Prince Andrew's bizarre sex comment that left Newsnight staff gobsmacked in 'car crash' interview

Prince Andrew's shocking comments during his infamous Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis left everyone, including the staff working behind the scenes, stunned.

The Duke of York made some extraordinary claims in the 2019 TV exclusive, from his inability to sweat to denying he had slept with Virginia Giuffre because he was at Pizza Express in Woking at the time.

Sam McAlister, who was the show's interview producer and responsible for securing the interview with Andrew, is now set to release a memoir detailing the 13 months of negotiations leading up to the 2019 interview.

This has also been turned into a Netflix drama titled Scoop, starring Gillian Anderson, Rufus Sewell, Billie Piper, and Keeley Hawes.

Ahead of its release, Sam told The Sun: "I was sitting 15ft away from Andrew's back as Emily interviewed him. I could see every detail on his ornate chair and his foot tapping on the carpet.

"I had to set my face to frozen throughout. There were many times I couldn't believe what I was hearing and I had to look at the floor not to give away my shock."

"It quickly became clear that Andrew was performing a masterclass on how to destroy your own life. And it was also clear that he thought it was going swimmingly."

Sam also confessed there was a moment when she had to hold her breath - when Emily asked Prince Andrew if he had sex with Virginia Giuffre or any young woman trafficked by his former friend, Jeffrey Epstein.

"I remember thinking, 'My God, he's talking about sex! This is unheard of!'" she said. "His response was: 'No, and without putting too fine a point on it, if you're a man it is a positive act to have sex with somebody."

"You have to take some sort of positive action and so, therefore, if you try to forget, it's very difficult to try and forget a positive action, and I do not remember anything.'"

Sam also gave her opinion on why Andrew even agreed to the interview; he was eager for the chance to declare his innocence before his daughter Princess Beatrice married her then-fiancé Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi the next summer.

"It was clear he wanted to vindicate himself and to be able to walk his daughter down the aisle. I saw this drive behind his desire to change the narrative. To change the perception of his guilt," she said.