Nathan Aspinall joked that teenage darts sensation Luke Littler is a ‘lightweight’ when it comes to boozing with the seasoned tour pros.
The 18-year-old has been catapulted into the biggest name in darts after making the World Championship final in 2024, before winning the whole thing in 2025.
‘The Nuke’ has captivated audiences with his ability to hit 180s at will, landing enormous checkouts, and being able to produce his best when the pressure is on.
He first came to everyone’s attention when he was just 16 and was thrust into life as a touring pro alongside many veterans of the sport.
There’s many nights spent away from home in hotels all around Europe and Aspinall gave talkSPORT an insight into how Littler has changed over the last year.
“He’s coming out of his shell a bit as well now with the boys,” he told Hawksbee and Jacobs.
“He used to play his darts and go back to his room and play on his PlayStation or whatever.
“He’s now actually coming down to the hotel bar and playing cards with us and stuff like that.
“He’s definitely grown up in the last 12 months. But I think he’s kind of had to really because of everything that’s been thrown at him.
“He’ll have a couple of [Strongbow] Dark Fruits. He’s a bit of a lightweight, but he’s only 18. He’ll have like four pints and that’s him done.”
Littlermania has boosted the popularity of darts around the world and in turn has meant more sponsorship opportunities and bigger prize money for all the players.
The PDC announced that the winner of the 2026 World Championship will take home £1million.
This is a 50 per cent increase from the £500,000 Littler took home for winning the tournament in January.
And according to Aspinall, there has been a buzz around the fellow players on the tour following the announcement.
He added: “It’s amazing. I think it’s dedicated to all the players that have worked hard over the last few years, putting on great nights for all the fans.
“Obviously Luke Littler has played a big part in promoting the game to a larger audience which has bought bigger sponsors.
“All the lads were buzzing about it as we were, because we had a pay rise.
“It’ll be amazing to be the first guy to win that million pound prize money.”
The Premier League is heading to Berlin for night nine and you can keep up to date with all the latest news, interviews and reaction on the talkSPORT Darts YouTube channel.
