MI5 let their hair down with Strictly Come Dancing and Bake Off contests at London HQ to raise £300,000 for charity
- The intelligence officers called it Secretly Come Dancing and agents paired up
- MI5 also had a Bake Off event, named The Great MI5 Bake Off, it’s been revealed
- Details of the dancing competition emerged in an ITV Tonight interview
Spies at MI5 held their own version of Strictly Come Dancing in their top secret headquarters to boost morale.
The intelligence officers jokingly called it Secretly Come Dancing and agents paired up for one night only to raise money for charity.
MI5 also had a Bake Off event, named The Great MI5 Bake Off, with teams working on keeping Britain safe bringing in their cakes, it can be revealed.
Details of the dancing competition emerged in an ITV Tonight interview with MI5 employees, to be broadcast tomorrow evening.
Spies at MI5 held their own version of Strictly Come Dancing in their top secret headquarters to boost morale
One spook, known only as Karina, said: ‘We called it Secretly Come Dancing of course, as spies do. And yeah, it was good fun.’
Asked if she competed, she responded: ‘No. I watched. I wasn’t ready to unleash my incredible dancing skills in front of my colleagues.’
The competition, which took place at the London HQ in the summer, included dances such as the tango, quickstep, cha-cha, jive and other ballroom dances.
MI5 also had its own version of Bake Off which saw spooks enter numerous cakes – with the winner a salted caramel and chocolate dessert.
An employee said: ‘These competitions are part of the rich tapestry of life which comes about because we can’t tell people outside what we do.
One spook, known only as Karina, said: ‘We called it Secretly Come Dancing of course, as spies do. And yeah, it was good fun.’ Pictured: contestants on the BBC series this year
‘It boosts morale and is really important for creating a team atmosphere. The better people work together the better chance we have in stopping terrorists.’ They added: ‘It’s an environment where you can most be yourself because you can’t talk in detail about your work outside it. It is a unique atmosphere.’
The employee said staff had raised around £300,000 for charity over the past couple of years from such events. Asked which charity, they said: ‘We can never say.’
An agent-runner named Rob said those doing his job were well known for having lots of clothes because they needed outfits for all scenarios.
He said: ‘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.’
The Tonight show Inside MI5: Keeping The UK Safe with Rohit Kachroo will air tomorrow at 7.30pm on ITV.