‘Dancing with the Stars’ Season 25 Episode 8 Betting Odds

Written by Jim Murphy

–This is the 25th season for ABC’s reality show.

–NFL running back Rashad Jennings was the Season 24 winner.

–’Dancing With The Stars’ Episode 8 will air on October 30, 2017.

I made a big deal in the previous ‘DWTS’ write up griping about the arbitrary decisions and eliminations on the show. There was some return to normalcy this week as the “right” contestant got eliminated. Nick Lachey finally ‘did the job’ after turning in a downright miserable 26. This is actually worse than it sounds as its based on *four* judges scores including guest judge Shania Twain. Twain mercifully gave Nick a 7. Just counting the scores of the three ‘regular judges’ he would have dropped a 19 (two 6’s and a 7) which would have been the first sub 20 score since Week 3. Nick was the +150 top choice to be eliminated in Week 7.

The best way to go over what transpired is to run down the performances:

EPISODE SEVEN CONTESTANT REPORT CARD

VICTORIA ARLEN: Arlen’s dance wasn’t as bad as her score–she finished with a 31 with the aforementioned Shania Twain giving her a 7. Shania looks to have been excessively generous with some of the other contestants but cut Arlen no slack at all. Uh…Shania…what part of ‘can’t feel her legs’ don’t you understand? Arlen did a hockey player gimmick reppin’ the Anaheim Ducks. Well, sort of–it was more of a homage to the ‘Mighty Ducks’. Arlen ended up bottom three but there was nothing wrong at all with her performance.

NIKKI BELLA: 9’s across the board for the future Mrs. John Cena. Still not sure if she’s a serious contender but good job this week. Then again, if you throw out Shania’s score she’s stuck on 27 for the second straight week. Her average score (not counting guest judges) is 22.6 which puts her sixth among the eight remaining contestants. There’s a couple of contestants with higher average scores that look to be heading in the wrong direction while Nikki is showing at least incremental improvement.

JORDAN FISHER: Good showing by J-Fish which earned him a 39 (29 among the ‘regular’ judges). He didn’t have the best score on the episode (more about that in a moment) but didn’t do anything to hurt his longterm chances. Still one of the favorites to win.

NICK LACHEY: Brutal performance by ‘Slick Nick’. Cut a promo prior to his performance talking about how he has no confidence in his dancing. Maybe it was a plea for mercy but no one bit. His 26 overall was four points lower than the second lowest score and that’s including Shania’s very generous 7.

VANESSA LACHEY: 36 for the Lachey distaff with 9’s across the board. Highlight of the dance was Lachey losing her skirt–it’s being reported as a ‘wardrobe malfunction’ by the mainstream media but it very well might have been a ‘work’. The rest of her outfit is exactly what a dancer would wear if they *were* planning to lose their skirt mid-performance. My gripe about Lachey is that she just isn’t showing the same degree of improvement as some of the other contestants. Now that her husband is gone so is the ‘married couple competing’ angle.

FRANKIE MUNIZ: Frankie is still in the top half of the ‘average score’ table with a 23.4 giving him the fourth highest number. This week he was doing a psychedelic gimmick but finished with a 31 (23 from the ‘real’ judges). Lots of missteps and screwups. Frankie has been seriously inconsistent of late–a 24 two weeks ago, a 29 last week and what is essentially a 23 this week.

TERRELL OWENS: To paraphrase the great Kool Moe Dee my man T.O. has ‘gone to work‘. T.O finished with a 37 (27 from the regular judges–Shania gave him a 10) and continues to improve every week. Remember way back at the beginning of ‘DWTS’ when I was handicapping T.O’s chances? I said that if T.O. got focused and turned on the charisma he could win. Check out this line from the EW recap:

The judges are into Terrell, and Terrell is into dancing.

Better still, check out this bit from the TVLine recap (emphasis added):

MOST ENTERTAINING
Terrell Owens and pro Cheryl Burke (Jive/Spy Movie) — Terrell and Cheryl’s song choice alone — Portugal. The Man’s bouncy earworm “Feel It Still” — was enough to put their routine in the upper echelon of Monday’s performances. But their dancing, combined with a fun concept and fantastic sets, resulted in a jive that really could transport the viewers, as if those 90 seconds were actually a full-fledged spy flick. It was cheeky, it was light and it featured a season-best Terrell who proved he might just be a legitimate contender for the Mirrorball. Judges’ Score: 37/40

Somehow T.O. was the ‘last to be called safe’ with the third highest score. Don’t get me started.

DREW SCOTT: Not a good performance though Drew managed to escape with a 30 thanks to an inexplicable 9 from Shania. The 21 from the regular judges is more like it. We’ll go back to the aforementioned TVLine recap for this:

WORST OF THE NIGHT
Drew Scott and pro Emma Slater (Paso Doble/Action Movie) — Numerically speaking, Drew and Emma weren’t the weakest of the night; that honor went to Nick and Peta, who only scored a 26 out of 40. And yet, despite their scoring superiority (helped in large part by a random nine from guest judge Shania Twain), Drew and Emma’s awkward paso doble was the more cringe-inducing routine to watch. Drew was so painfully out-of-sync during that breakdown with the troupe — not just by a hair, but by an entire chunk of choreography. Add in Drew’s surplus of aggression, and his paso doble with Emma was the least impressive dance of the night. Judges’ Score: 30/40

LINDSEY STIRLING: She’s still my favorite to win the whole thing and pulled off her first perfect score of the year. She did it with style, even coaxing a 10 out of guest judge Shania Twain. Judge Bruno Tonioli called her performance ‘the best dance of the season so far’.

DANCING WITH THE STARS SEASON 25 BETTING ODDS

TO WIN DANCING WITH THE STARS SEASON 25

Lindsey Stirling: +200
Jordan Fisher: +250
Victoria Arlen: +450
Terrell Owens: +600
Nikki Bella: +600
Vanessa Lachey: +1250
Frankie Muniz: +1250
Drew Scott: +5000

TO WIN DANCING WITH THE STARS SEASON 25

Victoria Arlen/Jordan Fisher/Lindsey Sterling: -450
Any other contestant: +375

DANCING WITH THE STARS SEASON 25 EPISODE 8 BETTING ODDS

WHO WILL BE ELIMINATED IN EPISODE 8?

Drew Scott: +150
Frankie Muniz: +300
Terrell Owens: +450
Vanessa Lachey: +450
Nikki Bella: +700
Victoria Arlen: +1500
Lindsey Stirling: +5000
Jordan Fisher: +5000
No One Eliminated in Episode 8: +7500

WHO WILL BE ELIMINATED IN EPISODE 8?

Drew Scott/Terrell Owens/Vanessa Lachey: -210
Any other contestant: +180

JUDGES’ HIGHEST SCORE IN EPISODE 8

Jordan Fisher: +175
Lindsey Stirling: +175
Victoria Arlen: +450
Nikki Bella: +700
Terrell Owens: +700
Frankie Muniz: +2500
Vanessa Lachey: +2500
Drew Scott: +5000

JUDGES’ HIGHEST SCORE IN EPISODE 8

Jordan Fisher/Victoria Arlen/Lindsey Stirling: -350
Any other contestant: +300

JUDGES’ LOWEST SCORE IN EPISODE 8

Drew Scott: +125
Frankie Muniz: +300
Vanessa Lachey: +300
Terrell Owens: +700
Nikki Bella: +700
Victoria Arlen: +2500
Lindsey Stirling: +7500
Jordan Fisher: +7500

JUDGES’ LOWEST SCORE IN EPISODE 8

Drew Scott/Frankie Muniz/Vanessa Lachey: -350
Any other contestant: +300