paintballs

The Hoff in Leicestershire for Tank Battle

From This is Leicestershire.co.uk (Photo)

He is best known for having a crime-fighting car for a best mate, saving bikini-clad women from drowning and tearing up the German pop charts.

But TV legend David Hasselhoff was in Leicestershire over the weekend to do battle with a Radio 1 DJ in a paintball tank.The star of Baywatch and Knight Rider became tank rider for the day when he paid a visit to Armourgeddon in Husbands Bosworth – billed as the world's ultimate paintball experience.To the astonishment of other visitors, he was at Southfields Farm on Sunday to film scenes for his new television series, along with drive-time radio presenter Scott Mills.The pair fired paintballs at each other's tanks in a closely-fought battle. The Hoff eventually lost by 17 points to Mills' 18.

They each had a pair of assistants to help them, with Armourgeddon instructor Phil Hopkins acting as commander of Team Hoff.Phil said: "Being the commander I got to get up close and personal with him and all I can say is, what an absolutely fantastic guy."He was the life and soul of the party and was making everyone laugh."He made an excellent tank driver and kept saying he felt much safer driving the tank than he did behind the wheel of Kit – his car in Knight Rider."Tracy Garner, who runs Armourgeddon with her husband, Stuart, said it came as a shock to the other customers when they saw the Hoff walk in.The firm took the booking a week before the big day, but was sworn to secrecy and was told only that a "Hollywood star" would be paying a visit.Mrs Garner said: "It was just a normal day – we had lots of customers in and when they saw the Hoff they were all very shocked and got a bit star-struck."The stars were given their own sealed-off area to do battle for the cameras, but it did not stop them mingling with the other customers. Mrs Garner added: "The Hoff was brilliant. He was chatting to everyone, signing autographs and posing for pictures."It looked like he was having a brilliant time with Scott."What we have here is quite unique.We are the only place in the world that does tank paintball battles, so we were really flattered and pleased they chose to come here."The pair were filming for a UK version of reality show The Hoff – When Scott Came to Stay, where Mills spent time living in California with the Baywatch star.For the second series, where the roles are reversed, they have been visiting some of Britain's more unusual and quirky summer attractions, including the haunted Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire, where Hasselhoff tried morris dancing.Last week, the America's Got Talent judge was seen playing a spot of polo in Richmond.Mills and the Hoff struck up a friendship in 2006 after the DJ gave his backing to the Get Hasselhoff to Number One campaign, which resulted in the single Jump In My Car reaching number three, his highest- ever UK chart entry.The six-part documentary following them around Britain, which does not yet have a title, is due to air on Living TV in September.