BBC snooker pundit gives death stare as awkward TV exchange 'goes down like lead balloon'

BBC snooker pundit Steve Davis gave John Parrott a death stare during an awkward live TV exchange at the World Championship final at the Crucible.

Welshman Jak Jones and Kyren Wilson were about to emerge for the evening session on Sunday night, with the Englishman then holding a commanding 7-1 lead.

Six-time world champion Davis offered his view on the situation that both players found themselves in ahead of the evening session, commenting: "We know full well in long-session matches, you can get frame after frame, blocks of frames won by players. So, nowhere near over yet, but it's an uphill struggle and obviously I think Jak Jones would love to win this session, at the very least 5-4."

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At that point, Parrott, the 1991 champion, chipped in with his own comment, referencing the famous 1985 final between Davis and Dennis Taylor in which the latter came from 7-0 down to win 18-17 in what came to be known as the "black-ball final".

Parrott said: "It has happened before, of course, in 1985!"

Davis was unmoved as he fixed his glare, in dead silence, on Parrott's eyes. The Liverpudlian turned his face back towards the camera with an awkward smile on his face.

The shot then cut back to the studio, where BBC presenter Hazel Irvine added: "That went down like a lead balloon, didn't it?"

Whether Davis' 'death stare' was done for comedic effect or not was unclear, but he has previously spoken openly and sagely about that 1985 final defeat.

"I think the best moment of my career was missing the black against Dennis Taylor," he has said previously. "At one stage I was the strongest player in the game so I was expected to win, so those moments when everybody is excited are when you don't.

"With Dennis, that was the best and worst moment of my career because I think it just showed how greatly snooker had been appreciated by the public."

Davis would go on to win the World Championship three more times after losing in 1985, taking his grand total to six, the joint-third most ever behind Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan – and level with Ray Reardon.

Looking ahead to the 2024 edition, though, and Cwmbran product Jones will have to pull off a feat as remarkable as Taylor did in 1985 if he is to be crowned world champion on Monday evening. He begins the final day of the championship trailing Wilson 11-6 in the best-of-35-frames final.