Disgraced and deluded, Don Burke - the unrepentant TV creep - still managed to shock CANDACE SUTTON in his first interview in eight years... here's his message to his accusers - and who he blames for his fall
Don Burke - once a household name on Australian television before being shamed for his alleged disturbing pattern of sexually inappropriate behaviour - has broken his silence eight years after his spectacular fall from grace.
And the former celebrity gardener remains just as bitter and conspiratorial about his ousting from the entertainment industry as he was when Tracy Grimshaw famously nailed him on A Current Affair back in November 2017.
Despite the litany of allegations against him - and the whispers that surrounded him for decades of his lurid talk and groping hands - Burke still insists he was cancelled by nameless enemies in the TV business who 'bear grudges' and 'hated my guts'.
In a lengthy interview with the Daily Mail, conducted in his own backyard, a remorseless Burke even made unrepeatable comments about one female accuser.
This week, Burke was adamant the allegations that ended his career - which included grabbing female colleagues' breasts, trying to remove their clothing, and showing women videos of bestiality - were the result of a television network 'hating my guts' and a wider media that 'ganged up against me' in a desperate bid for ratings.
This is despite a list of women claiming Burke's actions over the years of his stardom made them feel scared, revolted and compromised.
'It all came to nothing,' he said defiantly as he gave the Daily Mail a tour of his massive budgerigar aviary and indigenous plant garden.
'Most of it was media. TV is dying, newspapers are dying, and [they] were forced to go out and find the most horrible stuff of all time that they could.'
Don Burke - once a household name before being shamed for his alleged disturbing pattern of sexually inappropriate behaviour - has broken his silence eight years after his fall from grace
The one-time TV star was cancelled after accusations of lurid talk and groping came to light. He flatly denies the claims and insists he could have successfully sued for defamation
Burke is pictured in the budgie cage at his Kenthurst property. He keeps 500 budgerigars and is breeding them to produce new colours of the pet bird
'People that know us knew it was horrible and that it wasn't true,' added Burke, who admits he swears too much and makes risqué quips that can be misconstrued.
'There was one court case which we don't bother with. It went to the High Court and they said it was nonsense. We got costs.
'We got in a key lawyer who said if we took them to court we would win [but] it would cost $10million and we would only get [awarded] $3million because it was capped.
'We just walked away and we got on with our lives.'
The 78-year-old, who has refused to comment 'on legal advice' when previously approached for interviews, enthusiastically invited the Mail onto his sprawling property at Kenthurst, in Sydney's north.
He wanted to talk about a new book he has written - on the genetics of breeding budgies - as well as the highlights of his now-vanished TV career, and the fact he still makes Burke's Backyard episodes for YouTube.
'People still come up to me and say, "We love you," and, "When are you going to be back on TV?" but I never had any desire to be famous. I just want to help people.'
Burke beckoned me and my photographer into a cage the size of a suburban kitchen, with 500 screeching budgerigars inside, as he explained his latest venture - one that traced back to his childhood, long before fame.
Don Burke, with his cavoodle Colin, says he discovered TV stars Scott Cam and Chris Brown
ACA's Tracy Grimshaw grilled Burke about the accusations against him on A Current Affair
Burke squirmed on camera while being interviewed by Grimshaw
Don Burke calls himself a horticulturalist and budgie breeder these days. Burke says he and wife Marea 'have got on with our lives' after the career-ending allegations against him
Against a cacophony of ear-splitting tweets by budgies of many colours, Burke said his new book, Budgerigars: The Colour Revolution, was taking Amazon by storm with great reviews (true) and three reprints (hard to confirm).
He said that, as a teenager, he began developing his theory about genetics, drawing on the idea that all living things share a common system of heredity.
Breeding and reproduction were topics that fascinated him even at the height of his fame. He claims to have essentially invented the modern 'designer dog' breed known as the cavoodle.
The cross between King Charles Cavalier and poodle dogs was the same breed as his own pet, Colin, which he said he'd 'road-tested' for Burke's Backyard, which ran from 1987 to 2004 on the Nine Network.
'It was one of the iconic shows, the ones that last like Happy Days. But getting Burke's Backyard to air was just traumatic. They said lifestyle doesn't work.
'It was the world's first lifestyle program, not just plants like people think, but animals and how they live, cooking, people's lives. No one was doing it anywhere in the world.
'I spent about five years egging them on, and then they were outraged. They hated my guts because I didn't do what the network wanted me to do.
'If you are an innovator in TV, you are in trouble.'
Burke said he created many of the show's innovations, which have now become standard in the industry.
After Burke's Backyard folded in 2004, he said Nine offered him a number of projects but he declined
When asked by the Daily Mail if he still resented the accusations against him, the former TV icon simply shrugged. 'I never let it get to me'
He claims he pitched the show Backyard Blitz to Nine and got knocked back. It only made it to air, he said, when a Nine executive saw a similar program in the UK.
Burke also claims to have discovered Scott Cam and Chris Brown.
After Burke's Backyard folded in 2004, he said Nine offered him a number of projects but he declined. Instead, he worked as a horticulturalist and sat on the boards of Landcare Australia and the Australian Environment Foundation.
He was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2010 for services to conservation and the environment.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., the groundwork for the #MeToo movement was being laid.
In October 2017, the floodgates opened with a flurry of abuse accusations against the disgraced American film producer Harvey Weinstein.
The hashtag #MeToo quickly became a viral rallying cry against sexual harassment, with allegations surfacing about entertainment figures around the world.
Susie O'Neill complained after Don Burke visited her home ahead of the Sydney 2000 Olympics and saw a painting of a flower on her wall, remarking, 'Is your c*** as as big as that?'
In Australia, stories began to surface about Burke from several women who said they'd had unsettling encounters with him.
These included sports journalist Caroline Wilson, who said Burke asked if he could 'lick her back' at the 1996 Logie Awards, when she was pregnant.
Olympian Susie O'Neill had also made a formal complaint in 2000 concerning an incident when Burke and two male crew members had been let inside her house to film her ahead of the Sydney Olympics.
When Burke saw a painting on her wall - a prized work of a flower by O'Neill's husband - he remarked to the champion swimmer, 'Is your c**t as big as that?'
#METOO AUSTRALIA
Burke has been accused of sexually harassing numerous female colleagues, as well as groping a woman. He is pictured with accuser Louise Langdon
Among the complainants was Wendy Dent, then a 21-year-old children's entertainer who met Burke in the early '90s when she said he asked her to audition topless for Burke's Backyard
In 2017, the ABC and the Sydney Morning Herald broadcast an award-winning program on Burke, alleging his harassment and assault of women.
Former Nine executives weighed in, with veteran journalist Peter Meakin saying that Burke was 'demanding' and 'unforgiving'.
'If someone fell short of the mark, he would excoriate them'.
Media executive Sam Chisholm said Burke's behaviour was a 'disgrace [which] precluded him from ever becoming a major star'.
Nine correspondent Alison Piotrowski said Burke berated her for being late for a broadcast at 2UE in Sydney in the mid- to late-2000s, but then forgave her because, he said, she 'had a great arse'.
Former Burke's Backyard producer Bridget Ninness, who launched legal action against Burke for psychological abuse, said he was 'a vile, vile human being' whose constant 'lewd and crude' talk of sex was 'designed to confront you and to demean you'.
Burke denied all the accusations in a statement, repeatedly insisting that 'it all came to nothing' legally and that he would have won a defamation case had he pursued it. But he added that, on legal advice, it would have been financially unwise to do so.
After the program aired, his 'Burke's Backyard' Facebook page continued for a few months, steadily losing followers before eventually becoming inactive.
On YouTube, however, Burke still posts videos about gardening, his budgies, and indigenous wildlife. These attract anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand viewers, featuring segments filmed in his own backyard as well as old shoots with celebrities.
BURKE'S ACCUSERS
Bridget Ninness (right), a former Burke's Backyard producer, described her boss as a 'vile human being'
Burke rejected any allegations of sexually inappropriate behaviour with women while making Burke's Backyard for 17 years
Burke's accusers included former researchers, producers and crew members.
Among the complainants was Wendy Dent, then a 21-year-old children's entertainer and TV hopeful who met Burke in the early 1990s when she said he asked her to audition topless for Burke's Backyard.
Dent was among several women who featured on the ABC/Nine exposé.
Burke denied the allegations in his sit-down with Tracy Grimshaw, which led to Ms Dent suing him for defamation in the ACT Supreme Court.
Ms Dent, now a journalist, sued Burke over his denial in which he implied she was part of a 'witch hunt'' against him, claiming this implied she was a liar.
ACT Supreme Court Justice David Mossop found that the allegedly defamatory comments Burke made could be deemed to have limited credibility.
He found that when taken out of context Burke's words were defamatory, but when taken as part of the whole interview, they failed to carry a defamatory imputation.
Burke is pictured with his wife Marea
Burke said his passion is genetics and breeding budgerigars and that his new book (above) holds a finger up to detractors from his teenage years who did not recognise his genius
Burke's defence claimed truth and qualified privilege. His win was described by critics as a 'pyrrhic victory'.
Burke dismissed any comparisons between himself and Harvey Weinstein, stating that he has a 'life-long opposition to sexism and misogyny'.
When asked by the Daily Mail if he still resented the accusations against him, the former TV icon simply shrugged.
'I never let it get to me.'
