Showbiz Darts

Infobox Television
show_name = Showbiz Darts


caption =
format = Game show
camera =
picture_format = 16:9
runtime = 30 minutes (inc. commercials)
creator =
developer =
executive_producer =
starring = Sarah Cawood
narrated =
opentheme =
endtheme =
country = United Kingdom
network = Challenge
first_aired = October 2,2006
last_aired = October 20, 2006
num_episodes = 15
website =
imdb_id =
tv_com_id =

"Showbiz Darts" was a British televised celebrity darts tournament which first aired on October 2, 2006 on the digital television channel Challenge. It was presented by Sarah Cawood, with famous darts stage host Martin Fitzmaurice, referee George Noble and commentator Tony Green.

It was recorded in two sessions on July 20, 2006 at the Lakeside Country Club, home of the World Professional Darts Championship.

The celebrities that competed in the tournament were Michael Le Vell, Vicki Butler-Henderson, Roland Rivron, Holly Willoughby, Phil Tufnell, Keith Chegwin, James Hewitt and Johnny Vegas.

Nicknames

In keeping with darting tradition, the celebrities were given or adopted nicknames. Rowland Right Here Rivron
Johnny The Saint Vegas
Keith Cheggers Chegwin
Vicki The Vixen Butler-Henderson
Phil The Cat Tufnell
James The Galloping Major Hewitt
Michael Spirit Le Vell
Holly Hard to Beat Willoughby

Format

The eight celebrities were split into two groups of four, each captained by top darts professionals Andy Fordham and Bobby George who trained their respective teams in preparation for the event. Each darts professional trained their team members at very different venues: Andy trained his team at "The Rose", a Dartford pub where he and his wife runs, and Bobby trained his at George Hall, near Colchester.

The four players from Fordham's group competed against each other in a round-robin format and the four players from George's group did the same. The matches consisted of one-leg where the first to reach exactly 501 wins two points. In the event that no player checked out in the time allocated for the match, then the winner was the player who achieved the highest score with 3 darts in a sudden-death shootout.

These points were recorded in each team's league table and the top two contenders in each group will then progress to the semi-finals and then the final, where the champion was awarded the Showbiz Darts 2006 trophy.

Results & Broadcast Dates

"Andy Fordham's Group"
October 2: Rowland Rivron beat Johnny Vegas in sudden-death shootout
October 4: Keith Chegwin beat Vicki Butler-Henderson (winning dart double 7)
October 6: Vicki Butler-Henderson beat Rowland Rivron (winning dart double 6)
October 10: Johnny Vegas beat Keith Chegwin (checkout 32 - single 16, double 8)
October 12: Keith Chegwin beat Rowland Rivron (winning dart double 2)
October 16: Johnny Vegas beat Vicki Butler-Henderson (checkout 47 - single 15, double 16)
"Vegas plays Chegwin in semi-final"

"Bobby George's Group"
October 3: James Hewitt beat Phil Tufnell (winning dart double 1)
October 5: Michael Le Vell beat Holly Willoughby (winning dart double 17)
October 9: Michael Le Vell beat Phil Tufnell (winning dart double 1)
October 11: James Hewitt beat Holly Willoughby (winning dart double 1)
October 13: Phil Tufnell beat Holly Willoughby (winning dart double 4)
October 17: Michael Le Vell beat James Hewitt (checkout 23 - single 15, double 4)
"Hewitt plays Le Vell in semi-final"

Semi Finals
October 18 Johnny Vegas beat Keith Chegwin (winning dart double 1)
October 19 Michael Le Vell beat James Hewitt (winning dart double 1)

Final
October 20 Michael Le Vell "(Bobby George's Group)" beat Johnny Vegas "(Andy Fordham's Group)" by 2 legs to 1.
Vegas won the first leg in 47 darts (on double 8), Le Vell the second in 53 (on double 7) and the last in 28 (on double 16).
Three Dart Averages Le Vell 35.60 Vegas 35.21

*Phil Tufnell hit 120, the highest 3-dart score of the tournament, during his defeat to Michael Le Vell broadcast on October 9. Tufnell also managed the best leg of the group phase, with a 34 darter (average 44.21) against Holly Willoughby in his last group match. Despite these two statistics, he failed to qualify for the semi-finals.
*The highest checkout was achieved by Johnny Vegas who finished with 47 (single 15, double 16 and a dart to spare) in his last group game on October 16.
*Holly Willoughby was the only player who failed to win a single match in the competition, Michael Le Vell managed to win all five of his matches en-route to the title.

howbiz Darts: Extra Arrows

After each episode the celebrities featured on "Showbiz Darts: Extra Arrows", a half-hour show hosted by MTV presenter DP Fitzgerald where they discussed their game and coaching, as well as celebrity gossip. There was also a daily darts challenge between the two team captains, Bobby George and Andy Fordham.

Viewing Figures

The BARB audience viewing figures website [http://www.barb.co.uk/viewingsummary/weekreports.cfm?report=weeklytop30&requesttimeout=500] reports the top 10 programmes for each multi-channel television station. It lists Showbiz Darts (Extra Arrows) as reaching the top 10 programmes on several occasions - however Showbiz Darts was broadcast at 2230, so this could possibly be mis-reporting.
*Viewing Figures where available.
**Monday October 2 124,000 (1st for the week on Challenge TV)
**Tuesday October 3 121,000 (3rd)
**Wednesday October 4 86,000 (6th)
**Thursday October 5 102,000 (4th)
**Friday October 6 124,000 (2nd)
*2nd week
**Monday October 9 96,000 (2nd for the week on Challenge TV)
**Tuesday October 10 96,000 (3rd)
**Wednesday October 11 64,000 (8th)
**Shows for Thursday & Friday (12th / 13 October) failed to reach top 10 achieving less than 61,000 viewers.
*Final week
**Monday October 16 68,000 (9th for the week on Challenge TV)
**Tuesday October 17 79,000 (5th)
**Wednesday October 18 84,000 (4th)
**Thursday October 19 79,000 (6th)
**Friday October 20 - the final 94,000 (2nd)

External links

* [http://www.challenge.co.uk/showbizdarts/ Challenge Showbiz Darts website]
* [http://www.lakesideworlddarts.co.uk/ Lakeside BDO World Professional Darts Championship]