Having topped the polls every week, according to some sources, and with the biggest demographic of over-50s poised to rack up even more votes in the final, it is surprising that Chris Maloney is rated as the outsider of the three by the bookmakers.

On Betfair just now, Jahmene is at 2.3, James at 2.7 and Chris at 5.4. (For those who don't understand betting, that means a £10 bet would return £23 if Jahmene won, £27 if you backed James, and £54 for Chris).

I think Chris is nailed on to win this, and should be odds-on. These prices are massive value.

Chris wont win, anyone putting money on him to do so is throwing money away before christmas, not wise.

Believe me, Chris only just beat union j in the votes yesterday. the other two have fanbases 20x bigger than his, only this time they'll all be voting.

Source?

Doesn't have one - s/he is a well-known fantasist on here.

Already had £35 at 9/1 a few weeks ago, so I'm hoping he can oblige

You people are really naive. But by all means waste your money on bets and votes, don't encourage others to do the same though.

My source is my own knowledge and contacts. You will see next week the votes from each week, and you will see Chris JUST beat union j by less than 3%

impossible for him against the anti-vote, he attracts so much hate that only a fix can win it for him.

I reckon it's ok to have a fun bet for a bit of interest but I'd never ever lump on a show like XFactor... it's far too scripted and manipulated. It only takes a nasty bit of gossip/rumour to pop up in the gutter press this week to turn everything on its head....

You may be right, I don't know.
But there does appear to be a lot of money going on Chris, his odds have shortened again. James Arthur's odds are drifting, Jahmene remains solid. Perhaps some people have insider knowledge that you don't possess ?

You cannot vote now.

I am talking when voting is taking place you gather real knowledge.

Right now is just a bunch of people betting on a guy because they've heard he's topped the voting every week and is good odds, so they think he can win, let me put some money on.

How ?..have you got insider knowledge from someone connected to the show ?
If so, good luck..you should be able to make yourself a fortune.

No, within the betting industry. There are patterns that develop at certain times during voting. This weekend indicated that Chris and Union J were neck and neck in the last few hours.

Doubt that considering James has been B2 before

I don't think Chris will win though, I think he'll probably be final 2 with Jahmene and possible leading before 3rd place is revealed, however the big anti vote will mean Jahmene will win. Shame as it would be hilarious if Chris won

Ooo right that's it I'm putting money on Chris via betfair!
Come on Chrissy!! Win this thing!!

You quoted me saying ''this time they will all be voting'' And you still manage to completely confuse yourself.

He was in the bottom two so what, one bad week, since then his popularity has risen considerably, and now in the final a lot more will vote than they would any other time.

Olly Murs & JLS were in the bottom two and comfortably beat the 3rd place finisher.

You doubt his fanbase even though it's evident. On here he is people's favourite to win in each poll, on twitter he has the most followers, in phone ins, talk shows he is rated the highest with most people supporting him.

He doesn't have fans who vote but they could do in the final and even if 50% of them do, Christopher has no chance.

I agree. I think Jahmene and Chris will be the final two, with Jahmene winning. James is splitting the vote in that demographic at the moment, but his voters are more likely to transfer to Jahmene.

Your arse then.

If it makes you feel better. I know for sure, Chris will not win really i see people putting money based on irrelevant things i feel they're wasting it, i am just advising, but if they want to, by all means throw your money away. Soon as the final is over they release voting figures and you will understand he never had a chance.

i like having a bet on x factor it adds some fun ive been betting most weeks guessing who will be eliminated and ive done very well out of it, I liked Chris at auditions and put a bet on him to win :0 its going to be a strange final for me cause I like Jahmene but if Chris wins I win

Irresponsible to encourage gambling, especially when forcing your opinion which may or may not be correct

Not trying to be a pain... ( honest!) but Ashley was well ahead in most/all polls to win I'm a Celebrity.. She didn't. So it evidences that polls here and in several papers should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Chris odds shortened every week to go simply because if he was in the bottom 2 the chances are he would of gone. Charlie Brooks was odds on to go in IAC right up until the phone lines closed. David went and Charlie won. Im not saying he will win but you cant go by the betting odds all the time.They are wrong sometimes.

When has DS ever been a good representation of the general public? This is evident from the fact that Christopher is completely hated on here and has a little amount of fans, yet has survived every single week without being in the B2. You're blurting out loads of facts and making out that they're true, when really they're just a result of your guesswork. How on earth do you know that James has 20x the fanbase of Chris? From what we actually know- which is that Chris hasn't been in the B2 and James has- it seems unlikely that that's true.

Yeah but that stuff is hard to analyze, cos they vote everyday, there's been times Rydian was 1/6 and Leon 4/1 but Leon won and most polls had rydian.

These things can happen. I think Charlie was favourite then Ashley became favourite when it got to final two, 50/50 in my opinion.

Here you have a small fanbase right. But they're hardcore voters.

Chris say has 100k fans. Of that maybe 60-75% vote some more than once or multiple times, and every week he is not viewed as safe, so they are consistent.
Floating voters maybe some weeks feel sorry for him.

So every week he is consistently getting roughly the same amount of votes.
Earlier weeks there are more contestants to spread out other votes, and less people vote anyway, so it's not a shock if he did top the votes a few of these weeks.

But as contestants dwindle, and other contestants are not safe they begin to accumulate more votes consistently.

Jahmene is most likely topping votes last 2-3 weeks.

Now in the final, James who has the most fans by quite a margin, may receive a 250% boost in votes, as the only time a lot of his fans would vote would be the final, and then he is really the only one for young girls right now.
Jahmene would recieve a boost also of course.
Chris if anti x factor is really strong he could but reality is same people will be voting for him, they are consistent but they cannot double themselves.

James is a ? 'cos if his fans do just say it's better he doesn't win forget it, then he could finish 3rd, but if they bother to vote then he will win.

Jahmene will finish above Chris either way.

I get the logic behind betting on Chris, but it won't actually work out. Finals bring out 10x more votes than usual, and those 10x maybe 5% will be for Chris.

Doesn't take insider knowledge to follow odds, which only indicate what people think is going to happen, not what they actually actively vote to, a key example being Ella.

I understand (and mostly agree with) what you are saying, and totally agree that the voting will be different what with it being the final. Whoever is booted out as 3rd, if not J&J- I anticipate some of their voters will then vote for the other remaining J if they are anti CM'ers.

Is it on Sunday as well, like normal this week? As I'm out Saturday night and really don't want to miss it/not be able to vote (I'm not a hardcore voter, I'm a get a handful in on a Saturday night after a glass of wine and then moan on the Sunday that I've given Simon more money just so I can have pleasure of hopefully hearing CM for another week ) I keep meaning to check the TV guide but forget - I just remembered