Alan Carr has insisted that he does serve his guests real alcohol on Chatty Man - because it saves him "doing research".

"They just open up - you get more out of them [when they've been drinking]," Carr told Digital Spy at the National Television Awards.

The comedian was named best Chat Show Host at the NTAs, beating Michael McIntyre, Graham Norton, Paul O'Grady and Jonathan Ross.

The victory was decided by viewers, though Carr insisted that he had not campaigned for votes online.

"I didn't wanna hammer it on Twitter and tell everyone [to vote] - because there's nothing worse, is there?" he said. "If people vote for you, they vote for you, which is always sweet."

Carr had previously apologised for his NTAs acceptance speech, branding it "f**king s**t".

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