Eurogamer meets Holly Valance Interview

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Last week EA announced a new standalone expansion for Red Alert 3. Titled Uprising, it will be available exclusively for PC this March and features four mini-campaigns. But most importantly, it features Holly Valance.

Eurogamer caught up with the former Neighbours star to find out more about her role in the game, and to ask her lots of facetious questions about things which have nothing to do with it. Just like when we met Gemma Atkinson, in fact. Except we had to interview Holly over the phone, because of course she lives in Erinsborough.

Read on to find out who she fancied in Neighbours, why she thinks there should be more nudity on Eurogamer TV, in what circumstances she thinks DVD piracy is acceptable and how she's related to Benny Hill.

Eurogamer: Hello, Holly Valance. I understand you're currently promoting Red Alert 3?

Holly Valance: Hi. Yes, I am.

Eurogamer: Last year I interviewed Gemma Atkinson, who's in the original game. So who is fitter out of you and her?

Holly Valance: I'm probably going to say Gemma, to be honest. Yeah.

Eurogamer: That's interesting, because when I asked Gemma who was fitter out of me and her, she said me. So by that logic, are you saying that I, Ellie Gibson, am fitter than you, Holly Valance?

Holly Valance: You probably are. You sound fit.

Eurogamer: Thanks. Now we've got that out of the way, what exactly is your role in Red Alert 3?

Holly Valance: I play a news reporter called Brenda Snow. She's investigating a research facility that might be doing some dodgy business, and thinks perhaps the president's involved. I interview him walking down a red carpet. It's a camp, over-dramatised character, it's not too serious. It was fun to go a little bit over the top.

Eurogamer: Did you do a lot of method preparation for the role?

Holly Valance: I watched about nine versions of the news every day. I have a newfound respect for newsreaders, because reading off the auto-prompter is not as easy as I thought - especially when you're blind as a bat. I kept saying, "Can you make the font larger? Yep, larger again... A little more..." It's difficult. They do a tough job, and they're doing it live.

Eurogamer: You're probably best-known for your acting role in Neighbours...

Holly Valance: I loved my time on Neighbours, I had a lot of fun. It was my training ground, because I never went to theatre school or anything like that. I got a baptism of fire working 16 to 17 hours a day on a soap for three years, and I loved it.

Eurogamer: Who is your favourite Neighbours character? We like Karl Kennedy and Paul Robinson...

Holly Valance: I liked Joe Mangel. Oh, and I loved Rick Alessi. I loved Rick Alessi. I found a cutting of him when I was at Neighbours and I kept it. Or I did some weird thing with this image of Rick Alessi. Then he came in one day and I got really red and embarassed, because I'd had this big crush on him.

If Holly were to be in a film about Soul Calibur, she could play Ivy. Then we could make a joke about the Holly and the Ivy. Like in the carol.

Eurogamer: What was the weird thing you did? Did you build a shrine? Did you stalk Rick Alessi, Holly Valance?

Holly Valance: Yeah... What was his name... Dan Falzon, I think... I just remember being so embarassed when he walked in, I thought, "Oh no, I hope he doesn't see the cutting." What a loser.

Eurogamer: Originally I thought I was interviewing you on camera, and I'd hoped to wear an Erinsborough High uniform - but I couldn't find one anywhere. Did you keep yours?

Holly Valance: I didn't get to keep it. Mine was tiny, it was so tarty. I always made sure my actual school uniform went down to my knees, because I hated the girls who wore the really slutty ones. But my Erinsborough uniform was so small, and tailored in at the seams - everything was hugging you, you know? You could get some serious cleavage if you undid the buttons. It was quite a naughty uniform really.

I used to get bored in my breaks so I'd hang out in hair and make-up. One day I got one of their pregnant suits and put my uniform over the top of it, so I looked like a nine months-pregnant schoolgirl. We took loads of photos of me in the hallway, with a cigarette hanging out of my mouth. It was so funny.

Eurogamer: You're also famous for the outfit you wore in the Kiss Kiss video...

Holly Valance: Yeah, or lack of.

Eurogamer: Did you design that yourself?

Holly Valance: No, it was the director's idea, but I thought it was fabulous - anything to get a rise out of people. It's nice to do something which is not that common. It's not like I was doing anything that unique, but I hadn't seen that for a while. Nude dancing with light bulbs.

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