We caught up with Big Brother finalist Cian Carrigan and he was more than happy to spill all the tea about life inside and out of the Big Brother house.

The out and proud farmer from Knockmealdown mountains in Tipperary applied for the show after being a loyal fan for well over a decade. Inspired by the likes of Brian Dowling who won the series in 2001, Cian applied not thinking he would pass an audition, let alone wind up in the top four.

The show’s “raw social experiment” was a large part of the appeal for this Tipperary native, and in advance of filming, Carrigan spent as much time with his family, particularly his nieces and nephews in order to soak up as much family time as possible.

In fact, his young family members motivated him to apply for the reality series in the first place:

“I wanted to be a role model for my nieces and nephews. I wanted to tell them ‘Listen, you can apply to these things, you can go to other countries and meet people that you never expected to meet in your lifetime.’”

With family and home meaning so much to Cian, it comes as no surprise that the hardest moment in the Big Brother house was when he was not able to read his letter from home:

“It really upset me to think that my parents took time out to write that letter and I wasn’t going to get it.”

Cian added, however, that he was happy for his fellow housemates:

“I was thrilled for Sian and Zoey as they’re both mothers and spoke so much about their beautiful children, and Cameron obviously had come out on the show, so it was nice for him to have that support, letting him know that he was so loved at home.”

The future is certainly looking very bright for Cian. While the farmer is unsure what exactly is on the cards, he guarantees that we have not seen the last of him:

“God knows what’s next, but I promise it’s going to be exciting, colourful, fun and it’s going to be true to me.”