Adrian Lewis for many years it was one of the leading brands in the darts world. ‘Jackpot’ was world champion in 2011 and 2012 before returning to darts in 2025. Lewis took part in an exhibition tournament last week where he made a statement by throwing a nine. Or did he?
Michael van Gerwen was a guest on the “Darts Draait Door” podcast this week and heard that Lewis had cheated in an exhibition tournament by not throwing a real nine. In Lewis’ case, the score of 140 was “swapped” into 180 for fun and the audience. This made Van Gerwen burst out laughing. “Honestly: Lewis has been cheating his whole life,” said “Mighty Mike.” “There was no greater fraud than him. You should ask Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld the same thing. Lewis didn’t do anything but talk after you and stamp his feet. He went to great lengths to take you out of your game.”
Vincent van der Voortwho, like Lewis, loses his Tour Card and is eliminated from the PDC Tour at the end of 2025, a good friend of Van Gerwen, was also a guest on the podcast and he also remembers Lewis’ tricks very well. “Then he would walk past you and make a move. He either cheered separately or with exceptional enthusiasm,” recalls the Dutchman. – He always did it.
Adrian Lewis became world champion in 2011 and 2012
“Lewis also had really flat feet and real ‘elephant legs’ that he used,” adds Van Gerwen. “And then I feigned the innocence of the deceased, which… I told him that regularly, too.”
Van Gerwen also remembers Lewis sweating profusely, which became even more evident after their match when he received a wet kiss from his English opponent. “Or his dirty, sweaty head against you… I don’t like that dirty stuff anyway,” he concludes.
