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EG meets Konnie Huq

Talking John Leslie, SimAnimals and S&M.

What a year it's been for tip-top interviews on Eurogamer. We've talked to the leading lights behind the latest innovations in gaming, from Peter Moore to Peter Molyneux, Shuhei Yoshida to Shane Kim, Phil Harrison to Gemma Atkinson.

But for me, the most fun has been meeting celebrities and asking them about games they know very little about. I'll never forget the day I hugged a Ghostbuster, or the one-armed drummer from Def Leppard made me a cup of tea, or the darts champion convicted of indecent assault for fondling two women in a camper van kept touching me on the arm. Happy days.

To round off the year, here's a chat with former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq. She's currently promoting Wii and DS title SimAnimals, so we thought we'd ask her about John Leslie, posing nude for Playboy and the prevalence of bukkake-related innuendo in contemporary children's television programming.

PS: We're not supposed to talk about it yet, but come back in January for one of our biggest interviews ever, with an international celebrity you almost certainly want to have sex with. But for now...

EurogamerYou're best known as being a former Blue Peter presenter. So: Peter Purves, Peter Duncan, Simon Groom. Wed, bed or push off a cliff?
Konnie Huq

Okay. Purves - I think he's good husband material, were I in the same age category. But then at the time, I think he was probably quite sexy, because he was trendy back in the seventies- he had all the aeroplane collars going on and the flares. So maybe a bed or a wed.

I was never a Duncster, but I like him, he's a really nice guy. I wouldn't push him off a cliff. Actually, Simon Groom voted me off The Weakest Link, so he can go off the flipping cliff. I'll wed Duncan and bed Purves.

EurogamerJohn Leslie?
Konnie Huq

I think he's a really nice bloke. I saw him just the other day. Do you want to see a picture of me and John Leslie in my phone?

EurogamerUmm...
Konnie Huq

Media things can blow up. I know him, and I know him well enough to know that... Anyway. Everyone's got their own opinion.

EurogamerAnd from a legal standpoint, specifically with regard to the libel laws of this country, the man has done nothing wrong.
Konnie Huq

Absolutely. He's a really sound bloke.

EurogamerBefore you were on Blue Peter, you presented Milkshake on Channel 5...
Konnie Huq

I liked that, because I used to just do my own thing. I had no one telling me what to do, it was brilliant.

EurogamerAre you saying that Blue Peter is run by fascists?
Konnie Huq

I'm saying that I was on an autocue. Though it is live, actually, so when things went wrong I loved to freestyle.

I also loved doing product placement, but in a subliminal way. Obviously, because it's the BBC, you're not allowed to do any product endorsement. So I used to see how many taglines I could get in.

So if I was making Tracy Island or something and there was a Mr Kipling box, I'd go, "I've got some exceedingly good Bakewell Slices in this box." Or, "Our camera crew's been eating these miniature packs of cereal all week. These ones really turn the milk brown, these ones keep you regular, you've forgotten how good these ones taste."

EurogamerDid you ever try to get any naughty innuendo in there?
Konnie Huq

You almost can't help it, because nowadays nearly everything is innuendo. We had taiko drummers in once, and at the end of the show I said, "We're all going to have a big banging session now." Anything can be innuendo.

I remember doing a hovercraft film and I got absolutely sprayed with water. I went, "Oh gosh, it's all come in my face." Everyone was like, "I can't believe you said that," but I promise, I didn't realise at the time.