A London theatre producer was carjacked after returning to his hometown of Leeds for Channel 4’s The Secret Millionaire.
David King was filming the show, in which millionaires go undercover in poor communities to share some of their wealth with good causes, when a man jumped into the Golf and took him on a terrifying ride.
The 56-year-old producer had been at a charity event at a social club for a dance group and was in the passenger seat waiting for a member of the production crew, who had left the keys in the ignition.
Mr King, who amassed a £20 million fortune after creating Irish dance smash hit Spirit Of The Dance, said: “What was happening didn’t quite register at the time, but I soon realised the guy was high on drugs and reeked of booze, and I was being hijacked. I was petrified.
"The guy was smashed out of his brains and had just screeched off the car park at 60 miles an hour, nearly hitting the television crew.
“I was pleading with him to let me out. All I could think was that I had to get out of the car. I shouted repeatedly ‘let me out, let me out’. He screamed back ‘shut up or I’ll kill you’.”
Mr King escaped when the thief had to brake to avoid a collision with another car. “I threw open the door and flung myself out onto the road,” he said.
The Golf was recovered but police are still searching for the thief. Footage of the carjacking will be shown on The Secret Millionaire on Monday at 9pm.
Mr King lives in Totteridge and runs his business from an office in Bushey.
