Phil Taylor praised Fallon Sherrock for ‘changing her life’ after she won £501,000 by beating world champion Luke Littler in a single leg of darts.

Littler, 19, defeated 14 amateurs on the live Netflix show, Beat Luke Littler, before losing to former World Championship star Sherrock.

Netflix said the event was giving ‘amateurs a chance at life-changing money’ and host Gary Lineker described Sherrock as a ’32 year-old hairdresser from Milton Keynes’.

While Sherrock does not hold a PDC Tour card, she is a household name in the world of darts after becoming the first female player to beat a male opponent at the World Championships.

Sherrock reached the last-32 of the tournament in 2019, was nicknamed ‘The Queen of the Palace’ and was awarded an MBE for her services to the sport in 2023.

A number of current players and fans questioned her involvement in the show but 16-time world champion Taylor defended Sherrock and said he was ‘dead proud’ of her bagging the £501,000 prize pot.

‘Fallon was brilliant and it’s changed the young girl’s life, which I’m really, really pleased about,’ Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor told talkSPORT.

‘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 and Fallon’s done really, really well there.

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‘I was at the pre-show and we could see out the window, it was raining, and the queues were massive, seriously, like a football match.

‘They stood there in the rain all day, and so did Fallon. She had to earn a place as well, and she did it. She came in and she hit the double. I’m dead proud.’

Two-time world champion Adrian Lewis added: ‘I think she’s done brilliantly, like Phil says.

‘I don’t know if Luke was starting to get a bit bored or what, I’m not sure what was going on. The first few [contenstants], you could tell they were really nervous.

‘They were very nervous and they just didn’t show up, unfortunately.’

Meanwhile, Sherrock said she was ‘happy to overcome all the hate’ after her preparations for the event had been ‘tough’ due to the ‘backlash and negative comments’.

She added: ‘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.

‘I’m just so happy to overcome all the hate and win. It’s insane, I can’t put into words what it means, especially having [her son] Rory here – it’s his first time at anything and he has seen me win.

‘It’s a great moment and I will memorise this forever. Give me an opportunity and I will take it every time. I’m really proud of myself, I rise to the occasion.’

Reacting to his defeat to Sherrock, Littler said: ‘Brilliant, that’s what one person had to do – win the bull and go out in 15 [darts] and that’s what she did, world class.’

As well as being a two-time world champion, Littler has won 12 other major titles – the third-most in history – and a total of 30 PDC trophies.