The rise of teenage sensation Luke Littler has lifted darts to a level that has never been seen before.

He has taken the darting world by storm over the past 18 months and everyone is benefitting, with the prize money for the 2026 World Championship winner set to rise to a staggering £1m.

Darts was once viewed as a pub game largely played by middle-aged men, but Littler, 18, has ushered in a new era, with thousands of fans packing out venues every week to watch him play.

Littler lets his darts do most of the talking, but that is not the case for everyone. Some players have been caught up in some controversial incidents both on and off the oche over the years.

From sexting scandals to accusations of farting to put opponents off, darts has seen it all.

Now, Mail Sport reflects on some of the sport’s biggest hell-raisers, with multiple world champions making the list.

Van Barneveld’s hotel tryst

Raymond van Barneveld is a five-time world champion and one of the greatest players to ever pick up a set of darts.

But he caused a major stir away from the oche in March 2019 when he was spotted snogging a mystery woman in a hotel lobby while he was still married to his first wife, Silvia.

Hotel guests were left stunned as the Dutch icon did little to hide the romance from the public, just weeks after Silvia – who shares three children with Van Barneveld – had denied their marriage was on the rocks.

Their divorce was finalised that year, and it later transpired that the woman Van Barneveld had been kissing was British beauty Julia Evans, who is 18 years his junior.

Van Barneveld and Evans began officially dating in April 2019, and tied the knot in Cyprus in September 2023, just one year after he proposed to her in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Evans previously worked for TfL, but is now Van Barneveld’s assistant manager. 

Van Gerwen’s sexting scandal

Michael van Gerwen is widely recognised as an all-time great on the oche, but he made headlines for very different reasons in 2015.

Just eight months after tying the knot with childhood sweetheart Daphne, the Dutchman was caught up in a sexting scandal after inviting a fan to meet him at a hotel.

Van Gerwen reportedly spotted Stacey Owen from Bradford in the crowd at one of his matches, and they subsequently began sending messages to each other.

The three-time world champion later admitted to texting Owen as he issued a public apology to his wife.

‘I deeply regret my decision to exchange messages with Stacey Owen and my decision to meet her whilst I was already in the UK to play in the Premier League.

‘I wish to make clear that there has never been any physical relationship between Ms Owen and myself.

‘My primary concern is for my family and my wife Daphne, who I apologise to unreservedly. My hope is that people will now allow me to move forward and focus on my performances on the oche.’

Van Gerwen and Daphne share two children, and they remain together to this day.

Disgraced Hankey’s dance with the devil

Ted Hankey won the BDO World Darts Championship twice in 2000 and 2009, and he went viral during a match with John Walton when he was caught on camera talking to himself about which double he was going to leave himself to secure victory.

After taking a step back to compose himself, Hankey asked: ‘Do I fancy double 12 or double 8? Who’s in charge: me or the devil? I think I’m in charge. Double 8 and shake his hand.’

After missing his first dart at double 8, Hankey urged himself on by saying: ‘Come on you ****!’ 

He then missed his next dart at the same double, and reacted furiously.

It was a bizarre moment from one of the sport’s biggest stars who continued playing until 2016.

Five years later, Hankey pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a girl who was older than 16 but younger than 18 at the time of the offence.

He was sentenced to two years in jail in May 2022, while also being placed on the sex offender registry for 10 years.

Mail Sport exclusively revealed in February that he was released from jail early in 2023.  

Bristow’s football sex abuse comments shame

Characters don’t come much bigger than ‘The Crafty Cockney’ Eric Bristow.

The five-time world champion dominated the sport in the 1980s, doing so while often sipping a pint and puffing on a cigarette.

After retiring he moved into punditry, but that all came crashing down in 2016 when he suggested on Twitter that football abuse victims were ‘not proper men’.

He went on to ask why victims didn’t ‘sort out’ their abusers ‘when they got older and fitter’.

Bristow subsequently deleted his posts, but it was too little, too late for Sky who confirmed they would not be working with him again.

Bristow passed away at the age of 60 in 2018 after suffering a heart attack while attending a Premier League Darts event in Liverpool. 

Wade has a lick of Luke

Has there been a better left-handed player than James Wade?

He may not have a world title to his name yet, but Wade has been at the business end of major tournaments for two decades.

But he has also been involved in the odd bizarre moment on stage, including earlier this year.

After beating world No 1 Luke Humphries 10-9 in the quarter-finals of the UK Open, Wade appeared to lick his opponent’s neck as they went to hug each other.

Humphries did not make much of the incident, but did vent his frustration at Wade’s general behaviour on stage after the loss before later deleting his X posts.

Humphries wrote: ‘Everyone loves to see people be a bad loser but I’m generally one of the best losers in the sport,’ he wrote.

‘I wasn’t going to give someone, who didn’t deserve my respect after what he was doing through the game, a hug and be all happy about it that’s just my honesty.’

Anderson’s furious fart denial

Darts is essentially about outscoring your opponent and then holding your nerve on the doubles, but gamesmanship is a real part of the sport.

Players have been known to deliberately slow down, stand too close to their opponent or even talk during their throw just to gain a psychological edge. But what about farting? 

Back in 2018, two-time world champion Gary Anderson found himself in the middle of a farting storm after being accused of breaking wind by his Dutch rival Wesley Harms during their match.

Anderson only learned of Harms’ allegation in his post-match interview, which led to him giving a memorable response.

‘You can put your finger up my a***, there will be no smell there!’ Anderson replied. ‘I thought he had s***, and I went “that’s dirty”.’

He added: ‘It definitely came from table-side and it was eggs, rotten eggs, but not from me. Every time I walked past there was a waft of rotten eggs so that’s why I was thinking it was him.

‘If the boy thinks I’ve farted he’s 100 per cent wrong. I swear on my children’s lives that it was not my fault.’

That’s you told, Wesley. 

Price blocks out the noise

Welsh star Gerwyn Price has embraced his role as the pantomime villain since bursting onto the scene, enjoying every chance to wind up the crowd with his elaborate celebrations.

But ‘The Iceman’ has not always been able to keep his cool on stage.

Back in the 2022/23 World Championship, Price started poorly in his match with Germany’s Gabriel Clemens and responded by returning to the stage from a mid-match break while wearing ear defenders to block out the noise of the crowd.

The unusual strategy failed to pay dividends as the 2021 world champion still went on to lose to Clemens to exit the tournament.

It proved to be a one-off as the PDC subsequently banned ear defenders, although ear plugs are still permitted. 

The updated rules state: ‘Players are not permitted to wear earphones, headphones or headphone-type ear defenders during the throw at the bull prior to the match or during matchplay.’

Taylor threatens to quit over handshake bust-up

Littler still has some way to go to match the achievements of the greatest darts player of all time, Phil Taylor.

But Taylor threatened to quit the sport in 2006 after a furious row with rival Chris Mason during the World Championship.

Taylor won their third round clash 4-0, but tempers flared and words were exchanged when they went to shake hands after Mason had accused his fellow Englishman of being arrogant and materialistic prior to their match.

Explaining the spat, Taylor said: ‘I shook his hand and went to go and he said “Don’t effing something else”. I don’t like it and I won’t put up with it.’

Asked how he was planning to respond, Taylor replied: “I’ll just walk away. Keep the game – I don’t want it. I’m not going to listen to filth when I’m trying my hardest.

‘I’ve put 18 years of my life into this game and I won’t be talked to like a piece of dirt. I won’t put up with it.

‘You can get someone else to take my place, because I’m not putting up with it any more off people like him.’

Despite threatening to leave behind the sport he had dominated for over a decade, Taylor eventually opted to play on and won another three world titles to finish his career with a grand total of 16 to his name.

Cough-gate hits Ally Pally

Just months before Gary Anderson denied farting to put his opponent off, Justin Pipe was forced to hit back at accusations that he deliberately coughed when his rival was throwing for victory.

Pipe was playing New Zealand’s Bernie Smith at the 2017 World Championship and looked set to crash out as the qualifier stepped up to hit the match-winning double.

As Smith went to aim for double 10, Pipe appeared to have a coughing fit, and his actions were picked up by the Sky Sports commentary team.

After Smith missed the intended target, one commentator blasted Pipe as they said: ‘He cheated. Simple. He coughed in the hope Smith would miss.’

Pipe was subsequently asked about the incident, but insisted he had done nothing wrong.

‘I would never do something to put another player off and Bernie didn’t say anything to me on the night,’ Pipe claimed. ‘As far as I’m aware there is no issue from his side and this has been blown out of proportion.’

Pipe’s comeback win over Smith set up a second round clash with Phil Taylor. Pipe was knocked out by ‘The Power’ without winning a single set. 

Match-fixer given eight-year ban

Indian darts star Prakash Jiwa made his World Championship debut at the age of 52 in 2022. Less than a year later he was suspended by the Darts Regulation Authority while they conducted an investigation into suspicious betting patterns for some of the matches he was involved in at a Modus Super Series event in 2023.

Fellow players Jack Main and Andy Jenkins were also suspended during the investigation process.

Last month, Jiwa was found guilty of fixing four matches and betting on others as he was handed an eight-year ban from darts.

The ban was backdated to when his initial suspension began, meaning he will not be allowed to play again until November 6, 2031.

Main was hit with a two-year ban, while Jenkins is still being investigated for any potential wrongdoing.