Phil Taylor explains what actually shocked him about Luke Littler during Netflix show
Phil Taylor has explained how proud he is of Fallon Sherrock after she scooped the £501,000 prize for beating Luke Littler live on Netflix. But the 66-year-old also made an alarming observation about Littler.
Sherrock claimed the biggest jackpot of her career by taking out 43 - via the three and double 20 route - to triumph against the 19-year-old on Netflix's 'Beat Luke Littler' show. The world No. 1 had already beaten 13 of the possible 20 contenders he could face on the night before the 'Queen of the Palace' stopped him in his tracks to win a life-altering sum of money.
Speaking after the event, Sherrock confirmed she would 'probably' buy a house for herself and her son, Rory, and was praised by 16-time world champion Taylor, who hit back at those who criticised the 32-year-old for appearing on the show.
Phil Taylor praises Fallon Sherrock and makes alarming Luke Littler admission
'The Power' was one of the judges in the audition process that saw thousands queue for hours for a shot at the live show.
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"I enjoyed it. Some of the players were very nervous in the earlier rounds," Taylor told talkSPORT.
“Fallon was brilliant, and it's changed the young girl's life, which I'm really, really pleased about.
“All this doom and gloom every time you pick the newspapers up. Now, this young girl has a young son; she can buy herself a house, rent-free for the rest of her life, no mortgages, which is brilliant.
“I love winners anyway.”
But the 16-time world champion was also surprised that Littler didn't get better throughout the event after performing well below his usual relentless standards, citing that he and Adrian Lewis used to get "stronger" the more games they played.
"I'm being honest with you now, if anything, Luke should have gotten better. I would have got better on the fifth [match]," Taylor continued.
“If you're going to beat me or Ady [Adrian Lewis], you're going to have to do early doors because we get stronger. So Fallon's done really, really well there."
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Luke Littler is usually brilliant across long-format events
Littler is normally a maximum-hitting machine, stunning his opponents by nailing the treble 20. But on Friday, the teenager only landed one 180 en route to beating the first 12 challengers.
As the most prolific 180 hitter in the PDC, Taylor and thousands of others were surprised at how low his standards dropped on the Netflix live show when he's usually near-unstoppable across a longer format.
He previously strung together a 19-match winning streak specifically in matches going 20+ legs, a run that started during his UK Open campaign before eventually being snapped.
At the World Matchplay - one of the longest-format majors in the PDC - he set records for the highest winning average in a final (111.53 against Gerwyn Price) and most 180s hit across the tournament (66).
Unfortunately, he couldn't replicate his consistent ton-plus average and close to 50 per cent on the outer ring during the live Netflix show.
Topics: Darts, Luke Littler
Thomas Griffin