KCL student opens up about time on Channel 4 show Hunted

Last May, three King’s students were selected to be hunters in Channel 4’s new show, Hunted.

Gabriel Hardy-Françon, Aisha Ishaq and Alexander Guirakhoo used their degree skills to track down fugitives on the run. The production team behind Hunted approached King’s lecturer Dr Huw Dylan. He taught MA Intelligence and International Security to the trio and suggested them for the

I spoke to Gabriel Hardy-Françon about his time on the show.

Gabriel

Did the show open up any doors for you after graduation?

It did not help me more than that (the show) because I did not use it in any way. This was truly just a way for me to have fun and to meet people. I did not ever think nor sought to be on TV.

Do you have any cool anicdotes from the show that you can share?

Well the French production came to visit and they were super surprised to see a French guy on the show, and I received an email later asking me if I’d like to be a hunter in France if they did the show. I found that cool, doing something in the UK opening doors for me in France. Because all of my friends are in France and everybody asks me for a link to watch the shows. I have almost no audience in the UK aside from a few friends.

What was the selection process like?
I did an interview, they asked me to speak about myself and describe my qualities… you know, the usual.

The job description, investigating associates, searching CCTV footage and tracking mobile location, sounds like detective work to me.

Oh it completely was! What struck me was the intensity of the work – sometimes, the work load was so overwhelming. But we had to force ourselves to keep a cool head. There were a few egos in the room, people who know their stuff and didn’t always see eye to eye

Looking at the picture everyone looks intense. Was it a competitive environment to work in

I was an intel officer, bottom of the food chain. But all intel would go through us and we had to categorise everything. We formed a team and worked together. But some times, of course there would be friction

Did you say anything to the annoying intel?

The problem was that we were in a fully open space with cameras everywhere, and we were wearing our mics all the time! So if you wanted to say something bad you had to make sure to turn it off.

When there’d be a situation where you’d be filmed but you forgot to turn the mic back on, the production team would be like: “Wait a minute, he does not have his mic on, we have to do it again.”

What did you find cool?

What I loved the most were the Cyber guys, they were deadly cool! Sometimes I’d get behind their screens – and I’m good at computers – but seriously I had no clue what they were doing. Like magicians with a keyboard.”