Tziporah Malkah speaks on allegations against Don Burke

Former model Tziporah Malkah has said she is ‘disgusted’ by the allegations against Don Burke – but that he was never ‘touchy feely’ with her.

The man who hosted Burke’s Backyard on the Nine Network for almost 17 years until 2004 has been accused of sexually harassing and indecently assaulting women who worked on his gardening program in the 1980s and 1990s.

While he says he has acted like a tyrant on set and a lot of people didn’t like him, he insists he never sexually harassed women.

Ms Malkah, formerly known as Kate Fischer, met Burke when she was 22 and in a relationship with James Packer – the son of media tycoon Kerry Packer, who owned Nine.

 

Former model Tziporah Malkah has said she is 'disgusted' by the allegations against Don Burke

Former model Tziporah Malkah (right, in 2007) has said she is ‘disgusted’ by the allegations against Don Burke (left) – but that he was never ‘touchy feely’ with her

He had come to her mother’s home to makeover the garden when he offered Ms Malkah a hosting gig on a new TV show called ‘Time Out For Serious Fun’.

Ms Malkah, 44, worked on the show for just one season in 1995.

Burke, her executive producer and mentor, was never ‘touchy feely’ with her – even though she describes herself as a ‘hugger,’ she told news.com.au.

She described him as ‘awkward with women’ and a ‘dork’.

She added: ‘He’d never press himself into me. I know those men. They press themselves into you and they really wanna feel your nipples into them. Don never did that.’

However, she acknowledges that she may have been ‘protected’ because of her status as the fiancée of the boss’ son as well as the daughter of politician Pru Goward.

She described him as 'awkward with women' and a 'dork'.

He had come to her mother's home to makeover the garden when he offered Ms Malkah a hosting gig on a new TV show called 'Time Out For Serious Fun'

Ms Malkah (in 1994), who was formerly known as Kate Fischer, worked on a show Burke produced for just one season in 1995

And despite being in the inner circle at Nine because of that, she insists she never heard anything about gross misconduct.

But when told about the allegations made by Burke’s former staff, she said: ‘That makes me just sick – that disgusts me.’

On Monday, Burke told Nine’s A Current Affair that ex-employees with a grudge were out to get him. 

‘I’m prepared to cop that I might have terrified a few people and that I shouldn’t have done that… towards the end of Burke’s Backyard I must have been a bear with a bloody sore head and I do apologise for it,’ he told A Current Affair.

‘I have looked in the mirror and there’s a lot I don’t like.’

'He'd never press himself into me. I know those men. They press themselves into you and they really wanna feel your nipples into them. Don never did that,' she said

‘He’d never press himself into me. I know those men. They press themselves into you and they really wanna feel your nipples into them. Don never did that,’ she said

Ms Malkah (above) described Burke as 'awkward with women' but said he was never 'touchy feely' with her

Ms Malkah (above) described Burke as ‘awkward with women’ but said he was never ‘touchy feely’ with her

On Monday, Burke told Channel Nine that ex-employees with a grudge were out to get him

On Monday, Burke told Channel Nine that ex-employees with a grudge were out to get him

He said there’s a lot of hatred toward him and ‘that’s my fault’ and admits claims of bullying ‘may be true’.

But Burke insists the claims being made are things that he would never say or do and were despicable.

‘I’ve got a lot of failings but I’m not that man,’ he said.

A joint project by the ABC and Fairfax Media has catalogued a series of allegations against Burke by a number of former employees of Burke’s Backyard.

Former researcher Louise Langdon accused Mr Burke of harassment and groping. Bridget Ninness, a former producer, accused Burke of bullying and crude behaviour.

He also denies ever showing an employee a crude video, saying he had never seen or owned ‘donkey bestiality’, and he never tried to remove Ms Langdon’s top.

‘I don’t remember doing it. I certainly wouldn’t have done it seriously,’ he said.

Burke also said he has diagnosed himself as having Asperger’s syndrome which means he misses the ‘subtle signs people give to you like, ”back off, that’s enough”’.

‘I suffer from a terrible problem of not seeing (body language) and no-one can understand how you can’t see it.’

Burke admitted he wasn’t proud of the fact he had several affairs. He has hired defamation expert Patrick George.

 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk