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Axed X Factor wildboy Frankie Cocozza has said no one should have expected him to be a role model.
And the 18-year-old said that as much as he hoped people will look up to him one day, he cannot imagine it happening.
Cocozza was booted off the show on Tuesday after boasting about using cocaine, to the horror of show chiefs who said he had broken programme rules.
But in an interview on spin-off show Xtra Factor, he said everyone should have known what he was like from his first appearance.
"From my first audition I walked out on stage and got my bum out and had seven girls tattooed on it. And people are saying 'he's not a good role model', but they should have known that from the start," he said.
"I've had this massive reaction, and reading all the stuff, I've realised that I was starting to be a role model and, yeah, I feel bad about that now, really bad about it now. Hopefully one day maybe people will look up to me in a good way. Can't really see it happening but who knows."
Cocozza, from Brighton, said in a newspaper interview that he had snorted cocaine on six occasions and was a regular dope smoker. He said he had also tried mephedrone and claimed to have slept with 74 girls.
He apologised again to people he has let down - including mentor Gary Barlow - and admitted he had been warned to curb his excesses.
"Gary said you need to tone it down after I'd been out a few times. Quite a few people told me to calm down really," Cocozza said.
"It's been a hard few weeks. No one gave a scoobie who I am, now people in the street are trying to give me a hard time. It's not easy, but I've got to deal with it myself. There's a lot of people trying to give me a hard time, but no matter how they try they're not going to be able to give me a harder time than I'm giving myself."
