Big Brother’s Brian Dowling claims his time as host was ‘tainted’ by learning he’d been axed

Big Brother star Brian Dowling has claimed his time as host was ‘tainted’ after learning he’d been secretly replaced by Emma Willis.

The presenter, 42, took to Twitter on Thursday night to clarify Davina McCall’s claims he’d been offered a chance to appear on lookback series Best Shows Ever, saying he ‘didn’t feel like’ recording a message given the way he was treated.

It came after Brian hit out at Big Brother bosses for holding ‘secret talks’ with Emma behind his back to replace him as the show’s host, and has admitted he is ‘still affected’ by the way he was treated.

On Thursday night viewers were looking back at Brian’s first appearance on Big Brother in 2001, which eventually saw him crowned series champion.

Responding to a fan, Brian shared a cryptic tweet hinting he wasn’t offered the chance to take part in Best Shows Ever, writing: ‘You are not the only one. Actually at this stage it’s getting rather funny. People trying to rewrite history.’

Following Brian’s comments about his experience working on the show, Davina took to social media to clarify that Brian was offered the chance to appear on Best Shows Ever.

She tweeted: ‘Just an FYI . We did ask @brianofficial to be part of the show. He was ultimate housemate!!!! That was a no brainer.’ 

But Brian later responded to Davina’s tweet, claiming that he wasn’t told by bosses about Emma’s hiring, and in the four weeks before being formally told he’d been axed, never received any other contact from them. 

He added that he was asked whether he’d like to record a phone message for Davina and Rylan Clark-Neal for Best Shows Ever, but turned it down.

The post read: ‘I found out from The Sun newspaper that 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.

‘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 also appeared on Ultimate Big Brother in 2010 and was crowned champion, and was then invited to host the show when it moved over to Channel 5.

On Thursday, Brian hit out at Big Brother bosses for secretly holding talks with Emma behind his back.

The popular host fronted the reality show for two civilian series plus a handful of celebrity specials, before Channel 5 announced in 2013 that The Voice star Emma would be taking over.

Taking aim at the way in which he found out he was losing his job, Brian said it was ‘not a nice feeling’ to hear show bosses were in ‘secret talks’ with Emma. 

Speaking to OK! magazine, he said: ‘A newspaper broke the story to me when I’d signed a contract and was coming back to host two more seasons. And to find out they were in secret talks with Emma the whole time, it’s not a nice feeling.’

He added: ‘But that’s just the industry we’re in. It happens and I just had to hold my head high and walk away from that. But when I look back on my time being a housemate twice and hosting it… you have to find the positives.’

Brian added that although there’s ‘no rift’ between himself and Emma, it would have been nice if she had called or texted him before he heard the bad news.

He went on: ‘There was no rift. Were Emma and I friends? Probably more colleagues than friends, but that’s OK. 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? It wasn’t nice and then having to watch the show…’

Brian also confirmed that with the exception of one ‘private conversation’, Emma had ‘never reached out’ to him in seven years, adding that the last time they spoke was ‘a month or two after the firing’ in 2013. 

He went on to say that he has ‘respect’ for the host and hopes that if they ran into one another, there would be a ‘big hug and big kiss.’ 

Emma went on to present the series until it finished on Channel 5 in 2018 with Rylan Clark-Neal hosting spin-off show Big Brother’s Bit On The Side.

Big Brother has once again become a talking point thanks to the current reunion show airing re-runs of classic episodes. 

Before Thursday’s episode of Best Shows Ever aired, Rylan, 31, took to Twitter to respond to fans who criticised the series for making no mention of the fact Brian hosted the show during Wednesday’s episode when Emma made an appearance.

While Davina and Emma remembered their experiences hosting the show, fans noted Brian’s stint as host was not discussed.

Responding to the criticism, Rylan wrote: ‘I have seen some of you and Brian feel slightly let down and left out of the conversation between myself, Davina and Emma in Wednesday’s show.

‘I just want to clarify to you all that I’m fully aware Brian hosted the show as I was his last ever interview, which I hold dear to me as I said the night I won during the interview as I was and still am a massive fan of his.

”Just to re-clarify what I said: “Seeing as I’ve got you both here, when you got the call to host the show, after working alongside the Big mother herself, what was going through your mind?”

‘I hope this shows I was just using that opportunity as a fan to ask that question with the two people in front of me, I would have asked the same question if it was Brian and Davina or Emma and Brian.

”I have a lot of love for Brian and would hate for him to be feeling upset and I hope this clears it up for those tweeting. Lets enjoy what Big Brother we have left. Enjoy the last show. #BBUK’.