“This has Amanda Thirsk’s hands all over it," a source told Express.
“The Duke is not very quick on his feet so how could Amanda put him up to it.
“Amanda was the one who pushed for it.
“Fifty minutes with anybody on the one subject is going to be difficult.
“Even Newsnight were flabbergasted.”
The source also revealed that Fergie acknowledged the interview had been a “car crash”.
A second insider confirmed that Sarah had nothing to do with the interview.
Earlier this month, Virginia Roberts Giuffre spokes out about being Epstein's sex slave in an interview with 60 Minutes, and called on Prince Andrew to "stop with the lame excuses".
In the explosive TV interview, she spoke of her life as Jeffrey Epstein's sex slave and described in detail how she was "trafficked" to the Duke of York when she was 17.
During the interview, Virginia, now 35, pulled out the infamous photo of her with the prince that she says was taken the night she had sex with him.
While Andrew has consistently said the photo is fake, Virginia disagreed.
"This photo has been verified as an original and has since been given to the FBI and they've never contested that it's a fake," she said.
"I know it's real and he needs to stop with all of these lame excuses, we're sick of hearing it.
"This is a real photo. That's the very first time I met him."
In August, Prince Andrew's legal team cast doubt over the photograph saying he has "absolutely no recollection" of it being taken, with sources close to the prince questioning whether the photo was real, pointing out that his fingers "don't look right".
Virginia went on to describe the events leading up to her alleged first sexual encounter with Andrew, which she said started when she was taken to a club in London.
"We went to Club Tramp, he danced with me, and he sweats a lot and he smells funny.
"And then we get in the car and Ghislaine [Epstein's partner] tells me in the car that I have to do what I do for Jeffrey for Prince Andrew.
"And that's when I learned what was going to happen."
Virginia claims she had sex with Andrew three times, once in London, another time at Epstein's New York City mansion, and again at Epstein's private island in the Caribbean.