An interview for the books. Former BBC Newsnight producer Sam McAlister is sharing some behind-the-scenes details of that infamous TV interview with Prince Andrew in 2019 that went off the rails.“This started with an innocent email asking to do what we call a puff piece,” the author told Us Weekly exclusively on Tuesday, August 2, ahead of her book, SCOOPS: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews, which will be released by Simon and Schuster in September.“On the day of the negotiation [for the interview], I’d say [Prince Andrew] was in very good spirits,” McAlister continued. “He comes from a position of power, and he spent a couple of hours with us. [Then] he threw a complete curve ball at us: his daughter Princess Beatrice came to that final negotiation.”The Duke of York is the second son of Queen Elizabeth II and the late Prince Philip.
The royal previously made headlines for his friendship and past association with Jeffrey Epstein who took his own life in August 2019 while serving time at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York.fter Andrew was accused of sexual assault by Virginia Roberts Giuffre amid the Epstein scandal, he denied the allegations during the aforementioned interview and noticeably stumbled over himself during the interaction, causing many to believe he was guilty of the allegations.Though Andrew stepped back from his royal duties amid the controversy, his daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie, stood by his side.
A source told Us in December 2019 that the girls were “being really supportive of their dad,” believing “their dad made a huge mistake in judgment ever being associated with Jeffrey Epstein.”McAlister, for her part, couldn’t believe the Brit allowed his daughter in the room
Read more on usmagazine.com