23 year-old gay Irish farmer Cian Carrigan entered the Big Brother house on Friday night and is already becoming a favourite among viewers. Carrigan, who is from Clonmel, Tipperary, has been given great odds by bookies to win the final season of the reality show. As it stands, Carrigan and Sian Hamshaw, a 25 year-old waitress from Barnsley, have a 9/2 shot of taking the grand prize of £100,000.

Aoife Heffron from BoyleSports spoke to The Irish Sun about the Tipperary man’s chances:

“This is the last ever series on Big Brother so the winner will go down in history and we are already seeing strong support for two housemates, Sian and Cian, who are joint 9/2 favourites.

“Cian is an eccentric farmer from Clonmel, Tipperary so he has the patriotic punters on his side, but from the small glimpses we have seen of the computer gaming rep, he is sure to go down a treat with the public so we are keen to keep him on our side.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn29yYZH7W5/?hl=en&taken-by=ciancarrigan

Cian who has promised to bring some “country humour, contemporary fashion and honesty to the show” is one of six brothers. Two of his brothers are also gay. The 23 year-old said that in his family “you have to come out as straight”.

He is close to his family and has said that he thinks the hardest part of the experience will be missing his mother. He told The Mirror that his family watch the show together:

“The series really does mean a lot to me and my family. We had an aunt that used to love it. Sadly, she passed away. We keep watching it because of her.

“I think my aunt would be proud that I’m on Big Brother. I hope that other people will be as well, that I’ve made it from Tipperary onto Big Brother.”

Cian thinks that the series is a “great social experiment”, as well as “a great TV show”. He revealed that he does not have a game-plan, but plans on being completely himself.