Davina McCall has slapped down Brian Dowling’s claims that Big Brother producers snubbed him from the Best Shows Ever show.
The 52-year-old TV host took to Twitter on Thursday night to refute claims by the 42-year-old Irishman that he had not received an invitation to take part in the current recap series that Davina is co-hosting with Rylan Clark-Neal.
E4 marked the 20th anniversary of Big Brother by airing a series of celebratory episodes hosted by Davina and 31-year-old Rylan – showing highlights and memories from the axed reality series.
However some viewers took issue with the fact Brian wasn’t featured after he won the second series in 2001 – as well as the Ultimate Big Brother show in 2010.
Brian also hosted Big Brother when it moved from Channel 4 to Channel 5 in 2011, before he was replaced by Emma Willis.
Brian had suggested he hadn’t been asked to take part in the celebration series – hinting he was snubbed when replying to a fan on Twitter earlier in the week.
A fan tweeted on Wednesday: “Although I am absolutely loving watching old episodes of #BigBrother finding it very strange that there has been no mention of [Brian Dowling] as presenter?!
“Very odd considering how loved he is and was on the show?”
Brian then replied, writing: “You are not the only one. Actually at this stage it’s getting rather funny. People trying to rewrite history.”
However, Davina shot down this suggestion with a tweet of her own on Thursday night.
She wrote: “Just an FYI . We did ask @brianofficial to be part of the show.”
She added: “He was ultimate housemate!!!! That was a no brainer.”
Big Brother’s Best Shows Ever saw familiar faces from the 19 seasons of the show – and host Emma Willis also took part in a video session with Davina and Rylan during the two week event.