of 39, for their Couple’s Choice and Pasodoble routines.
Amongst those who’ve wowed at the famous Tower Ballroom but then been unable to convert to the ultimate win are Fleur East and Vito Coppola, Ashley Roberts and Pasha Kovalev, Alexandra Burke and Gorka Marquez, Danny Mac and Oti Mabuse, and Georgia May Foote and Giovanni Pernice.
The feature hasn’t always been an annual affair – there have been 12 Blackpool specials in total.
Oti and Danny couldn’t overcome the Blackpool ‘curse’ (Picture: BBC / Guy Levy)
They’ve excluded the element during Covid-19, and it also took a break between 2005 to 2008 due to logistical elements, while it was used as the filming location for the final in a handful of series.
Analysing the data tells us that there’s been three exceptions to the rule. Ellie Leach and Vito managed to do it after joining Layton Williams and Nikita Kuzmin at the top last year.
Sarah scored an almost perfect 39 (Picture: Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire)
Kelvin Fletcher and Oti Mabuse who also shared the position with Karim Zeroual and Amy Dowden, famously won.
Strictly’s week nine dances
Montell and Johannes Quickstep to Get Happy by Ella Fitzgerald
Sarah and Vito Rumba to Chains by Tina Arena
Tasha and Aljaz American Smooth to Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi
Chris and Dianne Paso Doble to El Gato Montes by Manuel Panella
Jamie and Michelle Foxtrot to Stand By Me by Ben E. King
JB and Lauren Charleston to Yes Sir! That’s My Baby by Firehouse Five Plus Two
Pete and Jowita Tango to Easy Lover by Philip Bailey, Phil Collins
All the way back in the second series, Jill Halfpenny and Darren Bennett were able to do it too.
Sarah and Tasha, along with their partners Vito and Aljaž Škorjanec will be hoping to replicate the success of those Strictly marvels.
However, currently it looks like Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell, who was third on Blackpool’s scoreboard, are heading for the 2024 champions title. He is standing at 1/5 to win, with Sarah, 53, at 9/2, and Tasha, 26, at 10/1.
Chris and Diane are favourites to win (Picture: Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire)
Every winner of Strictly Come Dancing
Season 21: Ellie Leach
Season 20: Hamza Yassin
Season 19: Rose Ayling-Ellis
Season 18: Bill Bailey
Season 17: Kelvin Fletcher
Season 16: Stacey Dooley
Season 15: Joe McFadden
Season 14: Ore Oduba
Season 13: Jay McGuiness
Season 12: Caroline Flack
Season 11: Abbey Clancy
Season 10: Louis Smith
Season 9: Harry Judd
Season 8: Kara Tointon
Season 7: Chris Hollins
Season 6: Tom Chambers
Season …read more
Source:: Metro