IRISH TV STAR
BRIAN Dowling has told how he needed two round-the-clock BODYGUARDS plus a police escort after winning Big Brother in 2001.
The iconic experiment which spawned a whole generation of reality shows returns to our screens tonight after a five-year hiatus.
And Brian, who made history by becoming the first gay man to win it, reflects on how it brought overnight fame and gave him his big break on TV.
The 45-year-old radio and TV presenter told us: “I get messages on my Big Brother win, near enough every day.
“I fully believe if I won an Oscar tomorrow I’d still be ‘Brian Dowling who won Big Brother’.
“We were more famous than The X Factor contestants at its peak.
“You had the live streaming on E4, the spin-off show with Dermot [O’leary]. I was after Anna Nolan and before Ray Shah.
“It was a game changer for me, coming out and my acceptance as a gay man. It gave me my career.”
Brian credits his late mum Rosie and his close-knit family and upbringing in the village of Rathangan, Co Kildare for keeping him grounded.
He revealed: “My mother would check me because I was 23 when I won it – I was never allowed to get above my station.
“I was living in London on my own, I was constantly on flights home. I remember when I left Big Brother, all I wanted to do was get on the Tube.
“That was the extent of the level of fame after Big Brother. I remember the police being called when I’d go places and I was assigned two security guards.
“They [producers] had to kind of make sure that when you went back to living your life again that you were able to function again after being in that situation.
“Sometimes I’d be at home in my mum’s house sweeping the floor and I’d be checking for the microphone in my pocket – three months later.”
After the win Brian craved normality, so while other contestants were doing interviews on red carpets he was playing tennis on Clapham Common. He
I couldn’t walk anywhere, the police were everywhere. I have empathy for Britney
recalled: “My two security guards Tony and Andy were my ball boys. I just wanted normality.
“I couldn’t walk anywhere, the police were everywhere. I have great empathy for Britney Spears – I only had it for a period of time, it’s not normal.”
To this day, he said, he can still hear the click of disposable cameras.
He added: “I couldn’t walk anywhere, the police were everywhere, they’d drive
around and they’d say on their radios, ‘Oh my God, it’s Brian Dowling from Big Brother’.”
In 2011, Brian replaced Davina Mccall hosting Big Brother when it moved to Channel 5. He was replaced by Emma Willis in 2013.
He has “dipped in and out “of reality shows over the years, from Celebrity Salon on TV3 to Hell’s Kitchen on ITV.
And he told how even though it’s taken him more than 20 years to be taken seriously in front of the camera, the plan was never to be on telly until he won Big Brother.
He said: “I always wanted to be an air steward.
“I was supposed to go back to Ryanair in August 2001, but then I just won £70,000.”
The Itv/virgin Media reboot of the reality TV classic will see AJ Odudu and Will Best front the 36-episode run with plans for a second series already in the works.
Kildare native Brian said he hopes there will be an Irish contestant in the mix.
He said: “I do hope they have an Irish person on the show. I was representing Ireland, if we couldn’t vote I’m not sure if I would have won or not.” 98FM presenter Brian reckons it took him 22 years to be taken seriously – and now he’s landed his own Virgin Media DIY makeover show, The Salvage Squad.
Admitting he is clueless at DIY, he said he hopes this show will make his 65-year old dad Gerard proud.
He said: “Dad brought me boxing to the Rathangan community centre when I was eight.
“I remember not being able to hold the gloves up as they were too heavy.
“I was the only boy, I’ve six sisters and my dad was really into football and hurling.
“He’d say, ‘if you don’t want to do it that’s okay’.
“So when I had the drill in my hand on the show I was like, ‘look at me now dad’.”
Despite Big Brother giving him his “big break”, Brian credits RTE reality show Dancing With The Stars with giving him his proudest moment on screen.
He was paired with pro dancer Kai Witherington in 2020 as they became the first ever same-sex couple to be paired on a dance series.
Brian and husband Arthur Gourounlian charted their surrogacy journey on RTE’S Brian & Arthur’s Very Modern Family.
Blake turned one in August, and Brian’s sister Aoife was their surrogate.
Recalling how vulnerable he felt making the documentary, Brian said: “It’s your family. When people are negative it stings. It amazed me the
fact that people would comment so ferociously on social media about the baby or my sister, or our parenting.
“But now we’re a year into it. It’s like water off a duck’s back.”
And he admitted the couple would love to have another baby.
He said: “We’ve mentioned it to Aoife, saying get ready for baby number two and she laughed.
“But we’ve never really sat down and fully engaged.
“I’ve said to all my sisters, ‘who’s next?’ I’m working through them.”
Big Brother: The Launch is on tonight at 9pm on ITV and Virgin Media 2.
I’ve said to all my sisters, ‘who’s next?’ I’m working through them