Wow, would you believe the odds makers in Las Vegas are already predicting who will the new Dancing With The Stars All Star Season? For now, Las Vegas Sports Betting has Helio Castroneves taking it all with Apolo Ohno, Emmitt Smith, and Shawn Johnson neck and neck behind him. I was shocked to see how low they placed Gilles Marini. In my opinion, he should be placed further at the top if not winning it. I would have placed Apolo higher than Helio. I don’t think Pamela Anderson is going to do this badly either. 😯
Helio Castroneves 9/2
Apolo Anton Ono 5/1
Emmitt Smith 6/1
Shawn Johnson 6/1
Drew Lachey 7/1
Joey Fatone 7/1
Kelly Monaco 15/2
Gilles Marini 10/1
Kirstie Alley 10/1
Melissa Rycroft 12/1
Bristol Palin 15/1
Kyle Massey/Sabrina Bryan/Carson Kressley 20/1
Pamela Anderson 25/1
Let’s get Miss Heidi and Court’s takes on this and be sure you let us know your thoughts too in the comment section.
Courtney: I honestly feel a little weird commenting on odds this early, since we don’t even know the partnerships yet – but alas, I guess I should get used to this season not feeling “normal” 😛 I agree with Vogue that I think they’re somewhat overestimating Helio – I think the two Olympians, Apolo & Shawn, are probably going to be the ones to beat (perhaps with a slight edge given to Shawn), with Gilles & Joey following close behind…then MAYBE Helio & Drew. I wish I disagreed with their odds for Pam, but I think she may really struggle with votes – she did on her own season, and I daresay she’s up against bigger fan favorites this time around. And like I’ve said before to folks around here that are freaking out about Bristol – I really think they’re giving Bristol too much credit. She’s not the “innocent girl next door” she tried to portray in season 11 anymore, she’s up against more popular contestants, and better dancers. If she thinks she’s just going to coast all the way to the finale like she did the first time around – she’s got another thing coming. As for the final all-star we’re voting on…hmmmm. I’m fairly certain Kyle is pretty much a lost cause, since he seems to be campaigning the LEAST out of the 3; I think Sabrina may be relying a bit too heavily on other people to promote her; and I think Carson is making the best effort to get himself cast. If we get Carson – I doubt he’ll be a stellar dancer, but I could see him outlasting at least Pam and Melissa, perhaps Bristol. If we get Sabrina – I still think she’ll be gone before the midpoint of the season. But I’m reluctant to say anything “in stone” until we hear the last all-star and the pairings announced – because I think that could change the odds quite a bit.
Heidi: Yeah, I think the pairings are going to be the deciding factor this time around. I think that a large part of both Helio’s and Apolo’s success was their partnership with Julianne – everyone thought both couples were so charming and “cute”. I think both men were good dancers, but they gained a lot of ground due to shippers and others who just liked them as couples. Julianne ain’t around this time, so this is where the real test begins. Both men were pretty heavily criticized in their early rounds and then once they kept going on, the judges started getting on board. Will they this time?? As for Gilles – are they under rating him?? I don’t know. I thought he was a pretty good dancer, but it will be interesting to see how he looks compared to the other guys. Yeah, his partnership with Cheryl was important, but will Cheryl be the Cheryl that William had or the Cheryl that originally had Gilles or Drew?? Speaking of Drew, I think Drew, Joey and Kelly are going to find out that this ain’t the same competition that it was when they were originally on it. The bar was raised when Julianne, Derek and Mark came on board and all the other pros stepped up. So I think they might have their work cut out for them. Another thing that will be key will be those people who get their original pro – the competition will either be weighted in their favor (Mark and Cheryl, in particular) or they could find even better pairs from the new couples. A lot of these people were great in their own seasons – but how will they look against people who were also very good in their seasons? We won’t know until we see them. Sabrina? She’s toast, so I agree there. She may be a good dancer, but there are a lot of good dancers – all with much larger fanbases. And if she doesn’t have Mark, as I suspect? Well, all those little shippers may find their impact minimized. If she snags Derek (doubtful) she might stand a chance because I think he will soften the hard lines. ANYWAY, that is my long winded way of saying that it’s much too soon to do the odds – the pairings will be the first critical hurdle, then it will be how well these pairs look opposite each other.