Curry house 'victim': I was cut by knife thrown by Tarrant

The man who claims Chris Tarrant assaulted him in an Indian restaurant has accused the TV star of throwing a knife at him.

John Trussler said he was left with an inch-long cut after the incident in the Memsaab curry house in Nottingham on Sunday night.

Tarrant, 60, was arrested for assault after Mr Trussler reported the incident to police.

The Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? host said it was "just a bit of horseplay", adding that he was "bewildered" by what had happened.

Trussler said: "I couldn't believe it when he said he'd lobbed a spoon.

"Police took pictures of the cut. The next day I went to my doctor's. A nurse gave me a tetanus injection."

"I jokingly said, 'Sit down, you don't know what you're doing.' He put his plate down, picked up a knife and threw it at me. He was about 20ft away," he told The Sun

Minutes after the incident Tarrent returned to his hotel and police arrived to arrest him on suspicion of assault. He had to sit in a cell until the early hours of yesterday before being released on bail.

Tarrant said: "I'm just bewildered. I don't know what his motives are. It's part and parcel of the whole thing about being a celebrity and being famous.

"You do get used to that stuff but what's weird is that there was no aggression or animosity between us. I thought he was a nice guy and said goodnight to him."

He denied his reaction, described by an aide as a "Tiswas incident" after Tarrant's chaotic 1980s childrens show, was due to stress over his bitter divorce from his wife Ingrid or that he had been drinking heavily.

Tarrant and his fan first met outside the award-winning MemSaab restaurant in Nottingham, when the star arrived for a business dinner with a TV producer.

The man, who was with his girlfriend, started joking immediately.

A friend of Tarrant's said: "He was prattling on and on and on. First it was 'Chris Tarrant - who thought I'd find you in an Indian takeaway'.

"Every time the producer asked Chris a question, in what was a very quiet restaurant, this guy would chirp up with 'Ooooh, are you going to phone a friend?'.

"Then he was saying, 'What are you going to choose, A, B, C or D?', when Chris picked up the menu.

"It went on and on. He kept interrupting. And of course he was coughing away in a reference to Millionaire cheat Major Charles Ingram.

"When the waiter came back with the dessert menu, he chipped in with, 'Oh, but I don't want to give you that'."

Finally, after Tarrant went to a buffet to refill his plate, he asked the man: "Look, can I just have a meal with my mate?

"We have quite a complicated work day. Can we just talk about what we are here to talk about - the scripts and stuff?'

Tarrant admits that, perhaps unwisely, he then threw something at the diner.

He said: "I lobbed, I stress lobbed, a spoon, or a fork, or napkin, whatever, and that was it."

Tarrant said the man reacted light-heartedly, although he later seemed to be having a row with his girlfriend.

The first Tarrant heard of the assault claim was when four police officers knocked on the door of his room at Nottingham's Crowne Plaza.

He said: "Two were in flak jackets. I thought it was a spoof and Jeremy Beadle was going to come out.

"They said, 'Mr Tarrant, there's been an assault. Would you come down to the station?'."

It emerged that the other diner had phoned 999 and claimed Tarrant's cutlery had cut his arm.

The star, who was at the police station until 2.30am, must report back next month to find out if he will be charged.

Tarrant has been using studios in Nottingham to edit footage for his charity oneman show, which has its first outing on Sunday.

The incident is the latest in a string of blows. Earlier this month, he was banned from driving for speeding.

He and Ingrid are battling over his £20million fortune.

The couple split in February after she found out he had been having a seven-year affair with teacher Fiona McKechnie.