It’s a common sight. A friend, family member, or colleague seemingly paralysed in fright at the smallest spider you have ever seen.

Now imagine the same every time you go to make a cuppa (or a paned!)

Well, that’s life for three-time World Snooker champion Mark Williams, who admitted to the BBC’s Catrin Heledd last month that he has such an unusual phobia.

Williams made the revelation during the Welsh Open where he was eliminated in the last 16 after losing to Barry Hawkins.

The 50-year-old has been on excellent form in the last couple of years, becoming the oldest winner of a ranking event in October 2025.

Known as the Welsh Potting Machine, Williams admitted he was far more comfortable around the baize than he is when near a cup of tea.

Speaking to Heledd during the mid-session interval during a Welsh Open quarter-final clash in Llandudno, the presenter said you could “learn a lot” about people in a half hour of snooker action.

She went on to reveal the shocked Welshman’s unusual phobia, who was working alongside her as a pundit.

“Great I can’t wait to get out of here now,” joked Williams in response.

Heledd said the name for the unorthodox phobia was diclebgophobia – a fear of tea bags.

The fear is separate to tepidophobia – which is humorously described as a fear or intense dislike of a badly made cup of tea.

It’s not just Heledd that the Welshman has confided his phobia in. Williams’ old rival, Stephen Hendry, also working as a pundit at the Welsh Open, confirmed his friend’s

“I have threatened him when we go and have a game of golf, I’ll have a couple in the bag when he’s ready to putt,” he told WST’s Snooker Club podcast.

Hendry said his long-time friend had warned he will “punch” him if he brings any tea bags on the golf course.

“It’s so weird and he’s deadly serious about it. He says, ‘If you ever do that, I will come for you’,” he added.

Hendry said he witnessed the Welshman’s unusual habits as the pair went toe-to-toe during the late 90s and early 2000s.

“It’s the strangest thing ever,” Hendry said. “He doesn’t drink tea or coffee or any hot drinks.”

Despite the threats, Hendry has not been dissuaded from pranking his friend, admitting he “will do it one time.”

“Because the number of things he does to me that I tell him not to do, the list is long,” he added.

Next up for Williams on the snooker circuit is the World Open in Yushan, China, before the World Championship gets underway in April.

He will be making his 28th appearance at the famous Crucible after making his debut in 1997.

Williams was beaten in last year’s final by Zhao Xintong who made history when he became China’s first world snooker champion.

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