For a man who once painted snakes on his head and walked onto the Alexandra Palace stage in rhinestone capes with the swagger of a man who believed he could beat anyone, Peter Wright’s current predicament makes for uncomfortable reading. The two-time world champion is being openly urged to step back, reassess, and strip himself of everything — including the iconic persona — that brought him to the pinnacle of his sport.
Wright’s fall from grace has been one of darts’ most painful stories of recent times. The 55-year-old Scot, a millionaire with around £6.2 million in career prize money and two world titles to his name — the 2020 and 2022 PDC World Championships — spent the 2025 season in freefall. For the first time in years he fell outside the world’s top 16, failed to win a single title, and could not reach the semi-finals at any major televised tournament. Then came the blow that brought the conversation to a head.
At the 2026 PDC World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace — the stage that has witnessed his greatest triumphs — Wright fell at the second-round hurdle. His opponent was Arno Merk, a German debutant ranked 166th in the world who had qualified via the PDC Europe Super League. Wright, 55, looked utterly out of sorts, changed darts throughout the game and won just two legs with an average under 80. Yahoo! The final score was 3-0 to Merk. Statisticians reached for historical records. It was another calamitous blow to Wright, who had dropped from No.4 seed at the championship two years ago down to No.30 for this year’s event. Sky Sports
In February 2026, Wright fell out of the world’s top 32 for the first time since 2011 Wikipedia — a staggering drop for a player who, not long ago, was ranked world number one on two occasions.
Wayne Mardle: ‘It was an awful watch’
Sky Sports’ chief pundit Wayne Mardle, himself a former pro who knows the psychological demands of the game better than most, watched the Merk defeat from the commentary box and could barely conceal his distress. Mardle said: “I know Merk won, but the story is about Peter Wright, unfortunately. And I’ve got to say, from a friend’s point of view, it was an awful watch. Watching an absolute champion, a legend of our sport, someone who’s helped the sport grow play like that. I didn’t enjoy it one bit.” Yahoo!
Crucially, Mardle’s concern extended beyond the scoreline. He added: “I don’t know what kind of questions Peter is asking himself, whether it’s like, it’s fine, I’ll carry on. I love the game. And I hope that happens, by the way. I don’t want him to, because he’s always said that I don’t want to retire, I just don’t want to retire, I love it. And I don’t want him to have this knee-jerk reaction because it’s happened at the World Championships.” Yahoo!
The world-renowned pundit expanded on why a loss at Ally Pally cuts differently from any other defeat. “It’s so weird. If you play like that elsewhere, it’s okay. You don’t really think about it. It’s one of those. But when you do it in the World Championship, and I know this because I’ve done it, you end up questioning whether you’re good enough ever again to compete. And it’s about competing. It’s about winning.” Yahoo!
While Mardle’s plea was against any rash retirement decision, it doubled as a call for perspective — a suggestion that Wright needs space to process what has happened rather than plunging straight back in. “He’s been such a classy ambassador for darts as well, brings that fun, but also brings that amazing ability and that touch of class. I hope he’s okay,” Yahoo! Mardle said, signing off in the manner of a close friend rather than a television pundit.
The Snakebite problem
Beyond the results themselves, a deeper debate has opened up about whether Wright’s famous stage persona — the mohawk, the face paint, the dazzling outfits — has become a cage rather than a platform.
Former professional and analyst Matt Edgar, speaking on the Mission Darts Podcast, articulated it starkly. “The interesting thing for me with Peter Wright is that he’s said he doesn’t want to be Snakebite anymore. What that suggests is that the character he’s created no longer feels right.” Dartsnews
Edgar drew a distinction between the man the public sees and the person in private. “The Peter Wright you see on stage isn’t the Peter Wright you meet backstage. That’s not who he really is. He isn’t flamboyant, colourful, bouncy or chirpy off the oche — he’s actually quite shy and reserved.” Dartsnews
The crux of Edgar’s analysis centred on conviction. “Peter Wright has probably got to the stage now where he doesn’t believe in Snakebite anymore. Snakebite used to sit in interviews and go, ‘I’m going to go win this,’ and he did. Now he says the same things and he doesn’t. The 100 per cent belief in ‘I do what I say’ is gone. He needs to reinvent himself now and enjoy being Peter Wright.” Dartsnews
The evidence has been gathering for some time. Wright himself has already admitted he would prefer to play as his true self. At the Players Championship Finals he even appeared at the oche without his trademark punk style — a rare sight for darts fans worldwide. Dartsnews Yet the pull of the brand he has spent a decade building remains powerful. Wright conceded: “Yeah, I would like that. But it would disappoint my fans. And the kids, especially. So maybe just show them a bit of understanding… and we’ll see.” Dartsnews
The scale of the slide
To appreciate how far Wright has fallen, it is worth recalling the heights he once occupied. He lifted the Sid Waddell Trophy in January 2020 and again in January 2022, becoming one of only a handful of players to win the PDC World Championship more than once — joining Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Michael van Gerwen, and now Luke Littler on that exclusive list. He also claimed the World Matchplay in 2021, and across his career has assembled eight PDC major titles, placing him among the sport’s all-time greats.
The double champion had designs on recapturing his best form and having a run at a third world title, which would have moved him clear of fellow Scots Gary Anderson and Jocky Wilson on the all-time list of world championship winners. Yahoo! Instead, he now finds himself fighting simply to stay on tour.
On the Pro Tour — the bread and butter of professional darts — Wright has eked out a couple of wins but has still failed to get past the last 64. As one publication observed: “He seems to be no further forward in solving his current ills. For many it is sad to see such an illustrious and popular player struggle in such terms.” Darts World
What comes next?
There is no shortage of advice in the darts world, and much of it is converging on the same theme: that Wright needs a reset, not just of his practice routine or his equipment — he famously switched darts throughout the Merk defeat — but of his identity on the oche. The consensus is that the flamboyant armour of Snakebite served him magnificently for years, but the man inside it has moved on, even if the image has not.
At 55, Wright is still only one cycle behind a sport in which Gary Anderson reached the World Championship final at 54. The talent, the touch, the experience — none of it has evaporated. But the belief has to return, and those closest to him in the sport are asking, with genuine warmth and concern, whether that process requires stepping back from the relentless grind of PDC competition to find himself again.
Whether Wright heeds that advice is another matter. He has never been one to sit still.
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