Strictly Come Dancing Odds

You can agree with every mark on the Strictly leaderboard and still have no idea who the public will save. That gap between the judges' verdict and the audience at home is a large part of Strictly Come Dancing betting. Our entertainment betting section is where to look for the available Strictly odds, whether you have a series winner in mind or are following the next elimination.

The 2026 competition is the show's 24th series. Karen Carney and Carlos Gu remain the reigning champions after their 2025 win, with a new cast trying to follow them onto the Glitterball Trophy's roll of honour.

Winning the series, surviving this weekend and topping the judges' leaderboard are three different achievements. Before comparing prices, establish which question the market is asking. The range on offer can change during the series, and some selections may be suspended around performances or results.

Outright Winner

This follows the celebrity who eventually wins the series. You do not need them to lead every Saturday, collect the most tens or avoid every difficult week. You need them to be announced as the champion.

Before the opening show, much of the conversation is about reputations. You know somebody can sing, act or present live television, but you have not seen them attempt a foxtrot. Their first few dances can make those early expectations look rather generous.

Going in early does not promise you the biggest price. If the contestant struggles, their odds could lengthen; impressing the judges may send them the other way.

Next Elimination

Here you are backing the contestant named to leave in the specified elimination. That is not necessarily the person with the lowest judges' score, or even the one whose routine looked weakest to you.

A couple near the bottom can be rescued by their supporters. A respectable mid-table score can leave another pair exposed if viewers spend their votes elsewhere. Then the dance-off introduces a further performance for the judges to assess.

Look carefully at the week named on the slip. A withdrawal, a missed show and a normal elimination need not be treated identically under the betting rules. Check how those situations affect your selection before confirming it.

Group Betting

If you see a group market, open the selection to find out who is actually included. For a winner group, you need the eventual champion to be among those names. Everybody else in the group could leave earlier without preventing that outcome.

You are buying one selection covering several possibilities, rather than putting individual outright winners together in an accumulator. The price reflects that wider coverage. Read the names carefully, because anybody outside the group winning would leave the bet unsuccessful.

Scores and Other Strictly Specials

Some weeks may have specials concerning scores, finishing positions or other outcomes. The wording does the work here. A bet on the highest-scoring couple follows the judges' marks; a bet on who stays in follows a different result.

Do not assume every special will be available every week. If you cannot find a particular market, the current list is the guide to what can be backed.

First comes the ranking based on the judges' scores. Then there is another ranking from the audience vote. Combining the two determines the bottom two in a normal elimination week.

Suppose your favourite is halfway down Saturday's scoreboard. That is their position with the judges, not their position with the people voting at home. Plenty of those viewers may be backing them to stay despite the mistakes.

The bottom two normally perform again before the judges decide who stays. Getting into that position and being sent home are therefore separate hurdles. A contestant who has escaped once has not been promised another escape.

By the final, the decision belongs to the audience. The marks give viewers the judges' opinion, but do not determine the champion. You can see a wall of tens and still hear another couple announced as the winners.

To vote in 2026, viewers go online using a BBC account. A bet on a celebrity does not register a vote for them.

The 2026 cast includes EastEnders actress Lacey Turner, singer Delta Goodrem, television personality Dani Dyer and Emmerdale actor Lawrence Robb. Their existing audiences bring plenty of interest, but recognising a celebrity is only the start of assessing a series.

Turner dances with Vito Coppola, who won with Ellie Leach in 2023. Goodrem is partnered with Kai Widdrington. The professional matters to the partnership, although a previous success does not tell you how viewers will respond to a new couple.

For the current favourite, use the latest outright market rather than an old list of pre-series prices. A report published before Movie Week may tell you very little about the order now. The shortest price reflects the betting market's assessment, not a confirmed lead in the public vote.

Watch the next routine with the last set of comments in mind. Is the celebrity still losing timing, or have they dealt with the problem? Looking at the marks alone can miss the work behind an improving performance.

The dance matters too. A couple might look completely at ease in ballroom hold, then spend the following Saturday trying to get through a much less comfortable samba. One excellent week gives you something to consider, rather than an answer for the rest of the series.

Online enthusiasm is harder to measure. Scroll through a fan page and you may feel everybody wants the same winner. You have chosen somewhere those supporters gather, though, and comments do not count as votes.

For injuries or possible departures, wait for the show's confirmation. A rumour that somebody has missed training is not an announcement that they have withdrawn.

Karen Carney became champion alongside Carlos Gu in December 2025, following Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell's victory a year earlier. Ellie Leach's 2023 win now belongs in the recent history, rather than being described as the latest result.

The list includes actors, comedians, a wildlife presenter and a former footballer. There is no single profession that supplies the winner every year, so a contestant's day job is a fairly thin argument on its own.

BBC One and BBC iPlayer carry the show, usually with Saturday performances followed by Sunday's results programme. The start time can move, so have a look at the listings for that weekend.

If you are catching up, check where you are in the schedule. You could be watching last night's performance after the voting window has shut. Results markets can close before the Sunday broadcast, so the television schedule should not be treated as a promise that betting remains open.

Sign in and find Entertainment through our sports betting page. New customers need to register and complete the required account checks before betting. Open Strictly Come Dancing when markets are available, then choose the outcome you want to follow.

Selecting a price adds it to the slip, where you enter the stake. Read back the celebrity's name, the series or elimination specified and the odds before confirming. Review the potential return and keep within your planned spending limit, even if the next performance changes your opinion.

BBC Sports Personality of the Year is another competition where an audience has a say in the winner, although its shortlist and voting process are quite separate from Strictly. Use that event's own market details when comparing the contenders.

Our politics betting section covers a different set of public decisions, including elections and leadership markets. There, too, the exact outcome named on the slip matters more than a general impression of who is popular.