There were delerious scenes last night at the Co Kildare pub that became the unofficial headquarters of the Brian Dowling fan club, after the 23 year-old air steward won Channel Four television’s Big Brother.
Brian’s exploits under 24-hour camera scrutiny over the past nine weeks have been watched eagerly by drinkers at his parents' local pub in The Mill House, Rathangan. A new £5,000 TV screen was installed at in anticipation of his success.
Though a party of 32 relations and friends of the 23-year-old Ryanair steward flew over to London this week to witness first hand the celebrations, there was a full house at the village pub - outside which a banner was flying wishing him luck.
Staff member Ciaran Kelly said the pub had been well-prepared for the big night: "We have banners, bunting - we have a shrine in the pub with pictures of Brian taken off the Internet."
Brian secured 58 per cent of the seven million votes cast and earned a stg£70,000 cheque which he says he will spend on "something worthwhile and important to me".
During the contest, Brian had a drunken row with gay housemate Josh - he told Big Brother in the diary room: "I feel very drunk. Emotions are running high tonight. I think I have been a bastard to Josh.
"Coming in here has been very hard. I only told my parents I was gay three days before I came in. And then Josh walks in... he is so confident." Brian said he had entered the contest to confront his fears.
A lucrative career in television now seems inevitable as Brian’s sincerity and humour have attracted the attention of producers in Britain who have hailed him as a natural.
He is under contract to Channel 4 as the competition winner and has some magazine commitments but will soon be free to take up other offers.
In Co Kildare though, perhaps not everyone is delighted at the outcome. Bookies from the Irish racing industry’s heartland may now be regretting first offering odds of 8/1, later falling to 5/1, on a victory for the local hero.
They obviously did not study the form book. Last year another Irish gay, Anna Nolan, came in second.
Additional reporting PA