EXCLUSIVE
One of Nine’s brightest stars has been forced to scotch speculation she had any involvement in the scandal surrounding Georgie Gardner’s on-set spat with a young female producer.
The Channel Nine rumour mill went into meltdown this week amid suggestions respected finance journalist Deborah Knight was the source of a complaint to management about Gardner’s alleged tirade.
But the A Current Affair weekend host was keen to set the record straight when Daily Mail approached her about the cruel whispering campaign on Thursday.
‘We actually pre-record the Saturday A Current Affair program – so I wasn’t actually there that night,’ she told Daily Mail .
‘I just hope that everyone involved is doing alright.’
She added: ‘I have no knowledge of any alleged incident, and have absolutely not raised anything with Nine Management.’
The fake gossip about Knight’s alleged involvement has been circulating at Nine for days – fuelled by the fact she once co-hosted the Today show with Gardner.
The two network stars spent a year fronting the program after larrikin frontman Karl Stefanovic was ‘rested’ from the program in 2019.
The all-female line up proved to be a ratings flop and the experiment was quickly shelved.
Knight has since continued her successful career across both television and radio at Nine, while Gardner returned to reading weekend news bulletins two nights a week, while retaining her eye-watering $600,000 a year salary.
Network chiefs privately insisted on Thursday the wild rumours were categorically ‘factually incorrect’.
The row blew up after Gardner allegedly slapped down a junior female producer during the on-set meltdown last month with a crushing outburst, telling her to ‘grow up!’ in the midst of a fiery blast over scripts.
A TV source told Daily Mail the alleged incident – which occurred during the Saturday night news bulletin on August 31 – was sparked by the way Gardner’s scripts had been prepared prior to going on air.
‘Georgie turned up in a terrible mood,’ they said.
‘She didn’t think the rundown was satisfactory or the way the intros (to news stories) were written – and basically said it was s***.
‘The mood was tense and she insisted on rewriting the intros herself.
‘The junior producer said she wasn’t finished with them yet, prompting Georgie to walk behind her and snap at her to “grow up”.’
According to the source, the heated argument continued into the studio as the scripts were loaded into the teleprompter.
At least part of the exchange was allegedly recorded and a clip handed over to management for an internal inquiry following an official complaint.
‘It was intense but a lot of people were there,’ the source said.
Gardner disappeared from her regular weekend newsreading duties for two weeks following the alleged altercation.
However, she was reportedly on scheduled leave and returned to work last Friday.
The high-profile newsreader was spotted crying in her car following a ‘very animated’ hour-long conversation on her phone the day after it was revealed Nine were investigating the incident on Monday.
Although Nine has refused to comment on the complaint made against Gardner, the network’s director of news and current affairs, Fiona Dear, has thrown her support behind the embattled star.
‘Georgie Gardner is a highly regarded longstanding member of our Nine News team,’ she said. ‘We offer no further comment.’
It is not suggested that Gardner engaged in any improper conduct, only that a complaint has been made and an investigation is taking place.
Daily Mail has approached both Gardner for comment about the incident.
The internal inquiry could not come at a worse time for Gardner.
The long-serving newsreader’s contract is among those being carefully reviewed by the company’s financial controllers as the cash-strapped network desperately tries to rein in costs.
Senior network insiders said her $600,000 deal was a legacy of her short-lived reign on the Today show and was ‘no longer justifiable’.
It is understood she is among a number of key stars expected to take massive pay cuts in the coming months. The work row is not the only battle Gardner is facing at the moment.
The newsreader was seen wearing a ProCare ‘post-op’ shoe on her left foot while having her coffee on Monday, fuelling speculation her recent leave is related to medical dramas.
Daily Mail has approached Gardner and Nine for comment.