The darts world’s brightest stars will descend on London’s Alexander Palace this month for the 2024-2025 World Darts Championship.
It is the biggest darts event and brings together the biggest faces from the darts world, including world number one Luke Humphries, teenage sensation Luke Littler and three-time champion Michael van Gerwen.
However, the players aren’t the only household names set to make an appearance at the Ally Pally, as Sky Sports has also put together a star-studded presenting team for the festive season.
The hugely popular Emma Paton headlines the elite line-up of professionals who will provide expert analysis and commentary throughout the competition.
Paton started as a journalist at Sky before making the jump to presenting.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Sky Sports presenter.
Sky Sports presenter Emma Parton has been dubbed the ‘queen of darts’
Paton will return to her hosting duties for the 2024-2025 World Darts Championship
Who is Emma Paton?
Emma Paton is known for her starring role as a presenter for Sky Sports and Sky Sports News.
The blonde beauty is a regular face on Sky Sports and Sky Sports News and is highly regarded for her brilliant coverage of the darts championship.
Paton, who has an athletic history herself, was a former track star and competed in the 400 meters at the national level before entering the media world.
The 34-year-old started as a journalist at Sky in 2012 before making the jump to presenting in 2019.
She has also worked as part of the media team for Team GB at the 2012 London Olympics and has also covered the US Open and WWE on tennis.
Speaking to SportsGazette about her reason for joining the journalism industry, Paton said: “I’m someone who just loves sport. Having an athletic background – national level 400m runner – that’s where it all came from.
‘That’s the reason I went into journalism. If I’m not the athlete, why can’t I talk to the athletes?
‘It was really when I did my undergraduate degree at Loughborough that I read more, wrote more and watched more actual stuff.
Paton, who has an athletic history herself, was a former track star and competed in the 400 meters at the national level before entering the media world.
The 34-year-old started as a journalist at Sky in 2012 before making the jump to presenting in 2019
“And to be honest, when I finished, there weren’t that many courses that I would continue with later.
“There weren’t many postgraduate courses, there weren’t many doing NCTJ [National Council for the Training of Journalists] qualifications, I was lucky to find the ones I had.”
After completing her course, Paton went straight into the media world, taking on the role of a runner, and it wasn’t until a chance meeting with WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H that gave her the courage to appear in front of the camera. .
The unlikely pair met at a wrestling event at London’s Royal Albert Hall in June 2018.
Of the chance meeting, Paton said: “Obviously six or seven years ago I was trying hard to present.
‘This was before I made any breakthrough with darts. I worked in production, behind the camera.
‘I was looking for opportunities to gain experience as a presenter.
“Eventually one of my colleagues was working on WWE and said, ‘We do podcasts if you ever want to come shadow or watch, let me know.’
‘At event came to the Royal Albert Hall for a press day and then the event in the evening.
‘My colleague said I had to ask a question. I raised my hand and they brought a microphone and I asked about the growth of women’s wrestling and Triple H gave a very long answer.”
‘A month later, my colleague gets an email from his PA saying, ‘We want to give you this exclusive, as mentioned. There will be an all-female pay-per-view, which has never been done before. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon would like to invite Emma to New York to cover the event for Sky Sports.
‘A job became available at Sky Sports News for a presenter/reporter job, which I applied for and was lucky enough to get through the stages.
‘I had been working at Sky for seven or eight years. Maybe the Triple H thing gave me confidence too. Really random.”
A chance meeting with WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H gave her the courage to take her photo for the on-camera presentation
Is Emma Paton married?
Not much is known about Paton’s private life as the queen of darts prefers to keep her relationships out of the public eye.
That being said, it is known that she is not married, but is reportedly dating a man named Hannibal.