Gareth Morgan claims it was his cunning scheme that helped push up donations for the Abel Tasman beach campaign.
LISTEN ABOVE: GARETH MORGAN SPEAKS TO LARRY WILLIAMS
The deadline has now passed for offers to buy the beach, and the owners of the beach now have five days to decide who they'll sell it to.
Earlier, Mr Morgan demanded exclusive rights to part of the beach for his family, as part of his offer to top up donations.
But pledgers threatened to withdraw their money if the self-made millionaire philanthropist topped up the funds, and his offer was rejected.
SEE ALSO: BEACHÂ CAMPAIGNERSÂ REJECT GARETH MORGAN'S MONEY
In the end the campaign managed to raise the required $2 million solely from public donations.
Mr Morgan said he made the demand to fire up the public, and keep the donations coming.
"The last thing I wanted them to do was say 'oh well, Morgan's gonna pay the difference, we can stop."
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