Sky Sports were forced to apologise after Martijn Kleermaker swore twice in his post-match interview at the 2022 William Hill World Championship.
Kleermaker managed to hold off a late fightback against 13th-seed Josh Cullen for a place in the quarter finals of the competition on Tuesday.
The Dutch outsider took a commanding 3-0 lead and appeared set to sweep the Englishman as Cullen was struggling for form, winning just three legs in the opening three sets. Cullen found momentum and stormed back to tie the match at 3-3, forcing a deciding set which Kleermaker sealed four legs to two.
When leading the final leg 3-2, Kleemaker cleared 88 - with his final dart hitting the bullseye - to book his place in the last eight of the World Championship.
‘The Dutch Giant’, despite defeating ranked opposition on his World Championship debut, was furious with his own performance during his expletive-filled rant in a post-match interview with Sky Sports.
“I’m feeling so great, so great,” said Kleermaker. “3-0 up and then the crowd wanted Joe [Cullen] and I understand because they want a match.
“So I understand but that bullseye is the best bullseye of my life.
“The only thing I was hard was when he went 3-1 and my own set, just keep your own sets.
“Didn't happen - ahhh s***, just s***.”
Both the Sky Sports reporter and Kleermaker expressed regret and apologised for his language.
However, darts fans appeared to love the outburst and took to social media to express their delight with the Dutchman’s interview.
“Not sure which was funnier, Martijn Kleermaker saying ’s***’ twice in quick succession in his live TV interview or following it up with ‘That's not a problem for me’ when the apology was offered on his behalf,” one fan wrote on Twitter.
Another fan posted: "Lmao Martijn Kleermaker just said ’s***’ a whole bunch in his post match interview. Love athletes cursing on television.”
