Producer Fires Back at Howard K Stern Interview Payment Claims  2/15/07

The TV producer who landed exclusive coverage of Howard K Stern's emotional return to the Bahamian home he shared with Anna Nicole Smith has slammed reports she paid $1 million for the scoop.

Entertainment Tonight Senior Supervising Producer Bonnie Tiegel insists she paid nothing to follow heartbroken Stern on the trip from Florida to The Bahamas and then shoot footage as the lawyer discovered his island home had been ransacked by thieves.

Tiegel states the scoop came from a longstanding relationship with Stern dating back to last summer (06) when Stern and Smith took up residency in The Bahamas.

The angry producer says, "We do not pay for interviews. It is just not done... We are inside. We are the only ones inside."

Meanwhile, speaking on CNN show Larry King Live on Tuesday (13FEB07), ET reporter Mark Steines, who accompanied Stern on his journey back to The Bahamas at the weekend (10FEB07), revealed he was annoyed about the $1 million report.

He fumed, "This bothers me because so many people say this and they're from the outside. We have been with these people. Bonnie has been on the phone with Howard. We've had a relationship with these guys.

"Because of the tragic events that happened, we were so close to this that Howard, when he saw me, when he sees Bonnie and our producers, they see a trusted face. They see somebody who they've allowed into their life.

"That's how this relationship and this interview came about."