Rob Ford thinks he ‘held his own’ in Jimmy Kimmel appearance

Watch the video above: Rob Ford thinks he ‘held his own’ in Jimmy Kimmel appearance. Jackson Proskow reports. 

TORONTO – Mayor Rob Ford spent approximately 20 minutes on the Jimmy Kimmel show Monday night being grilled on his numerous scandals.

But he feels did a pretty good job.

“I knew I was going into a lion’s den, and you know, I held my own,” he told reporters when arriving at city hall shortly before 1 p.m. Tuesday. “I was out to promote the city of Toronto, and I did a good job, if you ask me.”

And most of the show was scripted, his brother and city councillor Doug Ford claimed Tuesday.

“A lot of that was scripted. We knew it was an ugly show,” Ford told reporters in front of the mayor’s office at city hall. “The night before, we knew what we were getting into.”

Kimmel peppered the Toronto mayor with questions on homophobia, illegal drug use, his contentious relationship with the city’s police chief and a possible substance abuse problem.

READ MORE: 7 key moments from Jimmy Kimmel’s interview with Rob Ford

Ford appeared red-faced, seemingly uncomfortable and sweating during the taped interview on set of the Los Angeles studio.

“If you can survive the Toronto media, you can survive anything. That was a walk in the park compared to you guys,” Ford told reporters at city hall Tuesday.

The mayor also retreated to a phrase he’s been using since he admitted to crack cocaine use: that he isn’t “perfect.”

“So what? You know, I wasn’t elected to be perfect. I was elected to clean up the mess at city hall,” he said.

Watch: Councillors react to Rob Ford’s appearance on Jimmy Kimmel. 

And he added that people are “sick and tired” of hearing about his personal life.

“People know, they’ve seen the video. This has become old news,” he said. “I don’t have any personal issues. We’ve gone down that road a number of times, you know. I want to hit the gym right after work.”

Some critics questioned Ford’s claim that the purpose of his visit was to boost Toronto’s movie industry. In the 20-minute interview, he only mentioned Toronto’s film industry – namely the Toronto International Film Festival – once.

Doug Ford admitted he was slightly disappointed in his brother’s late show appearance because he didn’t get to promote Toronto as much as he would have liked.

“You have to understand, you’re in the studio. That when you go in there, we thought we’d get a least another minute to pump the city,” said Ford.

Rob Ford began his journey walking down Hollywood Boulevard and checking out the Walk of Fame on Sunday.

He then made a brief appearance on Jimmy Kimmel’s late night post-Oscar special later in the evening before a 20-minute interview the next day.

Doug Ford said the trip was entirely paid for by the mayor. He said Monday that Kimmel paid for one dinner.

“We went down there, again, on our own dime. Unlike the councillors that roam around the world on the backs of taxpayers,” he said.

Ford also said his brother was well received by the audience and that many of them went “bananas for Rob” despite criticism back home.