Jamie Borthwick may face an uphill battle in his bid to lift the Glitterball Trophy this year as new data has emerged regarding the popularity of BBC Strictly stars.
The EastEnders actor has already experienced the joy of emerging victorious on the Strictly dancefloor after he and Nancy Xu won last year’s Christmas special.
For the 2024 series, however, Borthwick, 30, has been paired with Michelle Tsiakkas, 29, for what is her debut season in a couple.
Both Strictly stars were overjoyed when they were unveiled as each other’s partners and bookmakers appear to think Borthwick stands a shot at going far in the competition.
According to Oddschecker, the actor is a joint fourth-favourite ahead of the first live show to win the series come Christmas time, narrowly behind JB Gill, Tasha Ghouri and Shayne Ward – he’s tied at 9/1 with Sam Quek.
But it’s Tsiakkas who may prove an obstacle to their chances at glory as new data compiled by Betfair Bingo suggests she’s struggled to strike a chord with BBC viewers at home.
BBC Strictly: Jamie Borthwick and Michelle Tsiakkas have been hard at work ahead of their first dance of the series
BBC
Betfair Bingo has generated a unique index score in order to rank the popularity of each of the pro dancers and, therefore, get a gauge of their appeal with viewers.
They analysed the number of Instagram followers, Google search volume, times in the final, number of 40 scores and number of show wins to come up with the overall index score.
Tsiakkas ranked second-lowest for Google search volume, with fellow pro Luba Mushtuk the only dancer who scored lower.
When it came to social media following, Tsiakkas had the fewest Instagram followers at 31,300 at the time of writing – over 30,000 fewer than the second-lowest dancer Carlos Gu’s 63,800.
BBC Strictly: Jamie Borthwick and Michelle Tsiakkas were paired together during Saturday’s launch show
BBC
Tsiakkas is also one of only four pro dancers competing this series not to have appeared in a final, with Mushtuk, Nadiya Bychkova and Neil Jones the only others who’ve been given a celeb partner this year.
Meanwhile, she’s also never scored a perfect score of 40 on the show along with just Dianne Buswell, Karen Hauer, Jones, Bychkova and Mushtuk.
Of course, it could be argued the final two factors in generating the index score aren’t the fairest given this is the first time Tsiakkas has actually competed as a pro on the show.
Nevertheless, the data compiled by Betfair Bingo could hint at a problem for Borthwick as he tries to win BBC viewers over.
Borthwick’s victory during last year’s Christmas special may stand him in good stead heading into the first live show of the series, but it’s a feature that hasn’t gone unnoticed by his Strictly co-stars.
During the launch show, Wynne Evans couldn’t resist a cheeky dig at the EastEnders star for his previous dancefloor experience, calling him a “cheat”.
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Elsewhere, Pete Wicks also delivered a savage joke at Borthwick’s expense before he’d even performed.
The TOWIE star, who has been paired with professional dancer Jowita Przystał, was quizzed by Claudia Winkleman about his hopes for the series.
Wicks told her: “I am in for a penny, in for a pound. I’m never going to be here again… unless I’m Jamie.”
The joke prompted raucous laughter from his co-stars while Borthwick smiled sheepishly.
Fans will have to tune into Saturday’s first live show of the series to see if Borthwick and Tsiakkas can prove the data wrong and emerge a popular pairing with viewers.