Blackpool champions curse – can Kelvin and Karim overcome it?

With Blackpool week in the bag, many of the Strictly Come Dancing celebrities will begin to have their eyes on the Glitter Ball – but history suggests avoiding victory at the seaside. OddsMonkey has looked back over every series that has seen an event filmed at Blackpool’s World Famous Tower Ball Room, not including the finals. And it shows that if you take victory in Blackpool, that does not bode well at all – indeed only one person has even won and then gone on to claim the Glitter Ball Trophy. The only champion to also win in Blackpool is Jill Halfpenny, who did that in 2004 in just Series 2 and few would have believed that nobody would do it it since. Now it means that history is not on the side of either Kelvin Fletcher or Karim Zeroual – who shared top spot in Blackpool this year. Indeed looking back over the last five years, the winner has gone on to finish second, but Kelvin and Karim will be looking to break that record.

Strictly Come Dancing	Blackpool Winners	Overall Finish	Series Winner	Blackpool Finish
Series 1	Claire Sweeney and John Byrnes	Finished 5th	Natasha Kaplinsky and Brendan Cole	Finished 3rd
Series 2	Jill Halfpenny and Darren Bennett	WINNERS	Jill Halfpenny and Darren Bennett	Finished 1st
Series 7	Ali Bastian and Brian Fortuna	Finished 3rd	Chris Hollins and Ola Jordan	Finished 3rd
Series 8	Matt Baker and Aliona Vilani	Finished 2nd	Kara Tointon and Artem Chigvintsev	Finished 3rd
Series 11	Nataltie Gumede and Artem Chigvintsev	Finished joint 2nd	Abbey Clancy and Aljaz Skorjanec	Finished 3rd
	Susanna Reid and Kevin Clifton	Finished joint 2nd
Series 12	Pixie Lott and Trent Whiddon	Finished 6th	Caroline Flack and Pasha Kovalev	Finished joint 3rd
	Simon Webbe and Kristina Rihanoff	Finished joint 2nd
Series 13	Georgia May Foote and Giovanni Pernice	Finished joint 2nd	Jay McGuiness and Aliona Vilani	Finished 4th
Series 14	Danny Mac and Oti Mabuse	Finished joint 2nd	Ore Oduba and Joanne Clifton	Finished joint 2nd
Series 15	Alexandra Burke and Gorka Marquez	Finished joint 2nd	Joe McFadden and Katya Jones	Finished 4th
Series 16	Ashley Roberts and Pasha Kovalev	Finished joint 2nd	Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton	Finished 5th
Series 17	Karim Zeroual and Amy Downden	?	?
	Kelvin Fletcher and Oti Mabuse	?	?

OddsMonkey spokesman Peter Watton commented: “Kevin and Karim are so far ahead according to the Bookmakers that nobody else in contention. “Our Blackpool findings show that things might not be all over, we have seen big shocks in Strictly Come Dancing before, but for somebody other than Kelvin and Karim to win, would be one of the biggest ever.” Strictly Come Dancing – Next Elimination Chris Ramsey – 11/10 Saffron Barker – 9/4 Emma Barton – 7/2 Alex Scott – 7/2 Karim Zeroual – 40/1 Kelvin Fletcher – 60/1 Strictly Come Dancing – Winner Kelvin Fletcher – 4/9 Karim Zeroual – 7/2 Emma Barton – 16/1 Alex Scott – 16/1 Saffron Barker – 20/1 Chris Ramsey – 33/1 *Odds correct at time of writing Spokesman Peter Watton is available for further comment or one-on-one interviews on this subject or anything connected with a betting market – for more information please contact [email protected]  You can also check out all our latest Press Releases  – which you are free to use