BBC Strictly Come Dancing 2024: Paul Merson dealt crushing blow hours before live show
EXCLUSIVE: On Saturday night, the Strictly Come Dancing celebrities will take to the dancefloor to compete in their first live show.
Strictly: Stars feature in pre-recorded opening to launch show
Strictly Come Dancing star Paul Merson has been dealt a crushing blow hours before the first live show. Last week, the celebrities took to the dancefloor for the first time with their professional dancer partners.
However, on Saturday night, the stars will be dancing for a place in the competition as they face the judges' feedback. Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly will be back to host the BBC show, while Moti Mabuse, Craig Revel Horwood, Anton du Beke, and Shirley Ballas return to their judges' seats.
And as the first elimination is approaching, the bookmakers have been sharing their thoughts and theories about who will be given the boot first - and it doesn't look good for Paul.
Chad Yeomans, spokesperson at Betway commented: “With the news on Saturday night’s show that Paul Merson’s first dance will be an American Smooth to the World Cup anthem Vindaloo, many punters think there will be nothing smooth about it whatsoever, and he is now the hot favourite at 6/4 to be packing his Strictly bags first."
Nick Knowles is close behind Paul with odds of 5/2 of being eliminated, while Punam Krishan and Wynne Evans come in third with joint odds of 13/2.
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Chris McCausland and Toyah Willcox both have odds of 10/1, while Tom Dean has odds of 12/1. At the other end of the scale, Shayne Ward and Tasha Ghouri seem to the the clear frontrunners with odds of 50/1.
When speaking to Tess and Claudia on the launch show, Paul explained he had only danced three times in his life - and that was at his weddings.
"I am going to have fun," he explained. "That is one thing I am going to make sure, of is to have fun. If I don't have fun, it is not worth doing."
Claudia went on to ask whether his colleague and ex-Strictly star Tony Adams gave him any advice, to which Paul joked: "Yeah, don't do it."
Paul and his dance partner Karen Hauer will take to the dancefloor on Saturday to dance the American Smooth.
Paul said he was "well pleased" to be teamed up with Karen as he joked: "I am well pleased you put the two oldest together."
Karen added: "I think we are going to have a lot of fun actually, I just want you to enjoy yourself and we want everyone to enjoy themselves as this is the greatest experience."
Strictly Come Dancing is available to watch on BBC iPlayer and will air on Saturday night.
