Ryan Thomas became emotional as he watched back footage of when he cried in the Celebrity Big Brother diary room over the Roxanne Pallett incident.
Thomas, 34, who was crowned the show’s winner on Monday night, was accused by fellow housemate Pallett of hurting her with a punch, which many viewers defended as play-fighting.
Appearing on Channel 5’s The Jeremy Vine Show, Thomas said he had not seen the footage of him talking in the diary room before.
He told Vine: “I’ve not seen any of that back”.
He said that the drama in the house “caught us all by surprise, especially myself. That house, when something like that happens, you can become very isolated.
“As it unravelled it was just nice to have your fellow housemates supporting you.”
Asked if he would like to meet with Pallett, Thomas said that doing so would not be a priority, but he added: “I think that Roxanne has been through a lot.
“Big Brother makes headlines and sometimes for the wrong reasons and I appreciate Roxanne’s apology.
“I think it’s time that we move on and look forward and not dwell on the past and I think she is suffering enough. I don’t want to be a part of that.”
He said of fears that the police would get involved: “It was obviously something that crossed my mind because in that show you are cocooned…”
After walking out of the Channel 5 show, former Emmerdale actress Pallett apologised and said she had made “a massive, horrible mistake”.
She has said she now fears she is “the most hated girl in Britain” following the incident.
“All I can do is own it, accept it and apologise,” she said.
Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom received more than 11,000 complaints about Pallett’s behaviour.