Marketing manager of London’s QEII Centre, Roopi Woodall, has been named joint winner of Channel 4 television series ‘Spies’.
The four-part series saw 15 candidates put through a series of testing challenges to see if they had what it takes to be part of Britain’s elite Secret Intelligence Services.
Based on the ‘Intelligence Officer New Entry Course’, Roopi and her fellow would-be spies were tested on their ability to create convincing cover stories, carry out undercover surveillance, remain calm and collected under pressure and show their ability to win people over with confidence and charisma.
After a quiet start to the series, Roopi featured heavily in episode three when she excelled in tasks to elicit information from strangers in a pub and handle intense questioning while maintaining her cover story and protecting her partner.
In the final episode, the remaining four candidates were dispatched to Morocco, where they had to operate alone undercover and face hostile interviewing under extreme conditions. Once again Roopi’s sheer determination and resilience shone through and was enough to see her and fellow candidate Matt Johnson be named the only two to pass the extreme course.
Speaking after the final episode of the show aired on Thursday, 26 January, Roopi said: “I am so proud to have got to the end of the course and to have won alongside Matt; I’ve learned a lot about myself. It’s a real achievement, especially as I was up against an exceptional bunch of people. When I applied, I didn’t really think I could win, I thought it would be a once in a lifetime experience but that was it.
“I did take the whole process really seriously though and took every piece of feedback from the professional spies on board, which clearly paid off. I learned a great deal about myself during the process – I’ve had my resilience and emotional reserves tested but it’s amazing how much you can actually cope with outside of your comfort zone.
“The experience really was once in a lifetime, something I could never have done in any other circumstances. I’ll also be keeping in touch with my fellow ‘spies’, they’re a great and diverse group of people.”
All four episodes of Channel 4’s Spies are available to watch on demand on All 4.