World number one Gerwyn Price's bizarre attempts to block out the raucous Alexandra Palace crowd by wearing ear defenders failed to have the desired effect as he crashed out of the PDC World Championships.
The 37-year-old Welshman was 3-1 down in his quarter-final to Gabriel Clemens when he donned the accessory in an apparent move to dampen the noise coming from off stage.
But it did not prevent him from losing the fifth set and when he returned to the stage wearing less-bulky ear plugs, which he had apparently spent some time practising in, the outcome was the same as Clemens sealed a 5-1 win to become the first German to reach the last four of the competition.
"I played my game, just focussed on my game," Price told Sky Sports after his defeat when asked about the ear defenders.
Three-time World Championship runner-up Wayne Mardle said Price's actions were those of a man showing vulnerability.
"The situation with Price is that he has had his ear defenders with him prior to this game and it was something he was thinking of doing," he told Sky Sports.
"It shows there is a bit of frailty there. I get why he did it, he wanted to put on an elaborate show."
It is not the first controversy Price has been involved in during the championships as Sky Sports had to apologise to viewers earlier this week after he made a gesture which could have been construed as offensive to disabled people during his victory over Jose de Sousa.
Michael Van Gerwen was in imperious form as he demolished Chris Dobey in the fourth and final quarter-final match of the day, the three-time champion posting an average of 102 en route to a 5-0 win over the Englishman.
The Dutchman, champion in 2014, 2017 and 2019, only lost three legs in the whole match as he cruised to a dominant victory.
Dobey, who defeated two-time champion Gary Anderson on the way to the last-eight, raised in a hand in the air in an ironic triumphant salute after winning his third leg of the match in the fifth set, preventing Van Gerwen from registering another whitewash. The Dutch champion, however, would make no mistake the subsequent leg.
Two-time World Championship runner-up Michael Smith survived a stiff test against Stephen Bunting to progress to the last-four in the afternoon session.
Smith, who lost the 2022 final to Peter Wright, raced into a 4-1 lead against Bunting before losing the next two sets to leave open the possibility of a deciding set.
The fourth seed trailed his opponent in the scoring averages, with 91.63 compared to Bunting's 97.16 but the latter's struggles on the doubles let Smith off the hook.
In the final leg, Bunting missed two darts at double 16 to allow Smith in, nailing the double 10 to secure a 3-1 win in the set and a 5-3 victory overall.
Earlier on, Dimitiri Van den Bergh made history by becoming the first Belgian to reach the semi-finals, defeating third seed Jonny Clayton 5-3 in an upset win.
The first six sets went with the throw, with the match deadlocked at 3-3 until Van den Bergh won the critical seventh set to leave him one from victory.
In a tense eighth set, he made no mistake, the set going to a fifth leg before the Belgian took out double nine to seal his spot in the semis.
In the evening session, No. 1 seed and 2021 champion Gerwyn Price faces Gabriel Clemens, while three-time winner Michael Van Gerwen plays Chris Dobey.
