JAMES WADE went full speed ahead during his stunning run to the UK Open final.
But his action-packed weekend at Butlin’s Minehead was just the latest lap in the entertaining career of the mechanic-turned-Machine.
And there have certainly been plenty of twists and turns along the way.
Wade, 41, beat William Borland, Cameron Menzies, Rob Owen, Luke Humphries and Josh Rock before falling at the last hurdle in Somerset, crushed 11-2 by Luke Littler.
But despite not winning, he still hit the headlines for plenty of other reasons.
Over the course of his mini-break at Butlin’s, Wade was shoulder barged by Humphries, licked the world No1’s neck, slammed the Premier League line-up, took a pop at the “idiot” fans who had “too many bubbles in the lemonade” and suggested the standard of darts “is not what it is hyped to be”.
ON CLOUD NINE
The Englishman started playing darts aged 14 in 1997 and joined the PDC in 2004 after three years with the BDO.
He may not have clinched that elusive World Championship, losing in the semis on four separate occasions.
But he boasts a staggering trophy cabinet including the 2007 World Matchplay, two World Grand Prix, three UK Opens, the 2014 Masters and the Premier League in 2009.
However, it is his knack for a nine-darter that earned him the James Bond-inspired nickname 009 early in his PDC career.
Wade now goes by the Machine – thanks to his metronomic ability to nail double-ten – but previous iterations of his nickname also include the Gladiator, Spectacular and the Wingman.
He hit his first three nines in 2006 – becoming the first player to hit three tournament nine-dart finishes in a calendar year – and now has 11 to his name, plus 12 against him.
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REVVING UP
Incredibly, the first two of those nine-darters in 2006 came when Wade was still not a full-time professional player.
Taught by his dad, the Machine started out as a car mechanic and he carried on doing the job well into his darts career.
He packed in the day job to fully focus on arrows instead of axles just before the 2006 World Matchplay, although he continues to dabble with fixing motors during his spare time.
In 2022, he said: “Without the PDC and Sky Sports, I’d still be a mechanic playing darts in the pub.
“Ever since I was young, my dad has taught me about cars and we always worked in the garage together.
“Even when I climbed up the world rankings and was battling Phil Taylor and winning top titles, I relaxed by working on cars at the garage.”
LOVE OF HIS LIFE
Not that Wade has much time now, given he has two young sons with wife Sammi Marsh – Arthur born in 2018 and Alfred who arrived four years later.
Sammi is a former glamour model and walk-on girl, who met Wade when she would accompany him to the oche.
They got together in 2013 and married in 2015, with Sammi working as her husband’s manager.
Ironically, the Blackpool-born beauty appeared as a Soccerette on Soccer AM in 2011 – a show hosted by Wade’s ex-girlfriend Helen Chamberlain.
Wade and Chamberlain dated for around two years from 2008 and 2010.
MENTAL HEALTH STRUGGLES
Brave Wade has been very open about his mental health struggles over the years.
He is bipolar and has ADHD – he is a patron for Bipolar UK and has worn the charity’s logo as a badge on his shirt.
In 2018, following a concerning episode, he was briefly hospitalised.
Barry Hearn cited his need for a break and time to get treatment as the reason why he was omitted from the 2014 Premier League, the first time he missed the event since 2007.
But Wade expressed his “devastation” and argued he did not even get an invite or the chance to be consulted on the decision – and added that “no medical professional has suggested I take a break” amid his bipolar diagnosis.
Wade’s condition can lead to outbursts and irregular behaviour, such as his over-the-top celebrations when he beat Japanese qualifier Seigo Asada in December 2018.
He told the press: “I kept giving it to him, I wanted to hurt him, I wanted to really hurt him in his face.
“It wasn’t a great game but I wanted to hurt him and I wanted to progress. That’s for my son, and also for the UK.”
The actions and comments were described as “intimidating” and even “thuggish”.
But Wade did retract by apologising and cited his mental health struggles for the outburst.
In a statement he said: “I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologise for my actions.
“Seigo Asada is a great player and I would like to say sorry to him, the fans and the PDC.
“Anyone that has followed my professional career will know that this was very out of character for me and I am disappointed in myself with the way I acted both on the stage and in my interviews after the match.
“I was fighting a battle with myself before I even got on the stage due to a hypo-mania episode which can happen to me at any time and no one is more upset than I am about what happened.
“I would like to again apologise and hope that people can understand how remorseful I am.”
WADE-ING IN ON ROWS
The Asada incident was one of a series of rows Wade has got into over the years, with the popular thrower not afraid to ruffle some feathers among his darts peers.
He got into two spats in as many matches during the inaugural Masters in 2013, firstly angering Simon Whitlock with his exuberant celebrations and sarcastically waving the Aussie off stage before pouring water over his own head.
Then in the semis against Phil Taylor, Wade threatened to quit after the Power threw a seemingly-damaged Wade dart to a kid in the crowd, but the Surrey man demanded it back and complained to the officials.
He also feuded with Gerwyn Price – the Iceman losing his cool as he accused Wade of encroaching while he was throwing – as well as Jose de Sousa before his pantomime antics with Humphries.
But the most bizarre of all was when he accused Adrian Lewis of deliberately shaking the FLOORBOARDS during a tense Premier League showdown in Nottingham.
SINGING TO HIS OWN TUNE
Wade used to walk out to Thin Lizzy’s The Boys Are Back In Town.
However, he mixed things up in 2024, switching to I’m Still Standing by Elton John.
The song was chosen because of his aforementioned mental health struggles away from the oche.
Wade is said to be worth approximately £4.5million thanks to his darts prize money and various sponsorship deals.
But for many darts fans, his ability with the arrows, his down-to-earth honest demeanour and the way he has broken down stigmas surrounding mental health in sport mean James Wade is priceless.