Emma hosts ‘fugitive’ celebrities for charity TV show

Tuesday’s episode of Celebrity Hunted saw influencer Saffron Barker and mathematician and broadcaster Bobby Seagull hiding at the college

Contestant Bobby Seagull completed his Master's degree at the collegeDILIFF / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons

by Lucy Miller

This article is 2 years old

Sunday April 30 2023, 10:40am

Whether attending a forbidden bop, visiting a private college bar or just staying with friends, most Cambridge students have infiltrated colleges when they are not strictly allowed. However Tuesday’s episode (25/04) of Channel 4 TV show Celebrity Hunted saw this common pastime receive national attention, as Emmanuel College was put in the spotlight when influencer Saffron Barker and mathematician Bobby Seagull sought refuge in the College.

Celebrity Hunted is a reality TV show which tasks famous faces with seeing if they “can survive 14 days on the run from an elite term of hunters” to raise money for charity. The hunters are surveillance experts who are challenged to locate the celebrities across the UK.

While on the run, Barker and Seagull sought refuge in Emmanuel College, where Seagull completed his Master’s degree in education with a specialisation in maths. Seagull said that he wanted to return to Cambridge for the show to rely on his network within the area: “I’m hoping there are people and connections that can support me.”

Upon arrival, the Dean, Jeremy Caddick, allowed the pair to stay in a guest room within the college. Barker and Seagull had planned to stay the night before moving on to TV star and mathematician Johnny Ball’s house in Buckinghamshire.

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The visit was cut short after Barker and Seagull became increasingly paranoid when Barker was recognised in the street. The show depicted a heightened risk that the pair would be located through social media posts as Barker “can’t say no to a picture”.

An anonymous call was made to the hunters disclosing that they had seen Barker on St Andrew’s Street outside the College, resulting in the experts accessing Emmanuel’s CCTV to view the pair entering the grounds. The hunters asked the porters about their awareness of the fugitives and were given permission to search the grounds which they had already surrounded. However, the pair were able to leave the College before being spotted.

Bobby Seagull has been closely connected with the College previously through his involvement in University Challenge. In 2016/17 Seagull was the team captain for the college, achieving four victories and eventually being defeated in the semi-finals.

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