I'm a Celebrity / Feizal Rahman / 05 December 2008 / Leave a comment

With the elimination of David Van Day, Joe Swash has lost his last real opponent and will win the latest series of IACGMOOH, says Feizal Rahman.

After 20 days, 18 Bushtucker Trials and nine eliminations, we are down to our final three celebrities. In another seemingly indiscriminate vote last night, David Van Day - arguably the star of the show - failed to earn enough public backing to make it to the grand finale and the 'snake in the grass' duly slithered his way out of the bush.

It's been hard to gauge just what motivates viewers to lend their support to specific celebrities at certain times. Do they back their celebrity from start to finish or merely judge them on a day-by-day basis? The latter seems to have applied to Van Day as he was clearly winning the public over during his conflict with Nicola yet found himself once again isolated up against the three camp stalwarts - Joe Swash, George Takei and Martina Navratilova.

Upon exit, he proclaimed he was there to entertain and entertain he most definitely did. Perhaps the least well known of the lot, David had nothing to lose in behaving as he did and, conversely, everything to gain. While others such as Simon (finally eliminated a week too late on Wednesday night), Nicola and Dani were clearly there to revive their flagging stardom, Van Day was in a no-lose situation, Either he flopped and faded back into obscurity or he stamped a lasting impression on us all and re-ignited a long burned out career.

So after his show-stealing performance, it makes you wonder exactly where the one-time chart topper has been for the best part of 30 years? One can now assume, however, that this is not the last we will see of DVD and the recording studio is no doubt already being rigged up for his comeback single, 'Biff Baff Boff'. Then, in partnership with Timmy, the pair will be the toast of university campuses nationwide, for a good few months at least.

While the daily eliminations have been far from predictable, once again the Betfair winner market has proved to be the most accurate indicator of who will make it to the end in such contests. Joe has been the favourite from day one and by a few days in, it was clear that the market had settled on its probable winner. Only David threatened to provide for an upset with his late surge but with that danger now nullified, it's looking a formality for the crafty cockney at [1.25] to be crowned 'King of the Jungle'.

While David stole the limelight, as most 'villains' tend to, Joe has focused on playing the game to perfection. Involved with everyone and everything, the flame-haired soap star also found extra airtime by participating in more Bushtucker trials than anyone else. And bar the fleeting loss of temper, Joe maintained his cheeky chappie appeal and proved himself to be a real diamond geezer.

Enamoured the most by the Eastender is the 71-year-old American TV star, George. The two have struck up a friendship that would warm even the most frozen of hearts though, from a very cynical viewpoint, it could be the best career move Joe ever made. George has done little else during his time in the jungle except be a thoroughly charming and exceptional gentleman. Despite this, the baritone actor has been in the bottom two in the vote for the past four nights and he's the [1.6] favourite to be the 10th out and an unappealing [11.0] to pull off a real piece of science fiction and win.

Showing her true Grand Slam winning grit and determination is Martina, who was a slow burner at first but, like a true champion, kicked on when needed to assure herself of a place in the final.

Yet, although still fighting fit at 52, it's hard to see this truly great woman rack up another title to add to her collection at [8.4]. It's not unusual for 'Winner without' markets to be the kiss of death for a strong odds-on favourite but punters should be confident that this is not one of those occasions. Martina is [1.69] to win with Joe not taken into account, while George is [2.3]. Though whoever emerges victorious tonight, it's hard not to feel that the real winner of the show has already said his goodbyes.