Dragon needed armed guards on new show

Tycoon Peter Jones has revealed that he needed armed guards while filming new reality show American Inventor in the US.

The entrepreneur, who is also a judge on BBC2's Dragons' Den, said he had required round-the-clock protection because of his harsh put-downs on the programme.

He told The Sun: "I’ve been branded the British Mr Nasty. It’s quite difficult when you get typecast. I think Simon Cowell has found it hard.

"The Americans think the British are really evil. It hit home when out of the four judges on American Inventor, I was the only one given an armed guard. I had two round the clock and when we were travelling from city to city doing the first round of auditions, they were outside my hotel room every night."

He added that he also had a stalker, saying: "He came to the hotel and tried to get my room number and was caught down in reception. It didn’t scare me, because although you need to be cautious I knew I had a guard with a gun outside my door. I didn’t even think I was being that insulting to people.

“Simon has had a stalker and similar problems to me. It goes with the territory."

The series, which is co-produced by Cowell, has attracted 15 million viewers in the US.

> American Inventor heads to Virgin1