During the opening week of the 2026 World Darts Championship, one of the biggest distractions wasn’t a rival player or a surprise checkout — it was a wasp. The so-called Alexandra Palace wasp has become a recurring feature of the Worlds, repeatedly turning up to buzz matches, land on players and occasionally cause painful interruptions.
Why does it happen? The most likely culprit is a queen wasp seeking shelter. By late autumn most worker wasps die off and only queens survive, looking for warm, dry places to hibernate. Alexandra Palace, a Victorian venue full of hidden cavities and surrounded by 196 acres of parkland, provides plenty of tempting nooks. On tournament days the combination of open doors, bright stage lights, broadcasting equipment and thousands of warm bodies can rouse a hibernating queen or attract late-season wasps indoors, drawing them toward the stage.
The PDC and venue staff accept this as an unavoidable clash of nature and spectacle. Because Alexandra Palace is a Grade II listed building with many original features, it cannot be hermetically sealed, and the constant flow of people and rigging activity during events creates opportunities for insects to enter. Staff will remove or swat insects when possible, but comprehensive exclusion is impractical during a major event.
The wasp’s appearances have become part of tournament folklore. The first widely recalled incident dates to 2012 when Adrian Lewis was stung while defending his title. Since then there have been numerous memorable encounters:
– Luke Littler experienced another wasp-related moment this year and has treated such interactions as a possible good omen, referencing Lewis’s past success; Littler also felt a “little zap” during his 2024 quarter-final.
– Ross Smith was famously stung three times during a match in 2023 and has had further run-ins.
– Players including Rob Cross and Sebastian Bialecki have had wasps land on them mid-match or in interviews.
– Ted Evetts flicked a wasp from his collar after a match, only for it to make a return later; in one match a wasp even survived what appeared to be a dart strike from Nitin Kumar.
– Peter Wright’s distinctive mohawk attracted a wasp back in 2017.
– The insect hasn’t limited itself to darts: at The Masters snooker event held at Alexandra Palace earlier in the year, a wasp was spotted buzzing around Shaun Murphy in the final.
Is it the same wasp every year? Fans and players often joke about an immortal Ally Pally wasp, but biologically that’s extremely unlikely. Queen wasps don’t survive across multiple seasons in the same active state, so sightings are almost certainly different individuals or successive queens exploiting the same conditions. The myth, however, suits the tournament’s festive atmosphere and makes for a good story.
Are organisers doing anything to stop it? Practical options are limited. Closing doors entirely during rigging and events would be logistically difficult, and the building’s age and protected status restrict structural changes. The PDC and venue team monitor and remove insects where they can, but accept occasional gatecrashers as part of staging an event in a historic, parkland setting.
Whatever the science, the wasp has become a quirky hallmark of the World Championship. For some players a brief sting or buzzing visitor is a superstitious good-luck sign; for others it’s an annoying interruption. Either way, the sightings are now an expected — if unpredictable — element of the Ally Pally experience, where nature sometimes shows up for the show.