Inside Celebrity Bear Hunt star Boris Becker’s harrowing prison stint as he says it helped him prepare for show

BORIS Becker has confessed his harrowing prison stint helped him prepare for Celebrity Bear Hunt.

The Wimbledon champ, 57, served eight months of a two-and-a-half-year sentence in 2022 for hiding his assets.

Boris is one of the famous faces taking part in new Netflix show Celebrity Bear Hunt, hosted by Holly Willoughby.

And, speaking during the first episode, he insisted he’s not stranger to overcoming things, “whether it’s losing the Wimbledon final, or having private, difficult situations, or professional”.

Boris previously spoke out about his tough time in prison, admitting he fought “everyday for survival”.

The German tennis pro was released from prison in the UK in December 2022 and deported.

During an appearance on BBC Radio 5 Live, he said: “Whoever says that prison life isn’t hard and isn’t difficult, I think is lying.

“It was a very brutal … a very, very different experience to what you see in the movies, what you’ve heard from stories.”

Boris told how he was surrounded by “murderers, by drug dealers, by rapists, by people smugglers, by dangerous criminals”, adding: “You fight every day for survival.

“Quickly, you have to surround yourself with the tough boys, as I would call it, because you need protection.”

Last year it was revealed prison guards joked about Boris after he arrived at HMP Wandsworth.

In WhatsApp messages obtained by The Times, one officer said how he “looked scared when he came in last night”, with another asking “did you give him a back hander?”

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They added: “Would have been ace. Love to have seen that.

“He’ll see some new balls tonight that’s for sure.”

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