MI5 spies hold ‘Secretly Come Dancing’ contest to ease stress of war on terror
MI5 spooks relaxed from the war on terror with a “Secretly Come Dancing” contest, it was revealed.
Spies competed in their version of the hit BBC show as a way of unwinding from their high-pressure jobs protecting Britain.
In an ITV interview, one female intelligence officer admitted: “We had ‘Secretly Come Dancing’ — so a lot like Strictly, but we called it ‘Secretly Come Dancing’ of course, as spies do. And yeah, it was good fun.”
Asked if she took part, the investigator, known only as Karina, said: “No. I watched. Yeah. I wasn’t ready to unleash my incredible dancing skills in front of my colleagues.”
The competition is understood to have been a one-off event at the Security Service’s London HQ.
Details of life inside the Service emerged during an ITV Tonight documentary.
An agent runner, known only as Rob, told the programme how he had worked as a teacher before becoming a spy.
Asking about recruiting agents, he said: “It may be that they’d been… drawn down a path into extremism, where they’ve suddenly felt, ‘no, this isn’t right, I don’t like where this is going and I’m not comfortable.’
“It could be someone who’s a friend of someone who’s seen a real change in them.
“It could even be family members, again, who are uncomfortable [with] what’s happening to them.”
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Rob also revealed: “We’re quite notorious as agent-runners as having the biggest wardrobe in the office.
“We have to fit in in all different sorts of circumstances and surroundings.
“It’s important that you’ve got a whole range of different clothes available to you so you can blend in in that way.”
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