Luke Littler beat, among others, an Australian jockey, a trash collector and a restaurant manager.
He couldn't beat the "Queen of the Palace."
A one-off Netflix broadcast called “Beat Luke Littler” offered a prize of 501,000 pounds (around $670,000) to anyone deemed a darts amateur who could defeat the 19-year-old prodigy over a single leg.
Littler, the defending world champion, needed to see off 20 opponents and had already dispatched 14 of them when
he met Fallon Sherrock, who shot to fame in late 2019 when she became the first woman to beat a man at darts’ flagship world championship (in fact, she beat two men) at Alexandra Palace.
Sherrock got closer to the bullseye than Littler to earn the first shot, before a maximum 180 helped to leave her on 43 while Littler was stranded on 142. A double-20 checkout saw Sherrock claim the jackpot — the second biggest prize won in the sport’s history, only behind the winner's check of 1 million pounds ($1.33 million) at the world championship.
“It’s like an opportunity to show off the women’s stars and I feel like I’ve kind of taken the opportunity again,” she said, referring to her 2019 exploits that earned her the “Queen of the Palace” moniker and saw her get congratulatory messages from people like Sarah Jessica Parker and Billie Jean King.
“I’ve just beaten the best in the world, and I can’t say that very often."
Sherrock was allowed to compete because she is not a member of the top-tier PDC Tour so was classed as an amateur, which drew some criticism on social media.
Sherrock said she was “just so happy to overcome all the hate.”
“I mean it’s been tough,” she told Britain's Press Association. “Because obviously I do see the backlash and I do see all the negative comments.
“But at the end of the day, I fit the criteria for this. I’ve never had a tour card, and I wouldn’t class myself as a pro really, because all I do is just play darts for the enjoyment of it."
Littler played each one-leg match every 10 minutes in the event that was staged in Manchester late Friday.
Irish student Pearse Mackie, who was the eighth contestant to face Littler, was the first to have a dart for victory, but he missed bullseye.
Mark Pooke, who played Phil Taylor — widely regarded as the greatest darts player ever — in a professional match almost 20 years ago, also had darts to win in the ninth leg, but could not take out 138.
Littler said he was keen to do it all again.
“I’ve enjoyed every bit of it," he said. “The advert, the photo shoots, everything.”
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