James Wade is back at the World Darts Championship and will begin his tournament against Japanese thrower Ryusei Azemoto. The Machine has failed to get past the second round in the past three renewals of the competition.
Wade is an icon of the sport, having won 11 PDC major titles, although he has yet to be crowned world champion. Four times has The Machine made it to the final four but on each of those occasions he has fallen short. Ally Pally has proven a difficult place to come for the 42-year-old in recent times but he’ll look to mount a more substantial challenge this year as he squares off against Azemoto in round one. Cheering him on will be former darts ring girl wife Sammi Marsh, though Wade used to date another star of the screen.
Wade quit his job at a garage and lifted his first PDC major in 2007. Not long after this, he became romantically linked with former Soccer AM presenter Helen Chamberlain.
Chamberlain joined the show in 1995 and was one of its brightest stars during its early stages, alongside co-host Tim Lovejoy. She had been a pub darts player in the past and in 2008 rumours began circulating that she and Wade were an item.
These whispers that Wade, who was 25 at the time, was dating the then 41-year-old presenter, were addressed by the player himself who said: « Some of the things I’ve read are not quite true, but we all have good friends, whether they are male or female.
« Helen loves darts – perhaps that’s why we get on so well – but people are putting two and two together and making seven. If they made five, they may be closer to the truth, or they may be a million miles away… who knows? »
This supposed romance came to an end in 2010 and Chemberlain continued presenting Soccer AM after iconic co-host Lovejoy left in 2007.
A decade later it was announced that Chamberlain had left the show and its official account wrote on social media: « Farewell and thank you to Mrs Soccer AM. This place won’t be the same without you. »
Wade soon found love elsewhere in the form of former glamour model and PDC walk-on girl Sammi. The pair first met each other when Sammi would walk Wade out to the oche and in 2013 they began dating. Just two years on and the pair were married.
They now share two sons together, Arthur who was born in 2018 and Alfred who arrived four years later in 2022. Wade and his other half keep hush on their private life but the English darts icon shed some light on his marriage in 2019.
Wade sat down with his wife to talk about the Premier League and she asked him what his greatest moment in darts was so far. Wade gave an honourable reply.
« Meeting my wife Samantha, » he replied, before Sammi clapped back: « You had to say that. » Wade backed up his response though and ended by saying: « Well, it probably was. »
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