Who Will Win Strictly 2022?

By The Recs SCD - Steve Coats-Dennis 4 years ago

As Strictly reaches the quarterfinals, it is time for The Recs to peruse the odds and predict a winner.

Full disclosure: The Recs’ predictive power thus far on Strictly 2022 have been as helpful as Lady Susan Hussey at a Royal Reception. Nevertheless, here we are embarking on an act of complete folly as we try and predict the winner of Strictly 2022. But fear not, dear reader: we will attempt to guide our predictions to the current bookies’ odds (as of Friday 02 December, ahead of Musicals Week). 

All images by BBC/Guy Levy

Hamza

Hamza has been far and away the front runner for weeks now. Viewers have taken to his modest demeanour, his very natural partnership with Jowita and his ceiling-scraping lifts. 

The bookies put Hamza massively ahead of the pack with odds to 4/11. And Hamza has been much loved by the judges: their scores have putting him top of of the leaderboard in four weeks out of ten.

It’s his competition to lose…

…but it is possible. Both Craig and Anton criticised his footwork in last week’s Argentine Tango. And *whisper it* there is a feeling abroad that he has been a tad overmarked.

Tonight’s Musicals Week will be the tester. Given a samba, he will not be able to fall back on his extraordinarily impressive lifts. No lifts in a samba. 

We reckon that chances are that Hamza will win this year but he is not our winner! Gasp all you like – lifts aside, we have found his dances on occasion a bit…dull. 

 

Will

The other boy in the competition, Will started with a bang topping the leaderboard on the opening week. Then he has progressed through the competition without hitting those giddy heights again…until last week when his unconventional Charleston with Nancy won favour with the Judges.

Will’s odds have narrowed to 14/1 after that performance. Are you seeing a final flourish in the rush to the finish line. 

For The Recs, the answer is no, we are not. Will has both surprised us and rather disappointed us. We expected cheeky chappie charm and we got existential angst and a whiff of desperation. It’s only a Mirrorball. You could easily pick one up from Argos, no?

There’s something still a little awkward in Will’s dances. Is he overthinking it all? Just don’t buy their partnership. Little easy rapport. Can’t see a route for him to him win this. 

Fleur

And here is the wildest of the wild cards. 

We are going to state it right here: Fleur is the most exciting dancer this year. She has that va-va-voom of a pop dancer: all impact and immediacy. As such, she has been critiqued for putting power ahead of finessing. 

Her road to this point has had more highs and lows than a Mariah Carey concert. Fleur and Vito have topped the leaderboard twice (and recently too) but they have been in the dance off three times. For some reason, the public are just not voting for Fleur – and it’s frustrating because when she gets it right, she is mesmerising.

We remain undecided on her chances. Part of us thinks, even if she gets to the final (AS SHE SHOULD) why would the public vote for her now, when they haven’t already. But the other part of us reckons, Fleur has the WOW factor that could just cause an upset in the final when compared to duller dances. Who doesn’t want to see a Fleur and Vito showdance!!!

With odds of 40/1, we’d say that’s not a bad little flutter. 

Molly

On the subject of the D-word, Molly seems a truly lovely girl. But we constantly forget that she’s in the show. 

She certainly has performed some lovely dances but if you put a gun to The Recs’ head, we couldn’t recall them. None of it was memorable which is the kiss of death on Strictly. 

While Molly and Carlos did top the leaderboard in Week 2, they’ve been in the Bottom Two three times – indicative of the public not really buying into their pairing. 

Afraid we agree with the public. Time to go.

The bookies agree with as, putting Molly at 50/1

Kym

You know when we called Fleur the competition’s wild card.. Kym is like hold my Newton and Ridleys.

Whether because of a lack of confidence or because it was just another booking, the Corrie star felt as if she was just marking her dances in the early weeks. Competent but not felt. Very much a wet Wednesday matinee performance.

And then suddenly, in Halloween week of all weeks, Kym found her dance mojo. Perhaps hiding in a character, she found her drama.

A run of improving dances was brought to a shuddering halt with a positive Covid test. 

Despite the bookies putting Kym as the rank outsider at 80/1, we actually would not rule Kym out. 

Helen

There’s something gloriously just-get-on-with-it about Helen that Blue Peter’s Biddy Baxter would approve of. 

While she more than could have played the sympathy card about her vile ex, she just set about learning dances with dignity and talent. 

Topping the leaderboard once and never being in the Bottom Two, there is something quietly redemptive about Helen and Gorka’s partnership. 

The only thing that’s holding Helen back now is Helen. In hold she dances like a dream. In the solo parts, a rabbit in the headlights. It’s too easy to understand why her self-belief hasn’t quite been there. But we are keeping everything crossed tonight that in the iconic role as Sally Bowles, Helen embraces the show-woman and trusts in herself for the talent that we see in her. 

The bookies are seeing a late rush for Helen with her odds narrowing to 3/1 – the only contestant capable of pipping Hamza to the post.

Our ideal final would be Fleur, Helen, Hamza and Kym.

Our predicted final is Fleur, Helen, Hamza and Will. 

Who do you think? Please comment on our social media posts and let us know who you think will win and who you want to win. 

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