Teen Darts Champ Eyes £501K Prize on Netflix Live Special

A 15-year-old from Scotland is about to take the shot of a lifetime, and the whole world will be watching.

Mitchell Lawrie is one of 24 amateur players chosen for Netflix's live special "Beat Luke Littler," airing Friday from Manchester. The prize for beating the 19-year-old two-time world champion in a single leg of 501 darts? A life-changing £501,000.

The Renfrew teenager knows the stakes are high. "Being live on Netflix at 15 years of age is just something else," Lawrie told BBC Radio Scotland.

But here's the twist: Lawrie has already beaten Littler before. In 2023 at the World Cup junior darts in Gibraltar, Scotland faced England in a nail-biter that came down to a deciding leg. Lawrie's team won 4-3, with Littler on the losing side.

"It's one of those memories that sticks with you forever," Lawrie says. "We also went on to win that tournament. It was the first time Scotland ever won the World Cup."

That victory wasn't a fluke. Last year, Lawrie became WDF Open Youth World Champion. In December, he made history as the first teenager to reach the WDF World Championship final, earning praise as "the future of darts."

His journey started at age two when his grandfather mounted a dartboard on a chair. "It just spiraled from there," Lawrie says. He only got serious about the sport three and a half years ago after realizing professional football wasn't in his future.

Why This Inspires

What makes Lawrie's story so compelling isn't just his talent or the massive prize money. It's watching a teenager who switched dreams and found his calling, now standing on the edge of a moment that could change everything.

He's honest about the pressure. "There's going to be nerves there obviously," he admits. "He is the best player in the world, so it may be only one leg of darts but it is a very hard leg to win."

Yet that same teenager who beat Littler once before knows something important: "Everybody there has a chance at the end of the day."

Come Friday, Mitchell Lawrie will step up to that line with the confidence of someone who's already written one upset story and the hunger to write another.