Strictly Come Dancing star suffers blow just hours before live show

Strictly Come Dancing will be back on screens tonight as 15 celebrities take to the dancefloor for the first live show of the series.

But just hours before stepping onto the ballroom dance floor, Good Morning Britain star Ross King has been dealt a cruel blow.

According to BOYLE sports bookmakers have placed the TV presenter at the very bottom of the leaderboard, giving him odds of just 80/1 to lift the Glitterball Trophy.

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The 62-year-old will make his ballroom debut this evening alongside his professional partner Jowita Przystał, but it already looks like it will be an uphill battle for him to win the public over.

At the other end of the table, actor Lewis Cope is the hot favourite to win at 7/4, while Ellie Goldstein follows closely behind at 7/2.

Meanwhile Amber Davies, who stepped in earlier this week to replace Dani Dyer after she got injured, has already shaken up the competition by storming into joint fourth place with 13/2 odds.

Ross previously shared a little insight into the “chemistry circle” that BBC bosses use to determine which celebrities get paired up with which professional dancers.

He explained: “So all the men get in a circle and all the female pros are on the outside. Then you do a little waltz and then they move on and you dance again. It's a little chemistry test. There's this whole chemistry as to who gets on with who.”

This season of Strictly has already seen its fair share of drama, even before contestants have had the chance to show off their sense of rhythm on the dance floor.

Dani Dyer was forced to withdraw from the competition this Tuesday (September 23) after fracturing her ankle during rehearsals. In a tearful statement, the mum-of-three admitted she was “heartbroken” to bow out so soon.

Her professional partner Nikita Kuzmin was equally gutted, but the BBC quickly announced that West End performer Amber Davies would step in to take Dani's place.

The Love Island star seems to be a real contender for the trophy, as she has already risen to joint fourth place on the betting leaderboard before the competition has even begun.

Although the public don't seem to be confident in Ross King's abilities to make it through to the Strictly finals, Pete Wicks has a very different perspective.

When quizzed on who he thinks will soar through to the end of the competition, he claimed that the person who is paired with Jowita has an “unfair advantage” because she is such a good dancer.

He said: “It’s unfair this year. One of them has got, and I don’t know who, an unfair advantage because they get to dance with Jowita. So if anyone makes it to the final, I would love it to be Vick [Vicky Pattison] and Jowita.”

Pete went on to poke fun at his own Strictly performance with the professional, sharing: “Genuinely, I always think Jowita’s got a chance at anything because she’s amazing, and if she can get me to a semi-final...Whoever she gets this year is an improvement on where she started last year, do you know what I mean? I am going to the first live show, because that’s always a pleasure.”

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