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Just a few weeks out from one of bodybuilding’s biggest annual shows, the guests joining Dennis James on “The Menace Podcast” have cast their votes on who will place in the top 6 — and a clear favorite is emerging.

James, who has co*peted in an astonishing 11 Mr. Olympia contests was joined by Milos Sarcev, Chris Cormier, and British bodybuilder “The Big Dea” on Jan. 24, 2025 (Episode 216) as they covered a range of bodybuilding’s latest developments. Top of the list was the panels evolving picks for who will walk out of the Arnold Classic 2025 with the winner’s trophy, and a cool half-a-million dollars.

Here’s how the actual placings panned out last year:

Arnold Classic 2024 results

• 1) Hadi Choopan


• 2) Samson Dauda


• 3) Rafael Brandao


• 4) Jonathan Delerosa


• 5) James Hollingshead


• 6) Akim Williams

And these were the panel’s latest picks for this year:

Chris Cormier’s Arnold Classic 2025 picks

• 1) Derek Lunsford


• 2) Samson Dauda


• 3) Andrew Jacked


• 4) Shaun Clarida


• 5) Carlos Thomas Jr


• 6) Brandon Curry

Milos Sarcev’s Arnold Classic 2025 picks

• 1) Samson Dauda


• 2) Andrew Jacked


• 3) Derek Lunsford


• 4) Shaun Clarida


• 5) Brandon Curry


• 6) William Bonac

Big Dea’s Arnold 2025 picks

• 1) Samson Dauda


• 2) Andrew Jacked


• 3) Derek Lunsford


• 4) Carlos Thomas Jr


• 5) Shaun Clarida


• 6) Brandon Curry

Dennis James Arnold 2025 picks

• 1) Samson Dauda


• 2) Andrew Jacked


• 3) Derek Lunsford


• 4) Brandon Curry


• 5) Shaun Clarida


• 6) Carlos Thomas Jr or William Bonac

With three out of the four votes placing him first at the Arnold 2025, Samson Dauda has unsurprisingly emerged as the clear favorite. “Samson is co*ing off the Olympia, I think he’s on a role,” explains James of his choice. “I think he will do what Mr Olympia is supposed to do. co*e back and win.”

The guys also predicted big things for Andrew Jacked after a disappointing Olympia appearance last year, and a potential surprise from Brandon Curry who is looking huge right now, but James feared that there may be “too many cooks” in Derek Lunsford camp as of late, so it will be interesting to see which version of himself arrives in Columbus, Ohio.

To stream the full episode click here! 

The Arnold Classic 2025 is part of the Arnold Sports Festival that runs from Feb 27 to March 2, 2025. For tickets click here!