DOUBLE world champion Peter Wright suffered a whitewash 5-0 defeat to Martin Lukeman before being “slapped” by the ex-builder.
The incident occurred as the pair met on the first day of the Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton, with Wright’s poor form continuing.
Spectators were left amazing as former world king Wright endured a torrid session to make it eight defeats in his last 10 matches.
Lukeman, who was working on a building site just four years ago, thrashed Snakebite 5-0 in a one-sided game.
Rob Cross and Leonard Gates also await both men in their tough group.
But Wright’s night got even worse when he was accidentally “slapped” by Lukeman on stage.
As the ex-builder celebrated his win, he raised his arms out in joy to the crowd.
At the same time, Wright was trying to slip past behind him.
But in doing so, Snakebite received a tap to his face from Lukeman’s hand.
This saw Wright hilariously grab his eye in feigned agony.
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And fans were left in stitches as they reacted to the incident on social media.
One said: “Nothing in it, play on.”
Another declared: “Is this soccer now?”
One noted: “Should have ruffled his hair after.”
Another added: “Not even a penalty would have helped Snakebite in that match.”
Meanwhile, Lukeman opened up on his previous life on building sites, with the Covid shutdown seeing him end up becoming one of darts’ latest stars.
He told the Daily Star: “All the building sites shut down and by the time they started up again it was only minimum people [allowed onsite]. I was trying to find work all year, it was a bit of mayhem really.
“There was no work out there and I was getting the government grants to see me through the year. I basically just hit the practice board hard, there was nothing else to do.
“You were only allowed out for an hour a day so I was coming back and just playing darts in my room. I got my camera set up and started playing competitions every day.
“I was playing really well and one of my friends said to me, ‘I’ll put you through Q School’ and I grabbed my card [in January 2021].
“I’ve still got all my [banksman] qualifications so if it [darts] all went t*** up, I’d probably go back to it. But I don’t want to go back to building sites, I want to do this. I’m going to work hard at it.”