Van der Giessen reveals tasty anecdote about Van Barneveld: 'After every big win, we fried snacks in his hotel room'

Arjan van der Giessen has been present at darts tournaments as a reporter for quite some time. Over the years he became good friends with Raymond van Barneveld.

Van Barneveld became BDO World Champion for the second consecutive time in 1999. "From then on it became a tradition that after a big win we would have something to eat together in his hotel room. Raymond invariably had his deep fryer with him and on the small terrace of his hotel room we fried snacks", says Van der Giessen on the podcast 'Everyone loves darts'.

That tradition lasted for years, until Van Barneveld switched to the PDC in 2006. "On his first World Cup with the PDC, we weren't in the same hotel. So I thought the tradition was going to be broken, but after his victory in the final against Phil Taylor, Raymond called me anyway.

"He invited me to his hotel room. This time he didn't have his deep fryer with him, so we had room service and celebrated Raymond's world title with different food", Van der Giessen can still have a good laugh about it.