‘Dancing With The Stars’ Season 26 Episode 2 Betting Odds
–This is the 26th season for ABC’s reality show.
–Season 26 is a special 4 week competition featuring a field of athletes.
–’Dancing With The Stars’ Episode 2 will air on May 7, 2018.
The 26th season of ABC’s reality franchise ‘Dancing with the Stars’ began on April 30, 2018 and this season will be unlike any other in the long history of ‘DWTS’. For one thing, the entire contestant field is comprised of current or former athletes. That notwithstanding, they run the gamut from legit legends (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) to infamous ‘heels’ (Tonya Harding) to young upstarts like Olympic figure skaters Mirai Nagasu, Adam Rippon and Notre Dame basketball star Arike Ogunbowale. Athletes have historically performed well on ‘DWTS’ so it makes sense to have a field full of ’em for once.
Making less sense–this ‘season’ of ‘DWTS’ will be only four weeks long with double eliminations promised every week. That not only makes it hard to set odds on but really defeats the purpose of the show. A good component of the entertainment value is watching a guy like Terrell Owens or Drew Scott round into form after a rocky start. In season 25, the two favorites–Lindsey Stirling and Jordan Fisher–were as well qualified as any in recent memory. Even so, neither scored a ’10’ until Week 4 (J-Fish nabbed two in that week). Even though it was Week 4 it was the fifth hour meaning that we might not see a ’10’ all season long.
Based on the first episode it’s going to be a interesting and fun season that really deserved the longer season to play out. Probably the biggest shock was the performance of infamous ice skating ‘heel’ Tonya Harding who is clearing trying to make what we call in the wrestling business a ‘face turn’. All the more surprising, she might just pull it off. She definitely turned in the surprise performance of the night turning in a 23 and tying with our preseason favorite Mirai Nagasu for the second highest score of the week. Tonya broke down crying after the show with some more uptight demographics still thinking its a ‘work’, such as the astute dance observers at Good Housekeeping magazine.
DANCING WITH THE TONYAS
The judges and other media were less skeptical–the Washington Post did a rundown of the field and ranked Tonya as the #5 contestant. They did note that the storyline isn’t really different from the ‘I, Tonya’ press tour when they quote from her intro video:
Story line: Same as the “I, Tonya” press tour: Redemption. “I was the best figure skater in the world, and then I had it taken away from me,” Harding says in her video intro. “It wasn’t just my career. It was my life … you have people looking at you like you’re nothing, you start to believe that you are nothing.” She’s thrilled to be able to perform again, especially because she feels her skating ability will translate to the dance floor. “I don’t want to fail again,” she says tearfully.
The judges were for the most part impressed and Tonya got a nice reaction from the live crowd:
The judges are pleased: “I know that your journey to here has been a very emotional and challenging journey, but I have to judge your dancing: You are a beautiful dancer,” Carrie Ann says, as Tonya tears up. Len adds it was “charming” and “a lovely performance.” Bruno admits he wasn’t expecting for Tonya to be so lyrical, and was happily surprised.
BTW, check out judge Bruno Tonioli’s sequined shorts referee outfit. The NBA should go with this look.
‘DWTS’ OPENING WEEK RATINGS NOT SO IMPRESSIVE
Less impressive was the show’s ratings. Variety reported that it was down over 40% in the key demo from last year’s spring premiere and down approximately 30% in total viewers. The entertainment paper also noted that ‘DWTS’ lost to the NBC reality show ‘The Voice’. That’s a key reason why I expect Tonya to stick around for awhile. The rest of the field is talented enough (with the exception of NBA legit legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who isn’t much of a dancer though he is showing serious balls by just being here) but Tonya is the only one that can gin up much interest from the mainstream media. ‘Good Housekeeping’s’ snitty assessment notwithstanding, I can see Tonya ‘getting over’ with middle America. Unlike the rest of the field, she doesn’t look like a world class athlete anymore and has a serious ‘mom bod’ going. In a strange way, the average viewer could find that a lot easier to relate to than athletes like Josh Gordon who is in the beastly shape required to play football on Sundays. For what it’s worth, Gordon was very strong and tied with Adam Rippon for the highest score of the opening week. Typically, NFL players have come in relying on their athleticism and learned to dance along the way. Gordon is a decent dancer right out of the gate and will only get better. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him as a co-favorite after next week’s show. NFL wide receivers and cornerbacks are already built like dancers and Gordon already moves like one.
Johnny Damon was eliminated in Week 1 due as much to a dance to the illy advised music choice of John Fogerty’s ‘Centerfield’. Coming out with a ‘gimmick performance’ related to your sport never bodes well (see Derek Fisher’s basketball laden debut in Season 25 of ‘DWTS’). Jamie Anderson was the other contestant sent packing and she wasn’t so much ‘bad’ as uninspiring. Anderson put up a 19 and was decent enough that she could have survived and improved in a longer format season but in the brutal format of Season 26 she didn’t have that chance.
Here are the current odds to win Season 26 of ‘Dancing With The Stars’ along with odds for Episode 2. You can check out a full field rundown explaining my rationale for the opening numbers I posted at the link below:
‘DANCING WITH THE STARS’ SEASON 26–HANDICAPPING THE FIELD
DANCING WITH THE STARS SEASON 26 BETTING ODDS
TO WIN DANCING WITH THE STARS SEASON 26
Mirai Nagasu: +250
Adam Rippon: +250
Josh Norman: +450
Chris Mazdzer: +600
Tonya Harding: +700
Jennie Finch: +700
Arike Ogunbowale: +1500
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: +2500
DANCING WITH THE STARS SEASON 26 WEEK 2 BETTING ODDS
WHO WILL BE ELIMINATED IN WEEK 2?
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: +100
Arike Ogunbowale: +500
Jennie Finch: +600
Tonya Harding: +750
Chris Mazdzer: +750
Josh Norman: +1500
Adam Rippon: +1500
Mirai Nagasu: +1500
No One Eliminated in Week 2: +5000
JUDGES’ HIGHEST SCORE
Mirai Nagasu: +250
Adam Rippon: +250
Josh Norman: +350
Chris Mazdzer: +600
Tonya Harding: +600
Jennie Finch: +750
Arike Ogunbowale: +2500
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: +3500
JUDGES’ LOWEST SCORE
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: -250
Arike Ogunbowale: +450
Jennie Finch: +700
Tonya Harding: +1500
Chris Mazdzer: +1500
Josh Norman: +2500
Adam Rippon: +2500
Mirai Nagasu: +2500
NUMBER OF ’10’ SCORES TO BE AWARDED IN WEEK 2
0: -2750
1-4: +450
5-9: +1000
10+: +5000
The scores of any guest judge will be disregarded for the purpose of grading this wager
NUMBER OF ‘9’ SCORES TO BE AWARDED IN WEEK 2
0: -300
1-4: +200
5-9: +650
10+: +2500
The scores of any guest judge will be disregarded for the purpose of grading this wager
OVERALL AVERAGE SCORE FOR WEEK 2 WILL BE?
Over 20.5: -130
Under 20.5: +110
The scores of any guest judge will be disregarded for the purpose of grading this wager. Week 1 average score was 21.
THE HIGHEST SCORE OF WEEK 2 WILL BE
Over 24.5: -150
Under 24.5: +130
The scores of any guest judge will be disregarded for the purpose of grading this wager. Week 1 high score was 24.
THE LOWEST SCORE OF WEEK 2 WILL BE
Over 17.5: -180
Under 17.5: +150
The scores of any guest judge will be disregarded for the purpose of grading this wager. Week 1 low score was 17.
TV RATINGS PROPOSITION ODDS
WEEK 2 KEY DEMO (18-49) RATINGS
Over 1.5: -130
Under 1.5: +110
WEEK 2 KEY DEMO (18-49) SHARE
5 or over: -170
Under 5: +150
WEEK 2 TOTAL VIEWERS
Over 8.75 million: -120
Under 8.75 million: +100
WEEK 2 NIELSEN RANKING (5/7/18 through 5/13/18)
Over 14.5: -125
Under 14.5: +105