New Las Vegas Odds For Dancing With The Stars Week 9 Semi-Finals

The odds makers have placed their new bets for week 9 of Dancing With The Stars Season 20 at Sports Bovada. Note how Rumer is now leading the pack…..but, not by much. Take a look at the new odds and let us know in comments what you think.

Rumer Willis 2/3
Nastia Liukin 2/1
Riker Lynch 7/2
Noah Galloway 25/1

My thoughts: I think Nastia should be in first place. I am not feeling Rumer in the least as the best dancer in this competition. Plus, the more TPTB try to push her anc convince she is, the more I run the other way. In my opinion, Nastia is the best dancer with Riker secondly. I’d put Rumer in 3rd or 4th. I love Noah too and he can’t be counted out in the least.

Court and Heidi, what do you think?

Courtney: Oddsmakers and judges’ pimping aside – I still don’t see Rumer winning the whole damn thing.  Why? DEMOGRAPHICS. I’ve said it numerous times before, but I’ll relay my theory once more for good measure. Given that the main viewing demographic of DWTS is middle-aged women that tend more towards the conservative end of the spectrum, it’s no wonder that we’ve had so many Olympians and NFL players as champions – both could be considered symbols of national pride.  It also explains why vets like J.R. & Noah have such staying power, and why contestants like Bristol, Sadie, & Kellie were so popular.  So right off the bat – I see Nastia & Noah having a clear advantage in terms of demographic appeal, and I would not be at all surprised if those two were the last two standing (not sure it’s probable, given interference likely to be run by the judges, but it’s certainly POSSIBLE).  Riker seems to have nabbed the elusive youth vote, but relative to the middle-aged demographic, it’s hard telling just how much clout (if any) that demographic has – I’m guessing it’s not nearly enough to overcome the middle-aged women, which is why we’ve seen him in jeopardy numerous times.  So where does that leave Rumer? My gut says out in the snow – because I’m just having a hard time seeing a C-list (at best) actress who owes more of her fame to her parents’ names than her acting skills being able to steal enough votes away from a veteran, an Olympian, and a teen heartthrob in order to pull out a win.  It just doesn’t fit, demographically.  And who knows – if the goal all along was just to get Bruce & Demi’s presence in the ballroom by making sure Rumer stuck around, maybe the pimping will scale back, come finale time…because they reached their goal of making sure we saw the two A-listers week after week.  Or maybe the goal all along was to make Val “happen”, and the pimping will continue – but I daresay it will be an uphill battle for them against demographics, as they can only give Rumer so many perfect scores (be they deserved or undeserved) to keep her in the game, and she STILL has to get votes in order to win.  I will say this: if I can see the demographic writing on the wall as plain as day, so can TPTB – and maybe if they were so bound & determined to make sure Rumer/Val/Bruce & Demi/whoever won, they wouldn’t have included an Olympian and a Wounded Warrior in the cast up against them this season.  Juuuuussssst sayin’….

Heidi: While Courtney’s theory is extremely similar to my theory, the one huge problem I keep running into is named Derek Hough. Not just that much of the audience might not want him to win again, but that TPTB might not want him to win again – it’s bad form on a reality show for one man to win so consistently and it runs the risk of alienating a large (clearly not majority or he wouldn’t win so much) portion of the audience.  But what do you do when the guy is so clearly popular that you’ll move heaven and Broadway to get him on a season of DWTS?? Well, you get him on the show with *someone* that he can stick with a while, and pimp the crap out of Val to win – the odds of Derek winning are low. Cake and eating it too and all that. They get to have everything they want/need. Well, then Derek’s original partner drops out and their last hope is Nastia Liukin – an Olympian. Oy veh, what to do!! We must have D-man on the show but him winning is NOT helpful and we can’t exactly RIG the vote…so we must be our manipulative best and sway the hearts and minds of the audience so they vote Rumer. And that way, when Derek is so pissed off he walks away, Val will finally happen.  We know he’s going eventually, so…anyway, I would absolutely agree with the demographics that say that either Noah or Nastia are the most likely winners. But I fully expect a full court press to make sure that Rumer wins, regardless of the cost.  That means underscoring Nastia, and if that’s not possible, portray her in the worst possible light, while sunshine shines out of Val’s ass.  The only thing that could prevent this is if Val creates his own, much bigger drama. He certainly would’t be the first Chmerkovskiy to shoot himself in the ass.