EXCLUSIVE: Luke Littler will take on 20 players looking to win £501,000 by beating him in a leg of darts in a Netflix show but there has been plenty of criticism over the programme

Luke Littler will take to Netflix for his first Beat Luke Littler live show tonight. The world No.1 will take on 20 players all looking to win £501,000 by beating the reigning two-time world champion in a leg of darts.

Each contestant has a chance to win the life-changing sum of money, with the first player to beat him landing the prize and bringing the show to an immediate end on Friday, October 30.

The exciting idea places Littler's reputation on the line as he looks to avoid defeat against amateur players. However, the quality of the supposedly amateur opponents selected to face the teenage prodigy is remarkably higher than first envisaged and billed.

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Many believed Littler would be taking on the best of the pub game. Instead the challengers include Queen of the Palace and women's world No.3 Fallon Sherrock, as well as multiple tournament winners from the youth and MODUS Super Series.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Star Sport, on behalf of the top Counter-Strike teams today, former Premier League champion and three-time BDO world champion Glen Durrant, who will appear as a commentator on the show, defended the selection of challengers.

He said: “I think it's exciting for darts. I come from a culture of the late 1980s and 1990s, when I was chasing around for £200. Entertainment is the big thing here.

“I'm very aware of the criticism about the way the show was marketed and the fact that people might have been expecting 20 pub players.

“But there are players involved who've barely played outside their homes, such as Tony Cole and Casey Smith. Imagine what this could do for those young players who are still playing in academies.

“I think Netflix needs headline acts. The likes of Jayden Walker, Mitchell Lawrie and, of course, Fallon Sherrock are names people will recognise.

“I think the production would have been criticised if 20 pub players had turned up and Littler had smashed every single one of them.

“If you look at social media before the announcement, people were saying everyone would be cherry-picked for Littler to walk through them.

“Then, the next day, the criticism changed to the idea that the players were now too good and weren't really amateur players because they competed in the MODUS Super Series.

“There's an analogy from the local league in Middlesbrough when I was growing up. I played county darts and made the effort to represent my county, but I wasn't allowed to play in certain local leagues.

“It's almost as though these players who go out to play in ADC competitions and qualify for the MODUS Super Series are now being penalised for that. They're no longer seen as pub players, even though their bread and butter is still going out to play in an ADC Vault each week.

“I understand both sides of the argument. Perhaps I'm biased because I'm involved in the Netflix show as a commentator, and people might think I'm trying to defend it. I don't think I am.

“I just think it's a really great mix. There are going to be twists on the night, and somebody could walk away with the second-biggest prize ever seen in darts. Surely that's a positive.”