Paul Nicholson has become a laughing stock at the World Championship Darts after blaming his defeat on his opponent's girlfriend.
Kim Huybrechts beat Nicholson 4-1 in the last 16 of the tournament at Alexandra Palace, a result which Nicholson put solely down to the damage to his concentration caused by the crowd's raucous reaction to the presence of Dana Verhaegen.
TV cameras continually cut to the shapely Verhaegen - a world-class darts player in her own right - to show her reaction at key moments during the match, and every time her face appeared on the giant screens the inebriated crowd went crazy with a chorus of cheers and wolf whistles.
"There's only one reason why I lost that match — and she was sitting right in the front row," fumed Nicholson.
"If she had not been in that crowd, I swear to God I would have won... Trust me, the most important thing in that match was her. I wanted to win it so badly, but nobody on the planet can play in that situation."
"I've got nothing against Kim, he played better than me, but the crowd were more interested in his girlfriend than the darts."
Nicholson's complaint was rejected by the PDC, but the livid ninth seed insisted that he will no longer take any nonsense from spectators.
"I just didn't have the crowd's respect — and quite frankly, I don't want it any more," he said."The next time I win a tournament on television, I'm going to give them the two fingers up and I'll take the fine."
He is one of my favourite players, but I can't help but feel he's making an arse of himself here