EMMA PATON got her first break in TV thanks to WWE wrestler TRIPLE H.
The Sky Sports darts presenter has revealed that a chance meeting with the American superstar gave her the opportunity to get in front of the camera.
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Paton, now 30, was an accomplished athlete before doing a Masters degree in sports journalism and going on to become the hugely-popular face of the oche.
She told Wayne Mardle on the William Hill Club 501 on YouTube: “Obviously I was trying hard to present six or seven years ago.
“This was before I made any breakthrough with darts. I was working in production, behind the camera.
“I was trying to find opportunities to gain experience as a presenter.
“In the end one of my colleagues worked on WWE and said ‘we do podcasts if you ever want to come and shadow or watch, let me know’.
“At event came up at the Royal Albert Hall for a press day and then the event in the evening.
“My colleague told me to ask a question. I put my hand up and they brought a mic over and I asked about the growth of women’s wrestling and Triple H gave this really long answer.
“The press conference wrapped up and he’s walking out with his entourage and comes over to me and introduces himself. He says ‘I might have an exclusive for you’.
“A month later and my colleague gets an email from his PA and said ‘we want to give you this exclusive as mentioned. There will be this all women’s pay-per-view which has never been done before. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon would like to invite Emma over to New York to cover the event for Sky Sports’.
“A job came up at Sky Sports news for a presenter/reporter job which I applied for and I was lucky enough to get through the stages.
“I’d been at Sky for seven or eight years. The Triple H thing maybe gave me confidence as well. Really random.”
But super-fit Emma had only turned to sports journalism after her athletics career had gone wrong due to injury.
She added: “I was reasonably fit. I’d run a cross country and wouldn’t give up.
“That led me to athletics. People were like ‘you’re quick, you’re fit, you should go down to a track’.
“So I ended up doing that and representing my county and country.
The Triple H thing maybe gave me confidence as well. Really random.
Emma Paton
“400 metres was what I got to. I wish I had come to the sport earlier, maybe 200 would have been my event.
“Actually 800… that was what I represented. It was horrific, it was horrible. I’d run like the first lap quick and then I’d die!
“So I settled on 400 which was brutal. The training was awful but I loved it, that’s what I enjoy the most. I enjoyed that more than the competing.
“I did sports science at Loughborough University. When I went there I was like I want to take this more seriously, training and competing.
“It was almost like the life of an elite athlete. They were good times. What happened? I was rubbish!
“A lot of it was injuries. I’d done my ankle in at one point. I wish I had started the sport sooner.
‘Football is my first love’
“You’ve got to be doing something from a really early age. I fell short of my dreams.”
Emma also spoke more about her footie team Manchester United – and how their hopes of glory will “disappear” again.
She added: “After Loughborough I did a Masters in sports journalism. I just applied for jobs.
“I applied for a job writing for the Sky Sports app and website SkySports.com, writing news stories, features.
“Football is my first love and what I’d always watched as a kid. That is engrained really.”
On United’s run without the Premier League title, she added: “It’s a prolonged spell.
“United will get rid of a load of players, hopefully bring in a few people and, ahead of the new season, everyone will be so excited again.
“Top four on the agenda again. Then the season starts and everyone’s hopes disappear.”
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