Disgraced Channel Nine personality Matthew Johns faced Tracy Grimshaw on A Current Affair accompanied by his wife Trish.

In a lengthy 20 minute interview, Johns struggled to find the words to Grimshaw’s questions.

The Footy Show host finally apologised to the woman at the centre of the incident, now widely reported as group sex in New Zealand in 2002.

“I wasn’t aware of what she had been through. I can say now any trauma, embarrassment that she has gone through as a result of this, I’m extremely sorry for.”

“I’m extremely sorry to my wife and my family as well,” he said.

Johns said he takes full responsibility for the situation that “I find myself in.”

But he also reiterated the consensual nature by all those in the hotel room.

“I would say that on the night when she came back to the room she was a willing participant in everything that occurred,” he said.

Grimshaw was tough in interrogation: “How could she in going back to the room with two of you, have ended up being a willing participant in a queue of blokes at the foot of the bed having sex with her?”

Johns struggled with his answer.

“In the statements that were made to police it says she encouraged players to come forward… she actually said ‘someone come forward and have sex with me.’

“At no time was she under any distress.”

He said he was not initially aware of other players entering the room and went as far as to say the woman encouraged the acts.

Grimshaw asked, “You see Matthew most right thinking people would be looking at you right now saying how could you have looked at that scenario and seen anything that was ok in it?”

“Morally it’s not ok,” said Johns.

He later said he did not commit an act of abuse on the woman, and denied knowing she was 19 years old.

“The woman walked away from the situation with enormous regrets and embarrassment.”

Johns’ wife Trish said her husband told her every detail of the event seven years ago. “My inquisition went on probably for months and possibly even years,” she said.

“He had to be terribly honest with me otherwise we could never have continued with our marriage andlack of trust.”

When asked about her feelings of the woman involved, she added, “I certainly wouldn’t like it to be my daughter.”

After a compelling interview in which Grimshaw noted ‘you’ve lost your career to speak of’, she told viewers it was up to the NRL to now identify the other men in the interview, “if it is serious about addressing this culture.”