Imperial students sneak backstage at this year's BRIT awards
Students use fake press pass to bypass tens of security staff
Two Imperial College Television (ICTV) reporters managed to sneak past security and get backstage to the BRIT awards on Wednesday, and even managed to interview some celebrities before leaving undetected.
The two students turned up at the star-studded event based at the O2 arena brandishing poorly made press passes, and were able to pass by security and enter the backstage area.
A video made of the evening by the students (embedded below) shows two different security guards direct them towards the press entrance. Later, one of the reporters remarks how "Five Security guards just walked past us, and said nothing!"
After bypassing security, they ran into Lionel Richie, who they then proceeded to interview about how relevant the Brit Awards are. “Relevance is what it is all about!” he told the students, before escorted away to his seat within the arena.
The students then loitered around for around 30 minutes, and ran into numerous celebrities as they were shepherded into their seats. Those they encountered included two members of the Spice Girls, members of the pop group Little Mix, comedian Jimmy Carr, female musician St. Vincent and Caroline Flack, the esteemed presenter of hit TV Show the Xtra Factor.
The pair approached Jade Thirlwall, one of the members of the girl group Little Mix, and asked Jade if they thought another X-Factor contestant could win an award.
The two students also managed to snag an impromptu interview with Damon Albarn, 46, the frontman of the bands Blur and the Gorillaz, who was also nominated for the British Male Solo artist award.
They also asked him if he had any favourites to win, to which he replied “Nah, not really.” He then sadly slunk away to take his place in the audience.
He later lost the award to Ed Sheeran, aged 24.
One of the intrepid reporters told Felix: “We actually saw a lot more famous people, but we literally had no idea who they all were.
“I guess there are worst ways to spend a Wednesday evening.”
The pair hung around backstage for a further two hours, interviewing random bystanders as the show took place, before leaving and telling the security “Good job lads!”
They then grabbed a cheeky Wagamamas before heading home. Said one of the reporters: "All in all, a fantastic night out!"
The BRIT awards are held annually, and celebrate the previous year’s achievements in pop music.
You can watch the full video here:
