Brian Dowling has long been faced with the misconceptions some Irish people have about him - but rather than taking offence, he thrives on proving them wrong.
The presenter, 47, shot to fame in 2001 after winning Big Brother at the tender age of 23. Ever since, he says that people have assumed that fame has opened doors for him and that he is a 'pampered princess'.
But Brian insists that his real life is far from those glamorous assumptions and insists that he lives a very normal life and has never had anything 'handed to him'.
Speaking to the Irish Independent he opened up about the biggest misconceptions people have about him, saying: '[They] probably think that I am this pampered princess who takes everything for granted and has not worked for anything and is probably super annoying.'
Since his Big Brother win, Brian says he has had to work hard to get to the place he is in his career, often working multiple jobs at the same time in TV and radio and TV.
Brian said he has had to deal with people stereotyping him as a gay man and that he has life on easy mode after his early career success in reality TV but he said that couldn't be further from the truth.
He said: 'People probably don’t realise how normal my life is and how I really have had to f**king work to get to where I am. Nothing has been handed to me. People have this misconception that it is easy for Brian.
'It is not f**king easy. People probably maybe think that I am entitled. I am the least entitled person. People probably think I am spoilt and self-indulgent. I was spoilt, I may be a little self-indulgent. "He is a narcissist". I am none of that.'
However, despite the assumptions, Brian admitted he doesn't mind it so much as it becomes his motivation, saying: 'Sometimes I like the misconceptions. I love proving people wrong.'
