No surprise, the last to perform carried off the prize, as we had warned in our preview article. Once Janey Cutler had messed up her performance by missing her cue, and Spelbound had nailed their acrobatics, the result was never in doubt.
I reckon that they won by a large margin against surprise runners-up Twist and Pulse, who did very well considering they opened the show. As expected, Kieran Gaffney grabbed third.
When the running order was announced at the start of the show, the odds changed in a blink of an eye, with the last two to perform moving swiftly down in price. It happened in a split second and I was not quick enough to back either before their odds dropped.
Instead I satisfied myself by laying Paul Burling after an awful draw and a less than convincing routine. The judges’ overblown praise and audience reaction ensured his odds moved lower straight after his performance, allowing good possibilities to back against him on Betfair.
A similar thing happened after Moldova performed at number four in the recent Eurovision final. In the market for a Top 10 finish, their odds more than halved down to about 9-2.
Considering the group lucky to even qualify for the final, I laid them at that price, figuring the night was young, and there were plenty of better acts to come. Moldova could only manage 22nd place.
The lesson is, don’t be swayed by an early performance in these shows from a contestant you think will struggle to do well. Quite the opposite. If others are punting on them, offer to lay their bets.
Leave a Reply