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Stephen Bunting's first taste of the Premier League left him a broken man and pondering his future in darts. His second left him thirsty for more and determined to prove the doubters wrong.

That is despite the Bullet's 2025 campaign, which saw him lose his first eight matches, win just one night and finish at the foot of the table. As a result of that, plus an early exit from the World Championship, Bunting was a controversial wildcard selection in the view of some fans, who felt the likes of Nathan Aspinall and Danny Noppert were more worthy of a spot. Bunting isn't having any of that. In fact, he is mildly peeved that some people think he shouldn't have got the nod.

"I'm a bit disappointed that people thought it was between me and Nathan," said Bunting, who was on a flight with Aspinall when he found out the news.

"I believe I deserved to be in. I'm world number seven. Last year, I won several tournaments [across the Players Championship, European Tour and World Series] and I was in something like 10 finals.

"I've got a great fanbase, a great walk-on and I honestly believe I deserve to be in there. And I'm going to show everyone that I deserve to be in there."

Despite the noise surrounding his selection this time round, Bunting isn't feeling under any extra pressure to perform. "I think the pressure is off," he insisted before adding with a wry smile: "I lost the first eight matches last year! That ain't going to happen this year, I can assure you of that.

"I'm going to give my all to the tour. I'm going to pull back a bit from some exhibitions to make sure I'm fresh for the tour. The Premier League means everything to me and I want to play in that for the rest of my days while I'm a professional darts player. I'm willing to put the work in and I'm really looking forward to it."

Bunting's maiden Premier League campaign in 2015 was soul-crushing at times. He avoided relegation after nine weeks but finished at the foot of the table of the players who completed the regular season, winning just three games out of 16.

Unlike on this occasion, he was overlooked the following year. He recalled: "It really killed me when I played in it 11 years ago and then got dropped out of it.

"It affected my whole career, to be honest. For two or three years after that, I was down in the dumps and literally looking to pack it in."

Since then, he has rebuilt his career and become mentally tougher - or "Bulletproof", as his walk-on song goes. Asked if he was confident whether he would make the cut this time round, he said: "I was confident until not getting a text until the last 27 minutes [before the line-up was made public], or whatever it was! I felt like I deserved to be in but you never know. There are so many fantastic players.

"I knew I needed a good run in the Worlds [to be sure] but it wasn't to be. James Hurrell [who beat him in the third round] played really well against me.

"There were things that went on behind the scenes that people didn't see. I'm not one to make excuses, so I kept them to myself. I'm just thankful that the PDC has seen the opportunity to put me in.

"Now I don't care about any chat about whether I should or shouldn't be in, it's down to me to perform and work really hard to make sure everybody sees the best version of Stephen Bunting."