Big Brother winner Brian Dowling has revealed he turned down an invitation to appear in the Channel 4 special 'Big Brother: Best Shows Ever' because he remains bitter about being dropped as host in 2013. The 42-year-old, who won the second series in 2001 and later presented two series for Channel 5, said the way he was axed in favour of Emma Willis still affects him.
Original host Davina McCall, 52, clarified on social media that Dowling was asked to take part in the reunion show. 'We did ask @brianofficial to be part of the show. He was ultimate housemate! That was a no brainer,' she wrote.
But Dowling hit back, expressing anger at Channel 5, which revived the show in 2011 with him as host only to drop him two years later. He claimed he learned of his sacking from a newspaper and that it took the production company four weeks to confirm it 'without a single apology, call, text, email, bunch of flowers or a single question asking how I was'.
Dowling added: 'My whole time on the show was tainted by how I was treated and it still affects me today. The same company asked if I wanted to film a 10-second message on my phone saying hello to you. Surprisingly, I didn't really feel like doing that.'
Regarding his relationship with Willis, Dowling said they were 'probably more colleagues but that's OK', adding that she was in a position where she could hardly turn down the job. He claimed Willis has 'never reached out' to him in the past seven years, except for one private conversation. Willis, who presented Big Brother until 2018, was approached for comment.
