Netflix insists that Fallon Sherrock and other faces from the PDC circuit were made to queue up and audition alongside thousands of hopefuls before being selected for its new live show, Beat Luke Littler.
The programme has attracted a backlash from darts fans after it was initially billed as a chance for pub players to take on Littler over one leg of 501 in a bid to win £501,000 – only for a series of well-known players to be announced in the line-up last week.
The standout name is Sherrock, 32, the only woman to win a PDC World Darts Championship match and reach the third round at Alexandra Palace. The live show is due to air this Friday evening, in what is Netflix’s first entry into darts.
City AM has been told, however, that these “amateurs”, some already well-remunerated from playing competitive darts, still had to wait around in queues for heats in London and Manchester with the part-time players and other genuine amateurs who believed they had a shot, and attend subsequent audition interviews.
A Netflix spokesperson said: “The application and audition process for Beat Luke Littler was exactly the same for everyone and open only to people aged 12 and over who do not hold – and have never held – a PDC Tour Card.
“The final 24 that have been selected for the chance to face Luke this week, all queued up to compete in the heats in London or Manchester, respectively, and managed to complete a leg of 501 in 24 darts or less to prove their darting ability.”
Littler up against Nando’s manager and junior world champion on Netflix show
While the contenders include a Nando’s restaurant manager, a bin collector and former British Army captain, many are PDC-ranked players. Mitchell Lawrie, a 15-year-old Scot tipped to be the next Littler, is a reigning junior world champion, while Ashley Coleman is 34th in the PDC Challenge Tour order of merit.
Insiders argue that none of the contenders currently holds a PDC Tour card, thus making them amateurs. The selection also greatly increases the chances of someone winning the half-a-million-pound prize, given the prospects of someone off the street beating perhaps the greatest darts player in history.
Littler, 19, is already a back-to-back world champion whose meteoric rise has been credited with fuelling the popularity of darts and attracting institutional investment to the sport.