Bobby Brazier may have thrilled the judges during his first two weeks on Strictly Come Dancing, but he has suffered a setback ahead of week three.
The 20-year-old actor and model is one of the competition’s favourites, and with good reason.
While Bobby received a 29 from the judges in week one before repeating the feat in week two, he was towards the top of the scoreboard.
Despite a strong start, the EastEnders star has been given a setback as the battle heats up ahead of week three.
That’s because Nigel Harman, the surprise star of the early stages, is suddenly the betting favourite to win the dance competition, knocking Bobby off the top place.
Nigel and his dance partner Katya were the only pair to break the 30 point threshold in week one, and they followed it up with a 27 on Saturday.
All of this implies that a lot of money has been staked on the Casualty actor, who has so far impressed the public with his amazing dance abilities.
While Amanda Abbington and Layton Williams had greater ratings in the first two weeks (61 and 65, respectively), Nigel has swiftly won over audiences.
Nigel’s efforts have reduced his odds of winning the glitterball trophy to only 2/1, putting him ahead of Bobby, who remains at 3/1.
A spokesperson from Ladbroke said: ‘Punters have seen enough after two weeks and they seemingly reckon Nigel is now very much the one to beat.’
‘Having been there or thereabout in the betting since he was revealed as a contestant on this series, he’s now leapfrogged long-time favourite, Bobby.’
Angela Scanlon is 5/1 to take the iconic trophy back to Bury, while Layton and Ellie Leech are both 7/1 to do so.
On Sunday, comedian Les Dennis bowed out of the competition after receiving a cumulative score of 31 in two dances.
He was defeated by Nikita Kanda and her partner Gorka, who survived the dance-off when the judges advanced them to the next round.
Amy Dowden, who has been missing from this series while undergoing cancer, made a heartfelt comeback to the Strictly set this week.
Strictly Come Dancing contin ues Saturday at 6.20pm on BBC One.
