Brian Dowling says nieces and nephews 'still don't believe' he won Big Brother

The 43-year-old was crowned the winner of the second series of the Channel 4 reality show in 2001, beating out Helen Adams for the gong.

In 2010, he competed in Ultimate Big Brother against other past contestants and emerged victorious yet again.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of his first time in the Big Brother house, Brian shared some videos to his Instagram stories of a cake decorated with the show’s signature eye from 2210 Patisserie complete with ‘20’ candles.

“Look at this cake! It’s the Big Brother eye from my season, 2001. It’s a yes from me!” he said as he admired the gorgeous gateau.

The Kildare native also posted a photo of him posing beside his three nieces and two nephews as they celebrated their uncle’s big day.

He laughed that none of the kids believe that he won the show, adding that he had to explain to his nephew Rían what Big Brother was.

Brian captioned the post: “Big Brother is ALWAYS WATCHING YOU!!! Happy 20th BB Anniversary to me.

“To think none of these beauties were here when I was CROWNED. I just had to explain to Rían what Big Brother is. They still don’t believe I won. #bigbrother #20years #family”

Brian’s husband, Arthur Gourounlian, commented: “This gives me LIFE. WOW, 20 years.”

Arthur also posted a photo on Instagram to celebrate his husband’s Big Brother milestone, this time involving five of Brian’s six sisters.

The choreographer wrote: “Happy BB celebrations to this SUPERSTAR @bprdowling

“I can’t believe it’s been 20 years since my baby won. In his element here with 5 of his 6 sisters @paula_noonan5, @effidy_dowling_, @tracey_maher_, Valerie & Tara.

“We are just missing our gorgeous @shellymoranyesitsme. Family is EVERYTHING #celebrations #family #bigbrother”

Brian joked in the comments: “We haven’t aged,” while Arthur replied: “Not a bit.”