Ricky Evans has advanced to the second round of the Belgian Darts Open, but it was his noticeably hoarse voice that grabbed attention in a post-match interview. The 35-year-old Englishman, known as 'Rapid Ricky', defeated compatriot Scott Williams in the opening round and will now face Ryan Searle. However, the focus quickly shifted from his darts to a wild story behind his raspy tone.
Evans revealed that his voice was diminished due to an epic karaoke session at a stag do last week before the tournament in Göttingen. "I can tell you exactly what it was. I went to a stag do last week before Göttingen, and I sang too much karaoke," he explained. The cause wasn't illness or a cold, but a day-long singing spree that lasted about six hours. "A load of friends of mine love the races, but instead of watching the racing, I decided to do karaoke for about six hours," Evans added, noting it wasn't alcohol-related but purely karaoke-focused.
The result was a completely overworked voice that still hadn't recovered days later. When pressed about the intensity, Evans joked, "You can hear my voice now and it's rubbish—imagine this singing!" Despite the vocal strain, he looked back on the outing with pleasure, saying, "No, I loved it. I enjoyed it, I loved the people I was with, and I took the day off because of Göttingen." He admitted that Monday and Tuesday were particularly hard-hitting with a lot of karaoke, though he tried to switch to professionalism by having a 'lemonade day' on Wednesday in Benidorm before flying to Amsterdam and then Hannover.
Evans' hoarse voice even drew humorous comparisons to well-known TV characters, which he visibly enjoyed. "And this is the reason why I sound like Beppe from EastEnders," he said, with the interviewer adding another comparison to Louis Armstrong. Now, Evans is letting his darts do the talking as he prepares to face Ryan Searle in the next round of the Belgian Darts Open.
