lil kim prison

Rapper Lil' Kim is delighted to be competing on the new season of US TV's Dancing With The Stars - because it is "the number one show in prison".

Lil Kim is reportedly overjoyed to be competing on the new season ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" because of the show's popularity with prison audiences. The rapper was jailed for a year and a day in 2005 after being found guilty of perjury in relation to a New York shooting in 2001.

While incarcerated in Philadelphia, Kim developed a love for the reality show, and was encouraged by all the inmates to enter the dance competition.

She tells The Insider, "I'm a huge fan! When I was in prison, me and my girls used to watch it. My girls were like, 'Kim, you need to be on that show.'

"When I was in prison, me and my girls used to watch it. My girls were like, Kim, you need to be on that show. "In prison you have to all agree what shows you watch. If we can't agree, it doesn't get watched. Everyone watched it faithfully. It's like the number one show in prison!" The pint-sized entertainer not only got on the show, she was lucky enough to have landed last year's Dancing With The Stars champion, Derek Hough, as her professional partner. She adds, "I was hoping and praying that I got Derek for my partner." The new season of "Dancing with the Stars" premieres Monday, March 9.

And Kim is thankful to have landed last year's Dancing With The Stars champion, Derek Hough, as her professional partner.

She adds, "I was hoping and praying that I got Derek for my partner."

A few hours after the news broke that two celebrities had dropped out of "Dancing with the Stars" with injuries, Lil' Kim was on the phone, sounding concerned but determined.

"I'm fine. I'm being very careful," said the Grammy-winning rapper, who's among the dancers still in the mix for the show's eighth season, which premieres tonight. "I feel really bad for those who've had those problems. It's just a bummer."

The new Dancing With The Stars competition premieres in the US on 9 March.