‘Imposter syndrome’ – Darts’ new voice had sleepless nights after ‘awful’ mistake

Lewis Jones has candidly opened up on his ‘pretty tough’ start as the PDC’s new Master of Ceremonies.

The new ‘Voice of Darts’ replaced the legendary John McDonald after the 2026 PDC World Darts Championship.

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McDonald had been in the role for 18 years, having taken over announcement duties in 2007.

However, his retirement at the start of the year saw Jones step up to replace the PDC Hall of Fame member.

‘Awful’ start

Jones made his debut as the organisation’s full-time MC at the Bahrain Darts Masters in January, but immediately came under fire from fans.

An ‘awful’ mistake saw him refer to Gian van Veen as a PDC World Darts Championship semi-finalist instead of finalist during his introduction.

The subsequent reaction from darts fans on social media proved difficult to process for Jones.

Reflecting on the incident, he said: “It was just awful. I don’t know why, just the name of the tournament got muddled up in my head and I started looking around the stage for it and I couldn’t see it.

“It was just the most, honestly, I felt like the world would fall out my head, that was pretty tough.

“A couple of people said to me, ‘You’re going to make mistakes and it’s going to be tough, you’re going to get criticised for it’.

“So I knew that, but you still don’t want to make them.”

Prior to succeeding McDonald permanently, Jones had already worked for the PDC as an MC alongside the iconic voice of the sport.

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He believes his time as McDonald’s understudy made the transition to full-time MC easier to overcome.

Jones added: “I don’t think I would’ve been able to do it without the way John was, in terms of the speed which it happened.

“Originally I came in to start a back-up role, it was to give John more flexibility, to look after John.

“Then John retired probably a lot quicker than I think maybe people were expecting, certainly quicker than what I was expecting.”

‘Sleepless’ nights

Jones has since provided the player introductions at events including the Premier League and this month’s World Matchplay.

He will once again be on announcing duties for Sunday’s final at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool between Luke Littler and Gerwyn Price.

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Discussing the experience so far, Jones admitted: “It’s been amazing. Of course, it’s been tough at times.

“There have been days and nights where I’ve not been able to sleep and the self-doubt, a bit of imposter syndrome creeps in.

“But I’ve had a lot of support as well, particularly from John. We still regularly talk about things, still gives me advice. The PDC have been amazing with me.”

Littler will be looking to complete a successful defence of his World Matchplay title by beating Price.

In doing so, he would clinch a 14th PDC major title having already surpassed £3million in prize money on the rankings ladder.

It would also maintain the 19-year-old’s push to hold all ten premier event titles simultaneously.