Adam Thomas has accused ITV of “exploiting” him during the I’m A Celebrity... South Africa final amid his feud with David Haye.
The actor, 37, was crowned the winner by public vote in the live final on Friday, during which he was accused of being “abusive, aggressive and intimidating” by Haye and Jimmy Bullard.
He claimed Haye “broke” him and pushed him to his limits, while boxer Haye, 45, accused him of being a “professional victim”.
Thomas has now reflected on the rift with his brothers Ryan and Scott during the latest episode of their Thomas Bros podcast.
He broke down in tears as he claimed producers took advantage of his fallout with Haye and Bullard.
“I think for David [Haye] and some of these campmates who have come out, I feel like it's just a show to them, do you know what I mean?” the Waterloo Road star said.
He went on: “It's entertainment. It's fun. And for me it's not about entertainment, I'm not playing a character, I'm not here for anyone else's agenda but my own, to have a f***ing laugh and enjoy this experience.
“And I feel that's the most disturbing thing for me, looking at David, and even after the show and everything he did, he sent me a voice note saying, ‘Ah mate, what a great show that was, so happy you won, congratulations.’
“I just sent him a message back and said, ‘Look, I think this is where I draw the line, I hope you find happiness bro, but I'm done now.’
“It's hard, the whole experience. That live show, I just felt like I'd just been exploited, and I think you can see it, at the end of it. I felt like I was in the midst of it all, and it wasn't even about me.”
During the end of the live show, he appeared visibly distressed and reportedly threw his crown and sceptre on the ground.
On the podcast, Thomas also doubled down on his claims that Haye “bullied” him in the jungle and left him feeling emotionally vulnerable by “getting inside his head”.
“What happened to me in camp was bullying, that is the matter of fact about it – it was bullying,” he said.
“And I don't think it's fair, for people who were going through what I was going through in the real world, to pass it off as banter, because it's not.
“And the reason why I didn't speak up for myself when I should have done is because when I was in camp, everyone was passing it off as banter, as, ‘Oh, he's just doing it because he loves you.’ So I laughed it off. I laughed it off and pretended that it was alright.”
He added: “I can see it from the other campmates' lens why it may seem like it was banter and not bullying, I understand it. But I'm telling you my truth, and how I felt in there, and it was bullying.
Things escalated in the final, with Bullard claiming Thomas dropped “c-bombs” during their argument in the jungle which were not aired, and asking Ant McPartlin and co-host Declan Donnelly for their opinion as they had “front row seats”.
McPartlin disagreed that the exchange was aggressive and said: “No it wasn’t, I was there.”
Thomas responded by saying he took “full responsibility” for his actions and has “nothing but love for Jimmy”, but Haye interrupted the exchange to say: “You’ve got a funny way of showing it.”
He then claimed a lot of footage surrounding Thomas’ behaviour was cut, stating: “We all had banter back and forth, and a lot of it was cut out from their side.”
Haye and Bullard asked their fellow campmates to agree that Thomas had been “abusive, intimidating and aggressive” in his argument with Bullard.
Collins defended Thomas and eventually walked off set alongside Sinitta, with the TOWIE star branding Haye “disgusting”.
Haye is now reportedly planning to sue ITV for millions for causing “irreparable damage” to his brand.
Fellow campmate Harry Redknapp recently addressed Thomas’ row with Haye, telling the Mail: “David seemed to be giving Adam lots of stick, you know, for whatever reason, and Adam seemed to spend an awful lot of time getting very upset about everything.
“We had one or two arguments, I suppose. You’ll always get that when you get people living together and getting a bit hungry and not getting food.
“They tend to happen I suppose but it didn’t happen with me. I didn’t argue with anybody really.”
The Standard has contacted ITV and Haye and Thomas’ representatives for comment.
