Australia was watching Monday night as A Current Affair host Tracy Grimshaw questioned Don Burke on the allegations of sexual harassment that had surfaced at the weekend.
We watched as Burke, who has been accused by several women of various acts of sexual misconduct, gave various excuses for his behaviour.
Now, Grimshaw has told us what happened after the on-air part of the interview concluded.
Listen: On this bonus episode of Out Loud, Holly, Rachel and Jessie discuss Don Burke and ask the question – what happens next? (Post continues.)
Speaking to KIIS FM’s Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson, the ACA host said Burke, perhaps expecting his former colleague to go easy on him, was left “shell-shocked”.
“Look. It was polite, we were polite with each other all the way through,” Grimshaw said. “I just think he was a bit shell-shocked.”
Grimshaw said their working relationship as fellow Channel Nine TV presenters was part of the reason he agreed to the interview.
However, Grimshaw did not hold back in asking the tough questions during the tense interview.
“I think he probably thought [the interview] would have been more sympathetic.
“I think he probably would have expected that… But it couldn’t be more sympathetic. We had to go to the core of unpleasantries.
“You know, that’s just what we had to do and I think he’s enough of a realist that he should have understood that.”
Grimshaw told the radio hosts there "wasn't a lot to see that didn't go to air".
"Although he did speak to me privately," she added.
While not wanting to reveal too much of a private conversation and breach journalist ethics, Grimshaw did say that Burke provided "more information" about the grudges he alluded to in the interview.
"And I said to him: 'Don, if you have a defence [against the claims] you need to mount your defence now, now's the opportunity to do it'."
"And he said 'no, no I won't do it publicly', and because he won't do it publicly, all that stuff stayed off the record.
"You can read into that what you will, really."
During the interview, Burke denied he sexually harassed any women he worked with, instead offering up his self-diagnosed Asperger's syndrome as a reason why he may "miss all the body language and the subtle signs people give to you, such as 'back off that’s enough'" - a comment that's enraged Autism advocates.
Listen: We spoke to another Tracey - one who is coming for men like Burke.
Top Comments
Well that told us a lot of what he said after the cameras stopped rolling. NOT!