Callan Rydz has confirmed he was completely unaware the iconic Alexandra Palace wasp had settled on the back of his head.

During the opening stages of the second set in his fourth round match against Robert Owen, the wasp had descended onto Rydz’s head.

Rydz was in his throwing motion when the wasp, still perched on the back of the Geordie talent’s head, decided to fly away.

It seemed just about everyone but Rydz knew the wasp was on his head, as darts fans took to social media to point it out.

One user wrote on X: “Does Rydz know he’s got a wasp on his head?”

Another fan said: “How has Rydz not noticed the wasp chilling on his hair.”

One posted: “There’s actually a wasp on Rydz’s head and he doesn’t know.”

Rydz confirmed darts fans’ suspicions, as he exclusively revealed to talkSPORT after the match he was blissfully unaware of his encounter with the critter.

“No, I had no clue,” Rydz told talkSPORT.

“If I knew that, then I would probably have punched my head. But then I would have probably knocked myself out.

“I love that, it’s good craic. I’m just overwhelmed.”

Perhaps the insect had sneakily stung Rydz and gave him the power to come back from a two-set deficit, as the 26-year-old eliminated Owen to progress to the quarter finals of the World Darts Championship.

Getty

Rydz is into the quarter finals of the World Championship for a second time[/caption]

Rydz is not the first and is highly unlikely to be the last darts star to encounter the famous Ally Pally wasp.

At the 2024 World Championships, Scott Williams had to contend with the wasp as well as Australian star Damon Heta.

But instead of trying to swat the wasp away, the man nicknamed ‘Shaggy’ bizarrely tried to karate chop the bug.

The wasp made its appearance after Williams had taken a 2-1 lead in sets.

Just as he began to celebrate, the wasp descended down onto the oche and looked to cause mayhem.

However, Williams looked to show the bug who was boss by channelling his inner Mr. Miyagi and throwing some karate chops.

Getty

Williams avoided being stung, but the same could not be said for Ross Smith.

Also at last year’s World Championships, Smith had just beaten Niels Zonneveld 3-1 in their second round match and was giving his post-match interview when disaster struck.

When asked if he could be the tournament’s dark horse, Smith replied: “Yeah honestly, without a doubt, I believe…” before he was rudely interrupted.

“There’s the wasp!” he said. “He’s just done me, he’s just stung me like a good’un, little w*****!”

Perhaps the Ally Pally wasp was sticking up for a fellow animal after Smith landed the famous checkout of 170, also dubbed the big fish, against Zonneveld.