Glen Durrant has been a huge success story since joining the PDC and he is known for his calm and measured throw and persona on the oche but that is for good reason.
Durrant contracted Bell's Palsy 16 years ago and he revealed on how it changed his life as well as how he acts on stage: “I got it in 2004. Early in my darts career I was like Gerwyn Price, very aggressive on the oche. I’d turn to the crowd and really shout, very sort of animated," said Durrant to
Oche! Magazine.
“Bell’s palsy is like a paralysis on the right hand side of my face. It gives me that lazy eye aspect. For the first year or so, one side of my face was drooping as if I’d had a stroke."
“It’s a long time ago since I had it, but I didn’t like what I saw when I was playing darts after having Bell’s palsy. One eye was open, one eye was closed.
Durrant also spoke about how he has changed a negative to a positive when he is on stage but that while he enjoys banter with his friends and can take any other abuse, his main issue is when people focus in on it: “I can be called every name under the sun and I can laugh it off with people.
I have this banter with Jim Williams and Matt Edgar, and I don’t mind any of it. But my Achilles Heel is when people focus on the Bell’s palsy. It aged me 10 years overnight."
“I see it now as a positive. I’m not so animated on stage, my blood pressure doesn’t go sky high when I play because I don’t scream and shout.
“I don’t like what I see anymore when I’m screaming and shouting. So I don’t do it and I think it helps me."