Phil Taylor has criticised Luke Littler's performance during Netflix's 'Beat Luke Littler' show, saying he should have impressed as he progressed through the big-money event.
Littler was tasked with beating 20 'amateurs' who would win £501,000 if they could beat the reigning world champion in a one-off leg of darts during the live show in Manchester.
Fallon Sherrock -- Littler's 15th opponent on the night -- did just that as she took home the second most valuable prize in the sport's history.
But her place on Littler's shortlist of opponents drew controversy given her status as a matchwinner at the World Championship.
'The Queen of the Palace' won two matches in 2019 as she made history by becoming the first woman to win a match at the World Championship. She went on to Sherrock was knocked out in the first round last year.
She was joined on the shortlist by the likes of a bin man from Bedford and an Australian jockey.
Also featuring was up-and-coming darts star Mitchell Lawrie, 15, as some onlookers criticised Netflix for not following through on their earlier framing of the event as Littler vs. 20 true amateurs.
Netflix considered anyone who did not, and had never, held a PDC tour card as being eligible for the event with open tryouts for hopefuls taking place in September.
- Fallon Sherrock on beating Littler for £501,000: Happy to overcome 'all the hate'
"I enjoyed it. Some of the players were very nervous in the earlier rounds," 16-time world champion Taylor told talkSPORT on Sunday.
"Fallon was brilliant and it's changed the young girl's life, which I'm really, really pleased about.
"All this doom and gloom every time you pick the newspapers up. Now, this young girl has a young son, she can buy herself a house, rent-free for the rest of her life, no mortgages, which is brilliant.
"I love winners anyway."
- Who is Fallon Sherrock? 'Queen of the Palace' beat Luke Littler to win £501,000
Taylor was critical of his Target Darts stablemate, Littler, however. The two-time world champion's form was patchy at best on the night as he hit two 180s and, one 12-dart leg aside, needed as many as 22 darts to beat one opponent.
"I'm being honest with you now, if anything, Luke should have gotten better. I would have got better on the fifth [match]," Taylor said.
"If you're going to beat me or Ady [Adrian Lewis], you're going to have to do early doors because we get stronger. So Fallon's done really, really well there.
"I was at the pre-show, one of the judges with Barry [Hearn] and Laura [Turner], and we could see out the window, it was raining, and the queues were massive, seriously, like a football match.
"They stood there in the rain all day, and so did Fallon. She had to earn a place as well, and she did it. She came in and she hit the double.
"She says, 'I was so lucky to qualify.' And she's come through and won. I'm dead proud."
Adrian Lewis: Sherrock did brilliantly, but Littler wasn't at his best
Sherrock was beaten 4-0 by Taylor's former protégé Adrian Lewis in an exhibition in Northampton on Sunday, two nights after her £501,000 single leg victory over Littler.
"I loved every aspect of it. From the stage, how it looked, the walk-ons. I love that trash man," Lewis said about the Netflix event.
"I thought he was fantastic when he came out in a wheelie bin. But the stage set-up and everything else, if the PDC can do that, where you can walk directly straight up the middle of the stage and walk on like that instead of coming up those side steps, like scaffolding steps, it would be a lot better.
"I thought it was fantastic and, if anything, I think that's the way it should go, I think, eventually."
On Sherrock, he added: "I think she's done brilliantly, like you say. I don't know if Luke was starting to get a bit bored or what, I'm not sure what was going on.
"The first few, you could tell they were really nervous. The contestants were very nervous, and I expect every time somebody comes up at part one, I thought, I never heard of them, but I thought they're going to be half decent because of that part one.
"They just didn't show up, did they, unfortunately. But I think if he'd had a really tough start, he might have settled in a bit quicker and put him on the back foot."