Don Burke is accused of humiliating a freelance sound recordist by offering him $100,000 to eat dog faeces.
The man, known by the pseudonym ‘Steve’, told the ABC that the former Burke’s Backyard host enjoyed playing mind games with his crew when he worked for him during the late 1990s.
He alleges Burke humiliated him on set at the Nine Network star’s home in Sydney’s north-west.
A freelance sound recordist ‘Steve’ alleges Don Burke offered him $100,000 to eat dog faeces
Don Burke is accused of humiliating a sound recordist on the program set during the 1990s
‘He noticed that there was some faeces hanging out of his dog’s bottom and he asked me if I would lick that,’ Steve told the 7.30 program.
‘I was completely gobsmacked that he would say such a thing but he went on for another 10 minutes offering me inducements of $1,000, $10,000 at a time.
‘It got up to $100,000 and at that point of time, I just had to try and figure out a way to stop it so I said, “It would have to be US of course, Don”.’
Steve said Burke used his answer to further humiliate him.
‘He said to everyone, “This guy would lick my dog’s a***” and that was just so humiliating,’ he said. ‘He showed the sort of man he was to me.’
Amanda Pepe alleges Burke demanded sexual favours from her in 1987 when she was a 20-year-old TV journalist at Broken Hill, in outback New South Wales.
Amanda Pepe alleges Don Burke demanded sexual favour from her when she was 20 in 1987
Burke, then a radio host on Sydney’s 2UE, was visiting the mining town and told her she could be a presenter on his new television program Burke’s Backyard.
She resigned from the local TV station and flew to Sydney, where Burke allegedly demanded sexual favours from her after driving her to a hotel.
‘The intent was very clear that he expected to have sex and that he had paid for the room, that I more or less owed it to him,’ Ms Pepe told 7.30.
‘It was very uncomfortable. I think he tried to more or less tried to guilt me into it, “We’ve got this far, why wouldn’t you finish it off?”.
‘I was feeling extremely unsure of myself at this stage.’
Ms Pepe didn’t consent to any sexual activity.
Burke declined to address the claims made in the ABC story and has so far denied a series of accusations from women about sexual harassment and indecent assault.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Burke’s lawyers.