'He's gross, isn't he?': TV star's creepy Don Burke encounter

"Miss Wendy" Mooney with Don't Forget Your Toothbrush co-host Tim Ferguson. Photo / News Corp Australia.

A former TV presenter has described a creepy encounter with beleaguered gardening star Don Burke.

Wendy Mooney, who co-hosted Channel 9's Don't Forget Your Tootbrush with Tim Ferguson in 1995, told news.com.au she had "a bad experience" when she met Burke at a network lunch.

The then 24-year-old, who was known as "Miss Wendy" on her hit show, was a fan of Burke's Backyard and began talking to him.

"I was excited to meet Don as I had grown up watching him on TV with my family," she said. "I said to him how funny it was with the little piglet on the show every week, and how we loved watching it.

"I asked him, 'Was it a boy or girl pig?', just making conversation, and then he said, 'Well, if you look up close to it, it's a girl pig because it has a really big p***y', and he made this gesture with his hand, insinuating this big, heavy thing."

Wendy, now a 47-year-old mother living in Melbourne, said Burke's expression never changed. "I was shocked, I couldn't believe it," she said. "It was like he was talking about the weather, like he had no idea it was rude to say that, like it was a normal conversation.

The young TV presenter was mortified. "I was so embarrassed," she said. "I just went back and sat down with my other Channel 9 friends. They asked me if I was OK, I said 'I just met Don Burke', and they said, 'oh, you poor thing ... he's gross, isn't he?"

The ex-presenter says her story is "not that bad, but bad enough", following the ABC/Fairfax investigation that this week reported allegations he was a "psychotic bully", a "misogynist" and a "sexual predator" who sexually harassed and bullied a number of female employees.

Burke strongly denies all the allegations, saying they came about because he was a perfectionist and suffered with Asperger's — although it had never been formally diagnosed.

"It was nothing compared to the other girls, but it has stayed with me," added Wendy. "I was shocked, I couldn't believe it.

"I know people with Asperger's, no way would they say something like that. I've never heard a man drop something like that into conversation."

But the young TV star said she would never have spoken up at the time.

"I was only 24, meeting all these celebrities, it's not like I'd have defended myself and said, 'Don, that's not acceptable.' Now, I would," she said.

"I think it's revolting. He just got away with it. He wouldn't get away with it now, that was the nineties."

Wendy said her production team seemed to think Burke's behaviour was "normal", but she never encountered any other unprofessional behaviour at Channel 9. She left the TV business in 2001.

"It was pretty obvious everyone knew what was going on," she added. "That was the only thing that happened to me.

"I think I was exceptionally lucky."

Olympic swimmer Susie O'Neill was the latest to make allegations about Burke's crude comments. She said when he visited her home for an episode of Burke's Backyard in the run-up to the Sydney 2000 Games, she showed him a painting of a flower by her husband, and he asked: "Is your c*** as big as that?"

Archive footage of the star that came to light yesterday shows him almost make Jessica Rowe walk off a Channel 10 panel show when he tells her: "I love a good f***."

The topic on the Can of Worms episode from 2011 was: "Do Australians swear too much?"

In another video, he told actor Annalise Braaksensiek: "I will not ask you the question you loathe," as she replied, "thank you!"

He continued: "I will not ask: 'Are your breasts real?' But are they?"

Another resurfaced clip from Burke's Backyard shows the gardener making sexual remarks about pollinating a plant to suggestive music.

Other ex-colleagues have made more serious allegations. Young TV reporter Amanda Pepe alleged the celebrity gardener persuaded her to fly to Sydney "for a job", and then took her to "a sad hotel room", where she had to fight him off, according to ABC/Fairfax.

Former Burke's Backyard producer Bridget Ninness said the gardening guru allegedly told her he would "rip your f***ing head off, and s**t down your throat".

Louise Langdon, another former producer on the show, alleged Burke made regular lewd comments, persuaded her to watch a video of a woman having sex with a donkey and tried to lift up her top.

One former entertainment journalist said Burke told her during interviews she would be a "demon f***", and that he had bought a horse for a female relative so he could watch her "rub her c*** on its back".

The Nine star strongly denies the allegations relating to his behaviour in the 1980s and 1990s.

Nine, which has also come under fire for not holding him to account, said in a statement the network could not comment on how matters were dealt with in the past but the allegations "are serious and would not be tolerated at the network today."

It also said it could find no records of complaints or payouts to any women in relation to Burke's behaviour, and added: "Burke's Backyard was a production of CTC Productions [his company] and they employed and managed all staff."

CTC Productions only took over production in 1991. Some of the allegations relate to earlier periods after show launched in 1987.