The Big Brother hosts have gone to war.
Brian Dowling launched a scathing attack on the reality series bosses for secretly hiring Emma Willis behind his back.
The TV sensation, 42, presented two series of Big Brother and four instalments of Celebrity Big Brother before he was replaced in 2013.
Brian reeled in horror as he recalled discovering Emma had been in secret chats with TV bosses the whole time.
He told OK! magazine : "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.
"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 was gutted when he watched the show after he was suddenly dropped.
All these years later, the Ultimate Big Brother winner confessed he would have liked a text or a call from Emma before she happily took his hosting job.
However, he insisted there was "no rift" between them going forward.
He added: "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..."
Mirror Online reached out to Big Brother's representatives for further comment.
The Irish personality rocketed to fame when he won the second series of Big Brother.
His reality star success spurred him onto win the Ultimate Big Brother in 2010.
In 2011, Brian turned his hand at presenting the show after winning two of the series.
He replaced the original presenter Davina McCall.
Celebrity Big Brother was axed in 2018 after ratings suffered.
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