Big Brother’s Brian Dowling Claims His Time Presenting The Series Was ‘Tainted’ As He Reveals Reason For Turning Down Reunion Show

26 June 2020, 11:37

Big Brother star and former host Brian Dowling has criticised the series for the way he was let go in 2013, when Emma Willis replaced him.

Two-time Big Brother winner Brian Dowling has hit out at the TV series’ producers for ‘tainting’ his time hosting the show with the way he was replaced.

Replying to Davina McCall on Twitter when she insisted he was asked to be part of the current reunion series, Big Brother: Best Shows Ever, Brian said the way he “was treated still affects me today.”

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His statement said: “I found out from a newspaper I was being fired and replaced, and it took the production company a further 4 weeks to confirm that, without a single apology, phone call, text, email or even a bunch of flowers or a single question asking how I was."

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The TV presenter continued: “My whole time on the show was tainted by how I was treated and it still affects me today.

“The same production company asked if I wanted to film a 10 second message on my phone saying hello to you and Rylan. Surprisingly I didn't really feel like doing that.”

Brian’s statement was in response to Davina’s tweet, which read: “Just an FYI. We did ask @brianofficial to be part of the show. He was the ultimate housemate! That was a no brainer.”

Brian won the second series of Big Brother in 2001, and went on to win Ultimate Big Brother in 2010. He was then invited to present the series when it moved from Channel 4 to Channel 5.

Despite being replaced by Emma Willis, Brian insisted to OK! Magazine this week there was never a rift between them.

He explained: “She was in a situation where she was hardly going to turn down the job. I completely sympathise with the position she was in. It would have been nice to get a text or a call beforehand. We’re colleagues, right?”

Fellow BB star Rylan Clark-Neal also leapt to Brian’s defence earlier this week, when he and Davina were called out by fans for discussing their own experiences of hosting the show, with no mention of Brian’s time fronting the series.

Rylan insisted he holds his interview with the former presenter “dear to me”, as he was his last ever interview.

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