"Do you know what I won there? A DVD player" - Michael van Gerwen reminisces about his early years as a dart player

Michael van Gerwen has won just about everything there is to win in the world of darts over the course of his career. The 35-year-old Dutchman will hunt for his fourth world title at the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship. 'Mighty Mike' is seeded third at Alexandra Palace this year and will take on the winner of the duel between James Hurrell and Jim Long in his opening match.

Van Gerwen has been at the top of the darts world for nearly 20 years now. But does he remember his first stage experience? "That was in youth, the Primus Masters. Do you know what I won there? A DVD player," Van Gerwen told Viaplay. "Every top darter starts at the bottom with local tournaments with crazy prizes. Now it's much more attractive financially, but I remember our first days..."

"You'll never believe it, but do you know who I lost to in the final? By 5-0...," Van Gerwen asks aloud to the experienced Dutch darts commentator Jacques Nieuwlaat. Van der Voort, also a guest on the programme, knows the answer immediately.

''He was really brilliant in youth," "he's now a colleague of yours at Viaplay," and "he can't do much of anything now," are some of the hints given by Van Gerwen and Van der Voort. Nieuwlaat mulls it over, but in the end Van Gerwen himself has to reveal that he lost that final to Jerry Hendriks.

Hendriks has been active as an analyst at major darts tournaments for some time, previously at RTL and now at Viaplay. In the past he was active himself at the World Darts Championship, just remember his legendary walk-on during the 2017 World Darts Championship, where he lost 3-0 to Peter Wright.

Van Gerwen meanwhile, gets his latest World Darts Championship quest underway on Friday, December 20th against either Hurrell or Long.