You won't believe this woman's job at the Oscars (it's super important)

But she's keeping her lips sealed

Martha Ruiz
(Image credit: ddp USA/REX/Shutterstock)

But she's keeping her lips sealed

The Oscars may be well underway, with the official Oscars menu having been announced and the ceremony due this Sunday but it seems while the world awaits the winners to be revealed, there are two people out there who already know.

Martha Ruiz and Brian Cullinan, from PriceWaterhouseCoopers, are the only two people in the entire world who will not be surprised when the words 'And the Oscar goes to...' are uttered. Their company have been responsible for counting votes for the past 83 years, with only 12 other people having done the job before them.

Their jobs involve counting up all the votes since they came in on Tuesday - and even more importantly, to keep them top secret until awards night.

When asked by the BBC what she enjoys most about the Oscars, Martha replied: 'Heading in my car to the theatre is that fun period of time, when everyone's anticipating who the winners are going to be, and of course I know exactly who the winners are. So that short ride is a fun hour. Knowing what I know.'

So yes, when you see these guys on the red carpet, they are actually holding the result envelopes in their bags. The results come from the 7,000 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members who vote so adding them all up is no easy feat.

Most votes come in electronically but are then printed and counted by hand. (How old school.)

'We do that for a variety of reasons,' Martha explained to the BBC. 'We want to make sure that no results reside in any one system or computer, and want to ensure a variety of different mechanisms [are used] to secure the process and the results.'

These guys jobs are so important that they each have a copy of what the other one has, in case something happens to one of them. In fact, they even need to memorise the winner names, just in case the envelopes are lost or damaged.

'We will go through a significant amount of time quizzing each other, ensuring that we're memorising everything.' And, when it comes to the actual day, the pair go into the theatre via different routes - to be extra safe.

And yes, they have LAPD with them at all time.

Back in 2014, Blue Jasmine best actress winner Cate Blanchett spotted Brian on the red carpet and jokily tried to take his briefcase from him. (Lol Cate.)

Who knew the Oscars were this serious!? Also, it doesn't matter if you're Brian or Martha's mother/brother/lover etc, they cannot and will not say a peep before the official drumroll. What a job!

Delphine Chui