Debbie McGee recalls being held hostage for three months in war-torn Iran
Debbie McGee has shared details of a horrifying past ordeal when she was kidnapped and held hostage in Iran for three months in her youth.
The 64-year-old magicians assistant had a past as a ballet dancer, but the promise of highly paid work in the Middle East led to disaster for the star. Debbie - who was a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing in 2017 - was a member of the Iranian National Ballet Company when she was just 19-years-old.
But her life was turned upside down in 1978 with the outbreak of the Iranian Revolution. Debbie and other members of her team were rounded up and held in a house and had to devise an escape while civil war and violence erupted around them.
On Wednesday, Debbie was a guest on Good Morning Britain where she left show hosts Kate Garraway and Richard Madelay stunned as she recalled her dramatic past. She recalled being ‘herded’ along with her fellow dancers and being held in a house.
Debbie McGee has recalled being held hostage in Iran for three months (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)Debbie said: "I have led a fairytale life but I've also dealt with a lot of stuff. They all said, we didn't know you were a hostage in Iran."
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Surprised, Kate replied: "Well I didn't know that” with Debbie continuing: "That's how I met Paul [Daniels]. I came back to England and needed a job."
Richard asked: "How long were you a hostage for?" and Debbie filled in more details of her dramatic past as a hostage. She recalled: "About three months. I worked for a ballet company and we were all, who were Western, were herded into a block of flats.
Debbie's story left Kate Garraway and Richard Madelay absolutely stunned (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)"The boys had to go out at six in the morning and the only food we could get were from the bakers on the streets which were like flat pizzas, no butter or anything, and maybe some cans of things and maybe a few eggs."
It is not the first time that Debbie has discussed her Iranian ordeal. She opened up about the incident in the past during an appearance on Pointless Celebrities in 2018.
She said: "Well I'd planned to stay for three years but if you've seen the movie Argo with Ben Affleck that was what I went through. I was hidden in a house, I got stopped at the airport, I chatted up one of the customs guys who stamped my passport and I ran across the tarmac and escaped."
Asked why she decided to join the Iranian Ballet after she graduated from the Royal Ballet School, she admitted she was motivated by money. Debbie admitted: "They were paying five times more than the National Ballet. It was the money."
In 2012, dramatic escapes orchestrated by the CIA to help American citizens escape war torn Iran wowed audiences as Ben Affleck directed an Oscar winning historical drama about the events. Argo follows the story of CIA agent Tony Mendez who helped captured American Embassy employees escape under the ruse that a Sci Fi film is being made in the Middle Eastern country.
The embassy workers were then able to flee the country by boarding a plane while disguised as film crew members.
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