Darts Commentator Wayne Mardle Releases Raw and Heartfelt Video About His ‘Grief’
Wayne Mardle has broken new ground on his social media by posting an emotional TikTok video about his experience of grief, more than fourteen months on from the death of his wife Donna.
Donna Mardle passed away on December 11, 2024, after a short illness. She was 52. She and Wayne had been married for 22 years. His video, posted this weekend, represents a significant shift in what the Sky Sports commentator usually shares online — normally a mix of golf and darts content — and he acknowledged as much himself in the opening moments.
“This is a first for me, I’m having one of those days,” Mardle said. “This is the first of another genre of TikTok for me — I think you may even call it ‘GriefTok’ nowadays. Normally it is a bit of golf and a bit of darts. My wife Donna died on December 11, 2024, so about 430-odd days ago. I used to count the days, call that progress, call it what you like. It doesn’t feel like progress. It is absolutely brutal.”
The reason he was making the video, he explained, was simple: “While it is brutal, I am still here and all you can do is keep trying, right. Keep trying.”
Much of what followed was a frank challenge to the conventional narrative around grief — the idea that it moves through predictable stages before eventually resolving itself. Mardle pushed back on that firmly.
“It is a process, so I’m told, and you go through stages,” he said. “You don’t go through stages. You go through phases, there’s a phase and then there’s another phase. Before you know it that phase is returning, so the stage or phase you think is going to pass — it doesn’t work that way. So however you’re feeling is how you’re feeling. Don’t worry about it. Deal with it how you feel you want to deal with it. There’s no right or wrong here.”
He also spoke with uncommon openness about his relationship with visiting Donna’s grave — something he had done every day in the immediate aftermath of her death, but has since stepped away from. “I used to literally go every day to Donna’s graveside. I haven’t been there for the past… well, since Christmas Day, and it is now February 21. I don’t feel guilty. I just feel like I can’t do it because it beats me, beats me every time I go over there. You have a millisecond off of forgetting, right. That’s about it.”
His closing message was addressed directly to anyone watching who might be living through something similar — an appeal to ignore those who second-guess how a person grieves, and to resist the urge to measure yourself against someone else’s expectations. “The people who question you are not your friends, they’re not your family. They have a perception of grief — it’s incorrect. Don’t overthink it, please don’t. I hope tomorrow is better than today.”
Donna’s death became public on one of darts’ most-watched nights. The news broke on the opening evening of the 2025 World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace, announced on air by a tearful Sky Sports presenter Emma Paton. Mardle, who had been due to lead the broadcaster’s coverage, missed the entire tournament. He returned to work in February 2025 and has continued commentating since.
Beyond his media career, Mardle — known throughout his playing days as ‘Hawaii 501’ — was one of the PDC’s most prominent names during the 2000s. A five-time World Championship semi-finalist and three-time major finalist, he built his broadcast reputation across more than a decade as the voice of Sky Sports darts. His most famous moment in the commentary box came during the 2023 World Championship final, when Michael Smith produced a perfect nine-dart finish and Mardle’s reaction — “I can’t speak, I can’t speak” — became one of sport broadcasting’s most shared clips.
The video posted today is a reminder that the person behind that voice is going through something profound and still very much present. It is worth watching in full.
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