Jess Berry talks exclusively to walkongirls.co.uk to let her fans know exactly what goes on on a typical night behind the scenes as a walkongirl.
*Massive* thanks to Jess for taking the time out to write this up - I'm sure your fans (like me) are eternally grateful :)
The Secret Diary of a WalkonGirl - Jessica Berry
'We usually get to the Venue for about 3 and then go straight into hair and makeup. The makeup artists are fab, well they have the ability to make me look half decent so they must be. Usually about 5 we get to eat … the food is unreal , best part of the night ! haha'
'Then we have time to like prepare before we go live at 7 … usually we will go and talk to everyone and catch up with like, Rod [Harrington], Dave [Clarke] and John [McDonald] and the others its such a good laugh as its like one big family.'
'The outfits are picked out by Sky, they're all themed for the prems and depending on the names of the players depends on which outfits we wear. We have such a laugh trying them on … I'm not the smallest of girls really, so sometimes its like "Jess S your going to have to wear this one..." haha.'
'Then we get called to come into the arena for 7 and there we wait until the first darts players come in … its great. Sometimes we have a little chat with the players before they go on to try and relax them a bit as we know they must be nervous, so we have a bit of banter and try and make them laugh - its all part of the job really.'
'After each walk on we rush back and change into the next outfit. I'll always try and get to the nearest TV once I'm ready as I really do enjoy watching the darts, and if I wasn't walking-on I'd be at home with the man watching, so its just an extra bonus to actually be there.'
'I can't really give you any back stage gossip or anything as there isn't any, we all just have a great laugh and get on dead well. There are no 'Diva strops' or anything, - like I said its just one big family, and one of the most enjoyable jobs I am lucky enough to do.'
- Jess Berry.
I hope you enjoyed this insiders insight into the life of a walkongirl. Needless to say - and I'm sure everyone will agree with me on this one - darts just wouldn't be the same without them.
Walkongirls for me add a touch of class, glamour and drama to the whole darting experience and I'd like to thank everyone from the organisers to the girls themselves for the hard work they put in for our enjoyment.
As the walkongirls.co.uk website has developed I have found many many players, presenters, model agencies, fans and walkongirls themselves to be a really friendly and approachable bunch - Thankyou one and all...
If you see my ugly mug at the darts, be sure to come over and say "Hi!",
Phil - walkongirls.co.uk