Joe Swash 1/6 to be crowned King of the Jungle tonight

van Day’s exit leaves ex-Eastender miles ahead in the betting

Joe Swash is now generally 1/6 to win I’m a Celebrity after David van Day, his closest rival in the betting, was sent packing.

That means that there is little opportunity to make money on tonight’s finale, with the best chance possibly being to hope van Day’s voters switch to George Takei to enable him to finish ahead of Martina Navratilova in second.

In Sky Bet’s straight forecast market it is just 8/13 for Martina to finish second to Joe but for George to finish behind the ex-Eastender is 7/4, which means that even though it’s an outside chance, it’s the most likely bet of any value to make money from tonight.

Posted: December 5th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Can anyone stop Joe Swash from winning I’m a Celebrity?

Will the show’s biggest ever favourite be pipped to the post?

Joe Swash is 2/7 to win the eighth series of I’m a Celebrity but slipped up recently by accepting Nicola McLean’s claim that David van Day has been plotting against him without confronting the former Dollar singer to discover if it was true. Here are some reasons why Swash could yet miss out on being crowned King of the Jungle:

» Only one of the five male winners of the show have been under the age of 37 and that was singer Matt Willis in series six.

» No soap star has even won I’m a Celebrity. Daniella Westbrook, Sheree Murphy, Sid Owen, Kimberley Davies, Elaine Lordan and Dean Gaffney have all tried and failed.

» The contestant that has performed the most Bushtucker trials has failed to win in all four series where records exist.

» The Sun are reporting that David van Day is leading the voting “by a country mile” and is on course to win the show. He is still available at 11/1 with 888sport.

Posted: December 3rd, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Kilroy leaves I’m a Celebrity

Slight surprise as bickering duo fight on

Robert Kilroy-Silk was the first person voted off I’m a Celebrity last night after coming in the bottom two of the vote with former policeman Brian Paddick.

The outcome shows the success of I’m a Celebrity’s voting system whereby you vote for who you want to save rather than who should go, which means that controversial contestants like David Van Day and Nicola McLean survived while less entertaining ones like Paddick struggle.

In the winners market, Esther Rantzen’s price with Betfair has halved to 5.4 over the last 24 hours after she won an endurance task in a coffin but Joe Swash remains the clear favourite.

Posted: November 27th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Joe Swash emerges as the clear I’m a Celebrity favourite

Ex-Eastender looks likely to go two better than Sid Owen

Joe Swash’s price as I’m a Celebrity favourite dropped even further last night after he stood up for ostracised duo Timmy Mallett and David Van Day.

Model Nicola McLean triggered another argument by overreacting to a jestful comment made ahead of her Bushtucker Trial. Once she had left, Simon Webbe attempted to assume the role of alpha-male by getting involved in Nicola’s defence but was quickly silenced by Joe, who stepped in to point out that nobody would have had a problem if anyone other than David had made the comments and that he was being victimised.

The best price available on Joe winning now is 4/6 with Paddy Power and he doesn’t have much competition, with his temper the only potential obstacle in his way.

Posted: November 25th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Bitter Dani Behr’s price drifts

Her attempt to turn Home Camp against Nicola was ill-advised

After a good showing in the first show Dani Behr’s price was cut to 8/1 to win series eight of I’m a Celebrity but she is back out at 12/1 with Bet365 after coming across as a sore loser in last night’s show.

The former WAG of Ryan Giggs and Les Ferdinand lost out to Nicola McLean in a task to win the Celebrity Chest and rather than accepting defeat lying down, she claimed to her Home Camp comrades that Nicola was a game-player because she understates her strength.

Joe Swash, who lost to McLean in the “I Scream Van” Bushtucker Trial, wasn’t impressed with the TV presenter’s attempts to give fellow contestants a negative first impression of the former Page 3 girl before they had met her. Judging by the change to her price, which may also have been affected by rumours - which have since been denied - that she might have to leave the show because she is pregnant, the bookmakers agree.

After the jump is a graph taken from our excellent odds comparison engine showing the change in Behr’s Bet365 odds since the show started on Sunday:

Posted: November 19th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

George Takei overtakes Joe Swash as I’m a Celeb favourite

Will the Star Trek actor become the first ever foreign winner?

George Takei has overtaken actor Joe Swash as the favourite to win this year’s I’m a Celebrity after the show kicked off last night. The Star Trek actor was 8/1 on Friday afternoon but has dropped to 5/2 with Swash close behind at 11/4 with Paddy Power.

There has never previously been a foreign winner but it’s been getting closer and closer with Australia’s Jason Donovan coming third two years ago and America’s Janice Dickinson coming second last year. Martina Navratilova is third favourite at a general 5/1, though you can back her at 6/1 with Paddy Power.

Carly Zucker is still 7/1 with Bet365 to finish as top female despite a promising first episode. Joe Cole’s WAG may also gain sympathy if Robert Kilroy-Silk continues to antagonise her.

Click here for all the latest odds.

Posted: November 17th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | 2 Comments