Fallon Sherrock beats Luke Littler on Netflix’s Beat Luke Littler, prompting debate over ‘amateur’ billing

Fallon Sherrock defeated Luke Littler on Netflix’s Beat Luke Littler on Friday night, sealing the win with a double-top and leaving the show’s host Gary Lineker to declare: “She walked in here a hairdresser from Milton Keynes – and walks out £501,000 richer!”

Sherrock’s victory arrived amid scrutiny about the contest’s claim to involve “20 amateur players.” Although the programme invited members of the public to apply, Sherrock has spent much of the past decade playing, practising, travelling and promoting darts and, despite having “may never have held a Professional Darts Corporation tour card,” remains a recognised figure after her run to the third round of the world championship at Alexandra Palace in late 2019.

The final also featured the 15‑year‑old prodigy Mitchell Lawrie, described in the broadcast as by common consent the best junior player in the world and “well capable of beating Littler over a longer format,” and both Lawrie and Sherrock had followed the show’s entry process, filling out forms and queuing to audition.

Criticism of Netflix concentrated on the show’s marketing and presentation, with commentators saying the promo shoots in a working men’s club intentionally evoked the image of a pub player and that the event was promoted as a golden rags‑to‑riches opportunity. “I don’t think she should have been selected to play,” the former world champion Mark Webster said, while also stressing Sherrock should not be blamed personally.

The piece examined what “pub player” actually signifies within darts, noting the category stretches from casual local‑league participants to elite professionals who still turn out for local teams when schedules permit, and suggested that in practice standards vary widely, with averages ranging “from 100 down to about four.”

The article placed the programme in the wider context of modern sport: decades of professionalism, investment and industrialised training methods have, it argued, widened the gap between top professionals and genuine amateurs, and darts itself has developed coaching systems, academies and a stratification of talent that complicates the premise of an amateur-vs-world‑champion contest.

PDC president Barry Hearn was quoted as questioning the format’s value: “Do you want just a series of 20 matches where someone can’t even throw a dart?” The piece concluded that the broadcast’s mixture of amateur ideals and professional reality left many viewers dissatisfied, while noting that the participants and the streaming service each had their own incentives for taking part and that commercial drivers play a role in such events.

Sherrock’s win has produced a “feverish and fraught discussion over what, exactly, we had just been watching,” and she is due to appear next month at her 13th world championship.