"He storms out of the room and starts swearing a bit" – Vincent van der Voort reflects on chaotic TV shoot with Van Gerwen and Van Barneveld
PDCFriday, 04 September 2026 at 14:00
Vincent van der Voort has stood on the most varied of stages in his career, but there’s one TV appearance the former top darter remembers without any fondness. Together with Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld he took part in Marble Mania. What should have been a light-hearted afternoon of marble games turned into a chaotic recording day behind the scenes.
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In the podcast Darts Draait Door, Van der Voort was reminded of his appearance on the show. His first reaction left little to the imagination. “The most uncomfortable four hours of my life,” is how he described his TV adventure.
During the broadcast, Van der Voort formed a trio with Van Gerwen and Van Barneveld. Just before the three darters were up, the Meiland family had been in the studio taping the same show. That led to a surprise encounter.
“Martien is just a big darts fan,” Van der Voort said about Martien Meiland. “He immediately started with that voice, because he thought it was funny. He said he always watched. I didn’t expect that.” Whether Meiland really watched darts as often as he claimed, Van der Voort doesn’t know. “That’s what he said at the time. I don’t know if it’s true of course, but he said he watched a lot of darts.”
“I’m never doing this again”
What followed was an afternoon Van der Voort won’t soon forget. While the show was all about entertainment for viewers, the North Hollander felt completely out of place from the start. “For four hours straight I really thought: I’m never doing this again. I should never do this. I’m not doing this again. I find this terrible.”
According to Van der Voort, the problems started even before a single marble had rolled down the track. Van Barneveld had explicitly asked the production in advance to consider his clothing size. Yet on arrival it turned out the vests laid out for the darters didn’t fit.
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“Raymond had already sent an email a week earlier: make sure it’s big enough and that all the clothing sizes are correct. You can see everyone wearing a vest throughout the series and we’re walking around in T-shirts. Because those vests just didn’t fit.”
For Van Barneveld, that set the tone straight away. “Raymond had his own Barney-attack because it was too small. So he was completely done with it. His mind was already in the car on the way home.”
Van Gerwen was left irritated.
The irritation kept building. While Van der Voort and Van Gerwen were in a dressing room together, someone from the organization came in with a striking request. They had to try to convince Van Barneveld that it wasn’t that bad. “He says: ‘If Raymond comes in now, you need to say it’ll be fine. Because he’s flipping out at the moment.’ If there’s one person you shouldn’t ask this…”
A moment later Van Barneveld did indeed appear in the dressing room. “He says: ‘Guys, seriously. Can this work?’ We both burst out laughing. He storms out of the room and starts swearing a bit. This show is not going ahead.”
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In the end, Van der Voort and Van Gerwen still managed to talk their compatriot into taking part. “Eventually we got him just far enough to join in. That start was really awful. He was fuming, man.”
Crowd cheers on Van der Voort
Once in the studio, things didn’t get much more comfortable for Van der Voort. The crowd’s enthusiasm in particular caused second-hand embarrassment. After all, the darters had hardly any influence on what happened once the marbles were set in motion.
“Then those marbles drop into a box and the crowd is cheering me on. I can’t do anything about those bloody marbles. They throw them in and after that it’s out of my hands. And then they can win their iron and they’re cheering me on: ‘Come on!’ Come on what? It felt so awkward.”
As if the clothing issues with Van Barneveld weren’t enough, another discussion broke out about the colours the three darters had to wear. Van der Voort was told yellow had been reserved for him. He wasn’t having it.
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“They say to me: ‘You’ve got yellow.’ I don’t think so. I find that such an ugly colour. I say: ‘I’m wearing blue.’ No, you’ve got yellow. I say: ‘That’s possible, but then the show won’t go ahead. I’m just not doing it.’”
Van Barneveld, Van Gerwen and Van der Voort on the TV show Marble Mania.
According to Van der Voort, this wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment stance. He had already made it clear in advance that he wanted to wear blue. Red wasn’t an option either. “Then you need a white stripe down the side, on both sides. Then you’ve got an Ajax shirt,” he joked.
Because Van der Voort stood firm, production had to confer again. In the end, Van Gerwen offered the solution. “Then Michael said: ‘I’ll take yellow then.’ So he came to the rescue. Otherwise I really wouldn’t have done it.”
Van der Voort stressed that his preference was known beforehand. “We’d already talked about it in advance. You get an email: do you want to take part, yes or no? What does it pay? That wasn’t much. I’d said: I’m fine with everything, but I do want blue, because I really don’t like yellow.”
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More fuss even after the show
Despite all the commotion, Van der Voort ultimately came out of the broadcast as the winner. Even that caused some confusion. According to him, Van Barneveld won the rounds with €5,000 and €10,000 at stake, while Van der Voort won the €15,000 round.
“But then it’s basically a draw. Winston Gerschtanowitz says that I’ve won. I’m thinking: how so? We both have fifteen thousand, right? And he had won two rounds. So afterwards he was also fuming that he hadn’t won.”
That changed when it became clear what the winner still had to do to cash the prize. According to Van der Voort, you had to visit the preselected company to present the prize, which meant freeing up another day.
“Then he heard that you had to go to the company you’d named to present the prize. So you lose a day. Then he almost didn’t mind as much that he hadn’t won.”
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For Van der Voort, it confirmed why TV shows of this kind aren’t exactly his natural habitat. He also suspects the feeling after that chaotic afternoon was mutual. “I’m sure the entire production said afterwards: we should never do this again. These guys are just absolute idiots.”
Samuel GillChief Content Officer
Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of DartsNews.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy across professional darts coverage. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces, playing a central role in the development and daily operation of the site.
Based in Leicester, Samuel has extensive experience in darts media and has been closely involved in coverage of the professional darts circuit for several years. Within the UK darts community, he is a recognised figure known for his consistent editorial output and ongoing reporting on major tournaments and developments across the PDC calendar.
In his current role, Samuel works closely with editors and writers to ensure content meets clear journalistic standards, with a focus on source verification, editorial consistency, and timely updates when new, confirmed information becomes available.
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