By the end of Saturday, a late splurge of betting had made Jodie Whittaker the joint favourite – along with Kris Marshall – to be the new Doctor Who. She was, of course, announced as Peter Capaldi’s replacement on Sunday afternoon.
However, Oddschecker has revealed that come Friday evening, Whittaker wasn’t even in the top 100 most backed candidates to land the role. It’s almost as if some insider information started circling come Saturday morning.
As the weekend wore on though, money was pouring onto Whittaker taking the role, to the point where twice as much cash was put on her landing the Who role as was placed on Roger Federer winning the men’s singles at Wimbledon (in what turned out to be a very one-sided final).
Oddchecker has also revealed it didn’t even have odds on its site for Whittaker until ten days ago, when she was added at 14/1. She attracted 33.7% of Doctor Who bets over the weekend.
Whittaker takes over the TARDIS at the end of this year’s festive special, on Christmas day. Apparently, the biggest payout to a punter who backed her for Who amounts to just £210!