The child recovery expert at the centre of the botched 60 Minutes child abduction in Lebanon says he was “thrown under the bus” by the Nine Network during his 104-day spell in prison.

Adam Whittington told the Seven Network’s Sunday Night program that he was furious with the way he and his team were left behind after their mission to recover Sally Faulkner’s children for a 60 Minutes story went awry in April.

“They [Nine Network] turned it into an absolute joke the way they acted and behaved in Beirut to get what they wanted,” Mr Whittington said in his first interview since the incident.

“I’ve seen that review [Nine Network’s review into the saga]. I received a copy of it in the prison. It was passed around and used as toilet paper. That’s what we did with it.”

The former Australian soldier led a 60 Minutes television crew on a child abduction attempt in the Lebanese capital of Beirut in April.

Along with the crew, journalist Tara Brown and the children’s mother Ms Faulkner, Mr Whittington and three other men helping him were charged over the incident and detained in jail.

After two weeks together in prison, the 60 Minutes crew, Ms Brown and Ms Faulkner struck a deal with the children’s father, Ali al-Amin, to drop the charges and secure their release.

No deal was struck for Mr Whittington and his team, so he endured 104 days in jail. Two of his team members have also been released on bail, while another is still in a Lebanese prison.

Mr Whittington confirmed to Sunday Night that 60 Minutes paid him $115,000 for the botched recovery.

Sunday Night also revealed that Mr al-Amin allegedly received $500,000 for agreeing to drop the charges against the 60 Minutes crew and Ms Faulkner.

Mr al-Amin and the Nine Network had previously denied this allegation.

Mr Whittington claimed that once the abduction was botched, 60 Minutes sided with the father and distanced themselves from him so as to secure the release of their crew.

Whittington drank ‘maggot-infested water’

Mr Whittington detailed the horrid conditions he and his crew were forced to endure after the 60 Minutes team were released.

“You witnessed the treatment given to a man who appeared to be gay?” presenter Mike Willesee asked Mr Whittington.

Mr Whittington replied “Yeah” before breaking down into tears. “It’s just one of those places you don’t want to remember.”

"I was shocked when they walked out and they had their champagne – not a word [to me]" Adam's wife #SN7 https://t.co/mJqk4777KC

— 7NEWS Spotlight (@7NewsSpotlight) September 11, 2016

Mr Whittington’s mother, Georgina Whittington, told Sunday Night “there was maggots in the [drinking] water. He never had a shower for five weeks”.

Mr Whittington, who is the head of Child Abduction Recovery International, alleged the 60 Minutes crew were treated better because the Nine Network made sure they were, but not him and his team.

“We were all going through the same conditions. It’s just … they [the 60 Minutes crew] were getting a lot of good things. They were getting pizzas. When they were going upstairs, getting coffees. What can I say?”

Mr Whittington said Sunday Night had not paid him for the exclusive interview and he denied that his profession made him a kidnapper.

He said after his experience with 60 Minutes, he would no longer be undertaking ‘child recoveries’.