Jessicaindublin is no expert on ballroom dancing, but for Specialbets’ first foray into Strictly Come Dancing, she’s probably a bit more qualified than Damianinlondon. (Damianinlondon being the one who put a “cheeky tenner” on Jimmy Tarbuck… And won’t admit whether that was before or after the heart scare.)

The favourites in the competion are already clear. See here for the Betfair odds.

I won’t waste your time talking about the also-rans, so let’s move straight onto Emma Bunton. This week’s Foxtrot performance was a little disappointing. They did have various excuses and said they had little practice time. To this observer, the Foxtrot is one of the less fluid of the Ballroom section, but Emma failed to inject any grace to it. Looking over her past performances, notably her Jive last week, perhaps she’s better suited to the Latin dances (as we see Peter is more suited to Ballroom.) I note too that Arlene described Emma’s previous week’s Ballroom-section Quickstep as, “the sportiest Quickstep I’ve seen in a long time.” I wonder if Emma will struggle with the more staid Waltz or let her “bubbly” personality ruin the drama of the Tango. It’s always hard to guess how the public feel about the celebs, but I can’t help thinking that despite her protestations about never having done this kind of dancing before; her previous experience of being choreographed before will go against her. Perhaps seen as a bit of a “head start”.

I think Louisa might have some of the same problems as Emma. In her Quickstep in Week Two, Len said “they tried to cover up bad technique with clever choreography”. She did well in Week 3, but that was the Jive in the Latin section, which needs energy and vigour. Note that Len Goodman is the only judge who is actually a ballroom dancing judge (rather than a choreographer or similar) and he told us this week that her steps were wrong whilst Bruno focussed on the “chemistry”. This is a dancing competition, not “Love Island”, after all.

That said, there is palpabale chemistry between Mark and Karen. Or at least it looks like Karen is mad about Mark; always going on about how proud she is of him. And there’s just no excuse for the favouritism that Arlene is showing for Mark. He did well in his first dance with the Cha Cha Cha in the Latin section, despite the judges not liking part of the routine. His Tango was wonderful in Week Three and gave arguably the best Paso Doble of the night. Having proved himself capable of passionate Latin dances, I have no doubt after his Tango that he’ll lend himself very well to the elegance of the rest of the Ballroom sections.

Mark is the only one of the celebrities, in my opinion, who looks like a professional dancer on the floor. He has no previous experience which will surely endear him to the public and Arlene, although biased, has said, “You must have been a dancer in another life.” I think that says it all and I will be putting my hard earned tenner on him. Will the public mind if another cricketer wins this year? I don’t think so, and our poll seems to back this up at the moment.

This article was written by Jessicaindublin, our newest contributor at Unreality TV. Check out Jeesica’s own website here. You might also be interested in the Special Bet Survey on Strictly Come Dancing if you are a a fan!