In the latest special series from The Darts Show Podcast, Smith tells us the story behind his walk-on song, his most embarrassing walk-on moment and why he would love to change his song; Download & subscribe to The Darts Show podcast via Spotify
Tuesday 8 February 2022 06:59, UK
In the seventh of our series, World Championship runner-up Michael Smith tells us the story behind his walk-on song.
With the Premier League kicking off in Cardiff last week, one man who is delighted to be back in the tournament is 'Bully Boy'.
Smith has appeared in four editions of the tournament and was a runner-up in 2018 and although he has not lifted the trophy he has the memories of hitting a nine-darter in Dublin back in 2020.
The 31-year-old was left out of last year's tournament but used his omission as motivation to have a good year on the tour and although he didn't manage to pick up a televised title, he reached the quarter-finals of the World Matchplay, the semi-finals of the Grand Slam of Darts and the final of the World Championship.
Few would be surprised to see Smith finally break his TV duck in 2022 and the Premier League presents an opportunity to do just that.
The walk-on is part of the show and, in this series, we talk to the players to find out a little bit more about their entrances to the stage that get the party started in arenas all over the world.
Smith's walk-on is certainly a popular one amongst the fans as he takes to the stage to the tune of Shut Up and Dance by Walk the Moon, but when we caught up with Bully Boy at the 2019 Grand Slam of Darts, he revealed that he had hoped for a different song originally.
He said: "I actually wanted Robin S, Show Me Love but we put that one and Shut Up and Dance on Twitter on a poll and that one came back with the highest percentage, so we went with that one!"
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In the video, the former World Youth Championship winner tells us about his most embarrassing walk-on, why Ian White's walk-on gets him swaying on stage and what songs he was thinking about changing his walk-on to.
"My walk-on has kind of stuck now. I thought about Robin S, Show Me Love and I was thinking of Dance Monkey, that was my favourite tune at one time.
"There were a couple of songs that my son Junior liked, it was all off Sing and Trolls, so cartoon music. They are really good, but I just think I'm stuck with Walk the Moon now. I don't even have it on my phone. I've heard it so many times I don't really like it! Everyone else seems to though so I don't think I'll change now, I'm associated with that song now," he said.
The Premier League heads to the M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool on Thursday, February 10 - live on Sky Sports - with Smith in action against reigning champion, Jonny Clayton.
