TBF to us bottlers there were a lot of reasons not to lay Leah.  In horse racing terms beating Cleo was a very good performance though we don't know by how far.  I was a bit surprised at how slow and unconvincingly we collectively responded to the vote begging.  I posted something like "its very close 1.01" yet didn't dive in.  In the past that would have been enough for a flip flop.

that was some drift %age wise after their little speeches tho.

squares 23 Jun 13 19:58 
and I guess a result like last night (and the likes of Bez, Leon, etc.,) will always suit those of us with a traditional bookmaking background/head such as myself, tim, JOT, etc.


Fair point. Bookies have to learn to `trust` the concept of value, and be able to ignore the short-term ups and downs.
I sometimes enjoy reading threads, usually on the Chit Chat and Football forums, declaring `There`s no such thing as value! A winner`s a winner!  For me, my perception of where the value lies is the one and only thing determining my plays.`
Far easier than trying to find winners. Find the value, and the winners will find you.

Matched on:

Leah     £128,500
Andrea     £9,000
Mike    £7,750
Matt    £3,100

60k even

Can someone in a nutshell give me an indication of what went on here?  I didn't watch any of it but did look at the betting and watched a few youtube clips of the finalists.  Wasn't Leah 1.2ish?  Be interested to know what the odds were and how they changed and also why Leah was so short? (apart from being the best singer and apparent production favourite).  Were there polls with her in a clear lead for instance?  Thought Bang Bang was an indulgent daft choice, but then again Andreas duet was quite lame too I thought.

When judges were doing a sort of summing up late on in the voting, it sounded like begging especially from JJ who had already lost Matt so just three left and I believe Leah drifted to almost 1/2 then as it really sounded like she wasn't getting the votes and they were pleading.

I have heard some talk on TV shows that Andrea is another poor winner and won because of her disability and that Leah should have won being the better singer yadda yadda yadda, but can anyone really say that Leah is a better singer?  Andrea has an excellent voice - not suited to all of the songs she sang, but still a clear distinctive vocal.  I'm not even convinced that Leah can sing - or at least can sing in tune for any length of time.  She was certainly all over the place on Saturday night.

Leah hit 1.12

After the first sound of songs, not much change. I think the market was waiting to see the duets, which many people felt decided last year`s winner. Mike`s was ok, but not great, after which his drift began, from low double figures out to, eventually, 25 or 30. Andrea`s duet was a disaster, but she didn`t drift so far, maybe 14? About  this time, Leah hit the 1.12. The third round song pretty much killed off Mike. As Andrea was finishing her song, her price was heading in to 5.5 or 6 
All accompanied by some of the most blatant pimping/begging I can recall in many RTV series.

All figures given above are very vague, but that`s roughly what happened.

And, yes, when singing the right songs, Andrea`s tone is beautiful. Not that car-crash of a duet, though. Presumably all part of the plot to get Leah over the line.