The 35th season of Dancing with the Stars began Tuesday and continues tonight, Wednesday, September 14 (Premiere: Night Two), with host and Season 19 winner Alfonso Ribeiro and co-host Julian Hough returning (ABC, Disney+, 8 ET/7 CDT/8 PDT). The show airs on Tuesday nights.​

The popular Reality Competition show Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) was a nominee for the 2026 Outstanding Reality/Competition Series category held last night (Monday, September 14) at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Still, The Traitors captured the award for a third straight year.​

DWTS is filmed at the famous Television City Studios in Los Angeles with regular show judges Bruno Tonioli, Derek Hough, and Carrie Ann Inaba. Julianne and Derek Hough are siblings, and the professional dancers rose to prominence on this hit ABC Reality dance-off.​

In DWTS S34, wildlife conservationist Robert Irwin and pro partner Whitney Carson won the prestigious Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy. Irwin—son of nature conservationists Steve and Terri Irwin—hosts an afterparty (DWTS After Party) after Wednesday’s episode (ABC, 10:03).​

The 32 contestants and pro partners for this new DWTS season are Tatyana Ali + Jan Ravnik, Tyler Cameron + Sharma Burgess, Giada De Laurentiis + Alan Bersten, Ezra Frech + Daniella Karagach, Amber Glenn + Pasha Pashkov, Jenna Dewan + Val Chmerkovskiy, and Julia Stiles + Ezra Sosa.​

Also competing: Taylor Hanson + Britt Stewart, Maura Higgins + Mark Ballas, Conner Leavitt + Adele Zaikman, Ciara Miller + Brandon Armstrong, Sarah Jane Nader + Hailey Bills, Jackson Olson + Emma Slater, Guillermo Rodriguez + Witney Carson, Harry Shum Jr. + Jenna Johnson, and Connor Wood and Rylee Arnold.​

Jimmy Kimmel Live! sidekick Rodriguez and S34 champ Carson mark the first time in the show’s history that a pair of celebrities have been paired up in the ballroom.

Season 35 of Dancing with the Stars provides several interesting prediction markets, with Kalshi offering up the best menu of markets for the popular Reality TV Competition show.

As it did with the CBS hit Big Brother 28—which had $4.6 million in volume on September 8—Kalshi offers markets for DWTS S35 fans, including DWTS S35: Episodes 1 & 2 Eliminations, DWTS S35: Top 3 Finishers, DWTS S35: 2nd Place, and DWTS S35: 3rd Place.

In the Who Will Win Dancing with the Stars: Season 35? main market, Jenna Dewan (23%), Jackson Olson (20%), Harry Shum Jr. (17%), Olympic figure skater Amber Glenn (13%), Julia Stiles (12%), and Ezra French (9%) were the early favorites (September 14) heading into opening night.

Following were Connor Wood (5%), Summer House’s Ciara Miller (3%), Guillermo Rodriguez (3%), Tyler Cameron (3%), Maura Higgins (2%), Taylor Hanson (2%), Conner Leavitt (1%), Sara Jane Nader (1%), and no-chancers Tatyana Ali (<1%) and Giada De Laurentiis (<1%).

🚦Trading Thoughts: The three early favorites show how sophisticated the betting public has become, be it in Mentions markets, Reality TV, or Music markets. In most Futures markets, it’s best to start with a process of elimination and to cross off strikes that have no chance of really winning.

This is easy in most markets, and it is here. Glenn is an athlete and an Olympic figure skater (2026) from Plano, Texas, and has a great partner in Russian Pasha Pashkov, who has been with DWTS since 2018. Glenn is the 5th woman in Winter Olympic Games history to land a triple Axel.

The 45-year-old Dewan is also a professional dancer and started her career as a backup dancer for Janet Jackson, before also working on tours with Christina Aguilera, P!NK, and Missy Elliott, and should make it to the latter stages of the show, as should Grey’s Anatomy Shum, Jr., also a dancer.

💃Dancing With the Stars Season 35 Winner Picks: Amber Glenn, Yes, 13¢​

The 2026 College Football season is underway, but not without a couple of burps from prediction market powerhouses Kalshi and Polymarket. With sports the most popular category and the National Football League (NFL) now underway, things need to run smoothly.​

Especially with so many legal issues across the country and the looming possibility of a date in the U.S. Supreme Court, possibly in 2027, with the minutes in 2026 ticking away and the next docket—which starts on October 5—already loaded with several important items.​

For Kalshi—and for those using Kalshi numbers like Robinhood and Coinbase—the problem came in NCAAF Week 1 and the Western Michigan-Michigan game in Ann Arbor, where the Broncos looked to be knocking off the #19 Wolverines with a 12-7 lead and one play left.​

Michigan QB Blair Underwood lofted a desperation pass into the back of the end zone, only to see it fall incomplete as the clock showed 0:00. But the refs reviewed the play and saw that the WMU player who deflected the incomplete pass started his jump out of bounds with 0:01 left.​

So the Wolverines got one more play. And Underwood heaved a Hail Mary, and WR J.J. Buchanan leaped and snagged the 47-yard pass in the end zone, and Michigan pulled off a miracle win (13-12), avoiding an embarrassing start and a loss in The Big House to a Group of Six (G6) school in Week 1.

The problem for Kalshi came when it quickly and wrongly paid out WMU as the game-winner before the review and final, final play from scrimmage occurred. Oops. This affected both Michigan (Winner) and WMU (Loser) contracts, and the company asked for two days to figure the mess out.​

For Polymarket, the problem was a technical one and hopefully not a harbinger, with football just starting and Summer still having four days left to shine. While NCAA College Football games were underway, Polymarket suffered an almost 5-hour outage (1:45 pm EDT to 6:44 pm EDT).​

Trading on the Polymarket platform was disrupted in the thick of the action on Saturday, September 5 (Week 1), with the 5-hour Central Limit Order Book (CLOB) outage forcing the company to process refunds, issue bonuses, and refund losses on the impacted markets.​

Winning positions kept their profits, so it was a lose-lose-lose situation and another problem for Polymarket, which had to pay out the winner, pay out the losers, and probably lose some customers who didn’t like seeing an outage during the heart of the day they waited so long for.

The state of New Mexico never gets enough love. Now the Land of Enchantment finds itself in a similar position to the Gulf of Mexico, Canada, Greenland, Cuba, the Strait of Hormuz, and Lake Ontario, with a man who thinks he is king of the world chirping about changing its name.

Many U.S. states begin with “New,” as do many cities, but “Mexico” only appears in one, and our Commander in Chief doesn’t seem to like Mexico because of the illegal aliens from that country and who come through that country, and that seems like a legitimate concern for a Republican.

Polymarket features a new Trump Renames New Mexico New America by...? market. Traders can get down on (by) September 30 (2%, down from 9%), or (by) December 31 (7%, down from 28%), so the general sentiment is likely not, but maybe (?) because this guy’s crazy. Do we laugh?

This latest bit of naming-things silliness from Ego Maximus stemmed from an image the rotund 47th U.S. President posted, suggesting we rebrand New Mexico as “New America.” The same image was later reposted on the popular social media platforms Instagram and Twitter.

New Mexico was admitted to the U.S. as the 47th state on January 6, 1912—beating out Southwest desert neighbor Arizona by 39 days—and the name comes from Spanish explorers who called the territory “Nuevo México” before the USA was even born (1500s).

🌶️Trump Renames New Mexico New America by December 31? No, 94¢

On August 25, 2026, Major League Baseball’s (MLB) franchise the San Francisco Giants recently signed a multi-year partnership with the massive prediction market Kalshi, with the number of sports teams, leagues, and even players Kalshi is linking up with continuing to grow.

The team won’t be making the NL Playoffs this Autumn, after another disappointing season—the Giants (62-88) have gone 6 seasons now without a record better than .500 (2022: 81-81, 2023: 79-83, 2024: 80-82, 2025: 81-81) after winning the NL West with a stellar 107-55 mark in 2021.

As bad as San Francisco has been, the team’s social media department is also scuffling after an embarrassing tweet in support (and in promotion) of its new prediction market partners, Kalshi:

The tweet from @SFGiants suggested readers “download the Kalshi app to trade what’s next” and provided a link. While Twitter (X) users are used to promotions, marketing, and links, seeing a team promote a prediction market or a sportsbook on the platform doesn’t seem proper.

Many responded to the Giants tweet, and we will see whether the MLB team, or others, forget who they are and cross that fine line between journalism and public relations and promotion. The SF Twitter team should have known to leave the marketing and hype up to the fine folks at Kalshi.

Company execs often sell prediction markets like Kalshi as a great way to use the Designated Contract Maker (DCM) exchange, but the truth is most use them as a form of gambling or trading, whichever verb you use at the time.​

Modern, evolving prediction markets and sportsbooks differ in major ways, but they also share many similarities. Like the grocery store, which operates on slim margins, prediction markets and sportsbooks seek volume, since churn is the real profit driver.​

Louisiana State University (LSU) reportedly employed a proxy to make trades at Kalshi to hedge against potential millions in College Football Playoff (CFP) bonuses that the then-Ole Miss Head Coach would have had to be paid for each advancement in the exciting 12-team NCAA Division I Playoff.​

The work of a rich LSU booster? No. Game Point Capital is a specialty sports finance and insurance brokerage firm that provides insurance policies for both college and pro sports teams to help cover and insulate them against bigger financial payments to players and coaches triggered by goals.​

Kiffin left Ole Miss—who was playing in the 2025 CFP—for LSU and a 7-year, $91 million contract in controversial manner, so the university hiring Kiffin decided to use a third-party proxy to protect itself from potential big bonuses if LSU and Kiffin make and advance in the 2027 CFP.​

At least 5 trades were made, with a ‘Yes’ resolution triggering a payout to LSU to hedge against the university’s possible payout. The CFP, the Quarterfinals, the Semifinals, and the CFP Championship may have been four of the five markets the proxy used for LSU.​

This is actually great business. And smart. And also something we will see other amateur and pro teams emulate as we move into the future. #9 Ole Miss will host former coach Kiffin and #11 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi on Saturday, September 19 (ABC, 7:30 EDT).​

The new 2026 English Premier League is underway, and the lone fixture on the Friday schedule sees Pedro Neto and Chelsea (2-0-1, 6 points) colliding with Brentford (1-2-0, 6 points) at Gtech Community Stadium (Desso Grassmaster) in Brentford, England (USA, 3 EDT/2 CDT/12 PDT).​

At Polymarket in the Brentford FC vs. Chelsea FC EPL market, Cole Palmer and Chelsea (44%) are favored over Vitaly Janelt (2 goals). Kevin Schade (1 goal), Keane Lewis-Potter (1 goal, 1 assist), and the Bees of Brentford (33%) with a Draw trading at 26% on September 14.​

🚦Trading Thoughts: Looking at the last 5 meetings in this series, we find João Pedro (2 goals), Reece James, and Chelsea are 2-3-0 (W-D-L) vs Brentford (8 GF-5 GA), with the Blues and the Bees drawing the last 3 games at Brentford (2-2, 0-0, 2-2), all in EPL play (2024-2025).

CFC (11-7-6 lifetime vs BRENT) will be motivated in this West London Derby after losing to rivals and defending league champions Arsenal (2-1) in Matchweek 2 in another London Derby. With new GK Emiliano Martínez (AV) and that intent, the Blues should find a way to win this one.

Getting new and experienced guys like the 34-year-old Martínez, Morgan Rogers (AV), Maxence Lacroix (CRY), Danny Welbeck (35), and Jordan Henderson (36) for new manager Xabi Alonso at Stamford Bridge was a smart summer window. Still, it will take time for these vets to jell as a unit.

⚽2026 EPL Week 4 Picks: Brentford, No, 68¢, Over 2.5, Yes 65¢, Both Teams To Score, Yes, 66¢

The 2026 Bundesliga season already has more drama than last year, with defending powers Bayern Munich drawing 0-0 with newly promoted side Schalke in Matchweek 2 in Germany. Does this mean others have a chance to win the title? Of course not. But let’s pretend while we can.​

On Saturday, two clubs hoping to knock mighty Bayern off their throne, Borussia Dortmund (2-0-0, 6 points) and Josha Vagnoman (2 goals) and VfB Stuttgart (1-0-1, 3 points) meet at MHPArena (Grass) in Stuttgart, Germany in a Week 3 contest (12:30 ET/11:30 CT/9:30 PT).​

At Polymarket in the VfB Stuttgart – BV Borussia 09 Dortmund market, hosts VfB Stuttgart are 42% favorites, with visitors Borussia Dortmund at 34% and a Draw at 25%. At DraftKings, VfB were +120 chalks, BvB +170, and a Draw +255,, with the Total at 3.5u -120.

🚦Trading Thoughts: Taking a look at the last 5 meetings between these two German Bundesliga contenders, we find VfB Stuttgart with an impressive 3-1-1 vs Borussia Dortmund (11 GF-7 GA), with Die Roten (The Reds) losing the last meeting, 2-0 here at home last season on April 4, 2026.

In that match, Karim Adeyemi (90 '+4) and Julian Brandt (90 '+6) scored two very late goals to give Die Schwarzgelben (The Black and Yellow) the win and the 3 points. Adeyemi (BARCA) and Brandt (AJAX) are now gone, so players like Serhou Guirassy and Jobe Bellingham will have to step up.

⚽2026 Bundesliga Matchweek 3 Pick: VfB Stuttgart-Borussia Dortmund Draw, Yes 25¢

On Saturday night, the NASCAR Playoffs resume with the running of the 500-lap, 266.5-mile NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race from the Bristol Motor Speedway (Concrete) in Bristol, Tennessee (TV—USA, HBO Max, Radio—SiriusXM, PRN, 7:30 EDT/6:30 CDT/4:30 PDT).

In the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race, Fords had a great night, finishing in 4 of the top 5 spots in the race, but it was a Toyota and Christopher Bell who got the checkered flag at The Last Great Colosseum with Brad Keselowski (2nd) and Zane Smith (3rd) following Bell.

In the suddenly competitive NASCAR Cup Series Champion? At the sports prediction market Kalshi, Denny Hamlin (33%) still leads with Larson (21%), Bell (20%), and Ryan Blaney (8%) next.

🚦Trading Thoughts: The NASCAR Cup Series season is now in its 29th race, and it seems either Hamlin or Bell will be the new champion, or maybe Larson—now in second place after snapping a 51-race winless run at Gateway on September 13—shocks us all, repeats, and wins his third title.

Toyotas have dominated with 14 wins (Chevrolet 7, Ford 5), so riding the horsepower in the direction he is going seems easier than trying to cherry-pick a longshot with a sexy looking price, mon ami. Larson drives a Chevrolet.

The Chase will continue next weekend with the running of the NASCAR Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 (267-lap, 400.5-mile ) from Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas, on Sunday, September 27 (TV—USA, HBO Max, Radio—SiriusXM, MRN; 6 EDT/5 CDT/4 MDT/3 PDT).

🏁NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race Winner Picks: Denny Hamlin, Yes

While the Chicago Bears can still call Soldier Field (Bermuda Grass) home, let’s enjoy this majestic concrete spectacle on the banks of Lake Michigan as well as embracing Lake Michigan before it soon becomes named Lake Melania to appease the pampered Orange Pampers Octonagerian.​

On Sunday, QB Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears (1-0, 0-0 at Home) open their season against NFC North rivals Minnesota (1-0, 0-0 on the Road) in the Windy City (FOX, 1 ET/12 CT/10 PT).​

In Week 1, the Bears faced the Panthers in Charlotte and exploded for 59 points as D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai both rushed for 100 or more yards. The Vikings saw new QB Kyler Murray injured vs. the Packers in Minneapolis but rallied late to win by 17 behind a ferocious defense.​

In the Kalshi Minnesota Vikings vs. Chicago Bears home opener for Da Bears, Chicago (68%) is the choice of NFL traders, with the visiting Vikings (32%) the purple underdogs. At DraftKings, the Bears were favored by 3.5 points (Moneyline -192, MIN +160) with the Total at 45.5.​

🚦Trading Thoughts: The Bears were a pleasant surprise in 2025, with QB Williams maturing and RB DeAndre Swift seemingly picking up the key yardage every time Chicago needed to move the chains. In the last 10 vs. the Purple People Eaters, the hibernating Bears are a woeful 2-8.​

The Vikings are 68-59-2 lifetime vs. the Bears and have gone 9-3 this decade vs. Chicago, including a profitable 6-0 at Chicago. All six of the games at Soldier Field were relatively close (6-8-16-6-3-(OT)-3), but still, it’s shocking that the Bears can’t beat Minnesota at home lately.​

The Bears may also be a bit beat up heading in here, with RB Swift (Abdomen), WR Rome Odunze (Leg), and WR Luther Burden III (Groin) all nursing injuries, so guys like TE Colston Loveland and WR Kalif Raymond will have to help out their QB on Lake Shore Drive. Minnesota can win this one.​

🏈NFL Week 2 Sunday Pick: Vikings-Bears Over 45.5, Yes 57¢​

➠”In the next issue of The Prediction Report, we will look at the huge SEC matchup between #7 LSU and #8 Ole Miss in the Lane Kiffin Bowl on Saturday, Robinhood making more money on PMs than stocks, Kalshi to offer Oil perps, an autopen misbond, and deliver Madrid Derby, NCAAF MSU vs. #4 ND, and NFL SNF Chiefs vs. Colts and MNF Giants vs. Rams MNF previews.”

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