David Livingston/Getty ImagesForget Hour Magazine. It seems Gary Collins prefers a night in jail.
The former TV fixture was arrested in Biloxi, Miss., after leaving a popular Italian eatery without paying his tab.
Major Vandy Mitchell of the Harrison County Sheriff's Department in Biloxi, where Collins and his wife have a residence, tells E! News that the incident occurred Tuesday night around 10:40 p.m. at Jazzeppi's restaurant.
"He walked out without paying his bill and they called the police," Mitchell added.
Cops quickly caught up with Collins and took him into custody on charges of defrauding an innkeeper, which happens to be a felony since the amount of the check was over $25. After spending the night in the clink, the ex-talk show host was released on $5,000 bail.
No word on a court date or exactly what his beef was with the restaurant.
Maybe he just didn't like the fried green tomatoes. Or was this a meager attempt to do fellow actor Randy Quaid one better in a dine-and-dash contest? In any case, it's not the first run-in with the law for Collins, who has three drunk-driving busts under his belt dating back to 2002.
In October, Missisippi authorities put out an APB for his arrest for misdemeanor hit-and-run after he allegedly left the scene of a three-car pileup he was involved in.
The next month, the onetime Circus of the Stars ringmaster and Miss America Pageant emcee (his wife is former Miss America Mary Ann Mobely) was issued a $100,000 arrest warrant by a Los Angeles judge for missing a Nov. 4 progress report hearing in his 2007 DUI case.
An attorney for Collins could not be reached for comment.
UPDATE March 2, 2010: A judge dismissed the charge after an employee of Jazzeppi's restaurant asked to withdraw his complaint. No further information was released and neither Collins nor the restaurant had a comment.