David van Day starts to close the gap on Joe Swash

Wind-up merchant drops from 9/1 to 11/4 in under 24 hours

Yesterday chickendinner spoke about the reports that David van Day was topping the phone vote and since then the former Dollar singer’s Paddy Power odds have plummeted from 9/1 to just 11/4.

Considering George Takei and Martina Navratilova haven’t contributed much in terms of entertainment recently he stands a very strong chance of making the final two.

Posted: December 4th, 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

I’m a Celebrity: The Women

Three WAGs, a lesbian and Esther Rantzen

There have only ever been two female winners of I’m a Celebrity but these five women will be battling it out to change that and earn the right to proudly declare themselves the new Kerry Katona:

Click here to place your bets

Carly Zucker
The personal trainer’s main claim to fame is being Joe Cole’s fiancée and while providing eye-candy keeps you in the jungle for a while, no glamour model or WAG has ever won. Zucker is this year’s youngest contestant and is just a year older than Kerry Katona was when she became the first-ever female winner.

Dani Behr
As well as dating Ryan Giggs and Les Ferdinand, TV presenter Behr used to go out with Jason Brown, who finished third in last year’s show. She won’t find it too difficult to adapt to the Australian climate because she currently lives in Sydney, where series five winner Carol Thatcher also spent four years of her life.

Esther Rantzen
In three of the last four series the top woman has been over the age of fifty: Janet Street-Porter (fourth, series four), Carol Thatcher (first, series five) and Janice Dickinson (second, series seven) while in series three Jennie Bond came second behind Kerry Katona. Last year’s oldest woman, Lynne Franks, came ninth but Rantzen should be nowhere near as annoying as her.

Posted: November 16th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment