Big Brother Betting: Mario is out, Dale is in with a chance

Big Brother 11 / Mike Norman / 12 July 2008 / Leave a Comment

"Mystical" Mike Norman wasn't surprised to see Mario depart the house, nor is he surprised to see Dale's price come in. Here's the latest news from the house and in particular how the weekly task has shaken things up.

So super Mario wasn't so super after all! The self acclaimed Italian Stallion is the latest housemate to take the eviction walk after his legions of fans failed to muster enough support to keep him alive. Shame really, he was just starting to become likeable. But now the house is in danger of becoming a war zone now that the obsessive health and safety facilitator has gone - or perhaps he just seriously overreacted.

The first task of last week was the graffiti task in which housemates had to make stencils of what they thought the three new arrivals (Belinda, Maysoon and Sara) would look like naked. This is the second time that the group has had to observe other housemates for a task and I'm starting to get the feeling that, with a blind man in the house, the Big Brother taskmaster is taking the Michael somewhat (no pun intended).

Ironically Mikey was one half of the pairing that was deemed to be the winner, and even though he couldn't fight his way out off a paper bag the next day, it will be interesting to see if he can recapture some of the comedy gold that he expressed in the first week now that Mario isn't there to mollycoddle him. He can be backed at [13.5] to be the outright winner.

For the main shopping task - which housemates would later fail - the group had to learn a traditional Irish dance that consisted of a choreographer, ten dancers and four drummers. As always, debate and bickering pursued as they tried to decide who did what. In the end, it was Dale who got the job of choreographing the whole thing, while Belinda, Luke, Mario and Mikey got to beat their own drums whilst the rest of the housemates tried to do their best Michael Flatley impression.

Being the main culprit for failing a task would usually spell danger, but even though Dale's choreography made the dancers' feet more disorganised than a plate of spaghetti, the lad from Liverpool seems to have come out of it unscathed. He is the only member of the original entrants who has yet to receive a single nomination from his fellow housemates, and having given him a strong mention last week at odds of [34.0], his current odds of [14.0] still look appealing, with the knowledge that he also hasn't been sent to jail yet for discussing or trying to influence nominations. At [2.1] Dale looks a solid selection in the 'Top 4 Finish' market.

One of the more amusing tasks from last week was the one that meant everyone had to communicate via song for a full hour - as if Belinda needed any excuse to sing. Belinda now heads the market to be the '5th Evictee' at [2.06] which is probably about right based on the fact that she keeps people awake through either her dreadful singing or her annoying snoring. But what swung it for me in believing she will go was my theory that if people nominate her as BELINDA, BELINDA, BELINDA, then it will only take three people to give her the thumbs down and that's nine nominations she will receive!
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Rebecca is currently available at [6.2] to be the next evictee, but her blossoming relationship with Luke was without doubt the highlight of last week and should see her safe. Luke ([5.5] to win outright, [2.76] to be top male) was hilarious in his denial that he is attracted to Bex, and in fact it's her who fancies him. He had his fortnight of believing everything was a conspiracy, but if he just sticks to being himself and providing the sublime comedy within the house then he will go a long way to winning the show.

Elsewhere I still can't understand why Kathreya is the favourite to win outright and I would be a layer at this stage at odds of [2.86]. Rachel ([24.0]) and Lisa ([34.0]) had their usual quiet weeks that involved ruffling no feathers at all, while Darnell ([7.6]), Mohamed ([65]), Rex ([36]) and Stuart ([48]) need to start upping their game.