Fallon Sherrock beat the current two-time world champion Luke Littler to win £501,000 at Netflix’s live darts event, Beat Luke Littler, in Manchester on Friday.
The 32-year-old became the first challenger to defeat the world number one in the contest. Before her win, 14 other players had tried and failed to beat him in the one-leg 501 format.
Sherrock won the bull-off to get the first throw and scored a 15-dart leg. She hit a maximum 180 before finishing on double 20 to take home the prize.
She finished the match from 43, leaving Littler with 142 points when she landed the winning dart.
The win, celebrated in front of a cheering crowd at Manchester Central, gave Sherrock the biggest prize of her career.
“Honestly I can’t put it into words how I feel, especially with Rory being here,” she said during an interview on stage with presenter Gary Lineker, referring to her son.
“It’s the first time he’s been to anything. It was lovely. Sorry, I’m just so lost for words right now. It was a great moment and I’ll memorise this forever,” she added.
Sherrock, known as the ‘Queen of the Palace’, gained fame at the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship, held in December 2019. She was the first woman to win a match at the tournament.
Some darts fans criticized her participation in Friday's event due to her experience in professional competitions. She won the first Women’s World Matchplay in 2022.
But Netflix’s rules allowed players who had never held a Professional Darts Corporation Tour card to compete.
Sherrock mentioned she received negative comments about her participation but insisted she met the competition’s rules.
“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,” she said.
PDC president Barry Hearn defended her right to play, explaining that she was eligible because she did not have a Tour card.
After the match, Littler congratulated Sherrock and called her performance “world class.”
“I’ve enjoyed every bit of it, the ad, the photo shoots, just everything leading up to this. It’s been good. Maybe Netflix, we can do it again next year,” he said.
Sherrock’s £501,000 prize is the second-largest in darts history, just behind the £1m awarded to the winner of the PDC World Darts Championship.
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