My accomplice Rachel (the lovely lady in red) and I were sent on a top secret assignment in August.
Our mission (should we choose to accept it) was to attend the Meerkat Intelligence Agency Ball, co-presented by Future Cinema, where a new meerkat identity would be unveiled.
On arrival at The Troxy, we were ushered around to the side entrance, quizzed briefly by two ‘agents’ about our ‘cover stories’, tagged with wristbands and led inside.
The hall was decked out splendidly recreating the ambience of an embassy ball, with a torch singer and jazz band on stage, and a buffet serving pork loin, chicken schnitzel and sauerkraut. We were greeted by ‘the Ambassador’ who played host for the evening.
We’d been promised a celebrity agent would show up and sure enough, former Austin Powers sidekick Liz Hurley strutted on stage in a skin-tight dress. She introduced the newest member of the Compare the Meerkat team, badass Agent Maiya.
Now a schoolteacher, Maiya is a former special agent for the MIA, who’s fluent in 6 languages and trained in martial arts including sumo!
We watched the Compare the Meerkat mini movie featuring Maiya in secret agent mode. This was followed by a screening of the original Mission Impossible starring Tom Cruise and stunning Emmanuelle Beart (who has a little bit of the meerkat look about her).
Future Cinema, the team behind Secret Cinema, are renowned for creating immersive cinema experiences around flicks like Grease, Bugsy Malone and Dirty Dancing.
From drummers beating past our seats, actors playing out fight scenes and unexpected explosions, we felt like we were part of the action.
The highlight was when, right on cue, a man in black came whizzing down from the ceiling and enacted the famous Tom Cruise rope stunt scene to perfection. Ultra cool.
Afterwards, we got goodie bags with our own Maiya toy (and Maiya spectacles) to take home.
A truly fun and memorable evening out. Thanks to Kelly (and Agent X) for inviting us.
To watch Maiya in action, or to claim your very own Maiya meerkat toy, complete with ‘certificate of authenticness’, just go to comparethemeerkat.com. Simples.
Looks like a glam night (you look GORGE)-love your specs appeal and how amazing Liz was there (no safety pins though)-disappointed. Love those little meerkats x
LOL yeah no safety pins but she did look very foxy. Meerkats are fab, I’m very keen on Agent Maiya — I only let the boys play with her from time to time. She’s mine! Really fun event x