An Australian jockey and a pair of teenage brothers from Essex are among those in with a chance of taking on Luke Littler for a shot at winning £501,000.
Thousands of amateur darts players travelled to Manchester for the final round of auditions for the new Netflix show ‘Beat Luke Littler’.
Zac Spain, known as Zachariah the Electrifier, came from Melbourne and it was worth the air miles as he made it through a rigorous three-stage qualification process, which involved getting the seal of approval from 16-time world champion Phil Taylor.
He is now in contention for selection for the live show on October 30, which will be hosted by Gary Lineker, with producers deciding who makes the cut.
Twenty successful applicants will get the chance to take on Littler in a one-off leg of 501, with half a million pounds on the line.
Spain said: “I’ve travelled from Melbourne, so I got here at 5.40am this morning to make sure I was at the front of the queue.
“Being a professional jockey, I am used to pressure, and I think with my darting ability I can definitely win a leg against Luke. That’s all it takes.”
Alfie (14) and Lewis Cook (16) are also under consideration for selection after they both passed the auditions.
“It’s been a brilliant experience – my tummy is still doing front flips from all of it,” Alfie said.
“We don’t really care what everyone else thinks, we proved that we can be good enough and it’s just a leg. Everything can happen and I know we can do it.”
Thousands did not come through the progress, though, including Samriddh Jain, who came from Mumbai.
He failed, but at least had an afternoon at a League Two football match to fill his day.
“I flew here from Mumbai for this audition. I am not the best darts player, but my entire premise around doing this was to share my experience and bring some focus to the sport of darts across India.
“I thought I put up a pretty decent performance, unfortunately, I didn’t make it to the next round.
“At least I get to go and watch Salford City versus Swindon Town this afternoon before I leave Manchester.”
