The 2025 PDC World Darts Championship is well under way, with darts fans across the country glued to their TVs as they follow all the action from Alexandra Palace.

The tournament is being shown live and exclusively on Sky Sports into the new year, with host Emma Paton overseeing proceedings alongside a panel of former professionals.

The 30-year-old is a familiar face for darts fans, having taken over from the legendary Dave Clark as Sky's lead darts host four years ago, and followed in the footsteps of the likes of Laura Woods. While previously she was only a casual fan, Paton has shone in the role and is a popular figure among viewers.

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She has been at Sky Sports since 2012, but worked initially behind the camera before moving into presenting. While there is another jam-packed World Championships to get through first, Paton is now being tipped for even more success after proving a hit with viewers.

But while she is now a regular on Sky, little is known about her personal life. From her athletic past to her romantic history, here's a look at Paton's life away from the camera.

Training with Olympians

While she is now one of the biggest faces in darts broadcasting, Paton previously shone in another sport altogether.

During her time at university, she was a promising 400m runner and trained alongside former Commonwealth Games heptathlon champion Kelly Sotherton on the track. She was also coached by Aston Moore, who would go on to guide double world champion and Olympic silver medallist Katerina Johnson-Thompson.

"Some of the best years of my life were spent training at Loughborough University and mixing with arguably the best 400m runners in the country," Paton told the Mirror.

"The coach who had the biggest impact on me was Kelly Sotherton's first coach, Aston Moore, who is now working with Katarina Johnson-Thompson. Kelly was probably coming towards the end of her career in heptathlon because of injuries and focusing more on 400m, and she was dragging me round in training sessions.

"If I ever got close to Kelly, it felt like a win. For a while I was living the life of an elite athlete and they were really good times - some brutal, brutal sessions, but I probably enjoyed the training more than competition."

Darts ‘proposal’ goes wrong

As a now-central figure in a sport as colourful as darts, Paton has shown she has no fear in engaging in all the banter and silliness that comes with the World Championship.

Ahead of this year's tournament, she took things up a notch as she agreed to 'marry' a darts fan, with photos of her in a wedding dress soon emerging online. However, not all was as it seemed as it was really all part of an advert for Paddy Power, for which the presenter is a brand ambassador.

The skit sees the darts fan, Anthony, having Sunday dinner with his wife and mother in law as he discusses the night he had at Ally Pally the night before. As he plays down talk of any drunken antics, Paton bursts through the door in a wedding dress and holding a bouqet, revealing that he had proposed to her the night before.

A flashback reveals that Anthony had held up a sign that read 'Emma, will u marry me?' and had been captured by TV cameras. The sign had caught the presenter's attention and she soon replies 'Yes, I do', leading her to turn up at Anthony's house and demand to know if the proposal meant anything.

After Anthony is caught in the awkward situation, he offers to set the presenter up with one of his friends, leading her to storm out before the closing message urges fans to "think before they write this Christmas."

Paton appeared to thoroughly enjoy taking part in the skit, with a Paddy Power spokesperson saying: "Emma is one of the best presenters in the business - and it turns out she's the real deal when it comes to acting too. Hollywood beckons!"

In real life, little is known about Paton's love life - although she is rumoured to be in a relationship with a man known only as Hannibal. She revealed on social media in 2018 that the couple had bought a property together, and they still follow each other on Instagram, but there have been no public updates about their relationship in recent years.

Emotional live TV statement

Paton choked back tears as this year's World Championship got underway, as she announced the death of Sky Sports colleague Wayne Mardle's wife.

Donna Mardle died at the age of 52 on the eve of the tournament following a short illness, with the darts world rallying around the former player and his family. The ex-pro was due to be at Alexandra Palace for this year's competition before his wife's tragic passing and Paton sent him an emotional message during their live coverage.

"Now, if you are a regular viewer of Sky Sports Darts you'll notice that Wayne isn't here with us this evening," she said. "Wayne is the heart and soul of everything we do here at Sky Sports Darts. But the heart of his world, his wonderful wife Donna sadly passed away earlier this week after a short illness.

"We'll be remembering Donna throughout this tournament. Wayne, you're in our thoughts. You're in our hearts. We love you very much, and we'll see you very soon."

A Sky Sports statement read: "Sky Sports would like to send their thoughts, prayers and condolences to our commentator Wayne Mardle, following the passing of his wife Donna earlier this week."