Big Brother star Brian Dowling and his husband Arthur Gourounlian have welcomed the arrival of their “beautiful daughter” and praised his sister who was their surrogate.

Dowling shared an image of the couple with their newborn baby in hospital and revealed her name in a post on Instagram.

“Please be upstanding for the arrival of our BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER Blake Maria Rose Dowling Gourounlian. Yes people another BDG,” the 44-year-old said.

He said “Blake was delivered safely” on Thursday and weighed 7lb 4oz.

Dowling’s sister Aoife acted as a surrogate for the new parents and was described as a “saint”.

“You are an absolutely incredible human,” he said.

“From our first jokingly conversations about this back in 2015 when you moved in with us in London to our more serious chats about it in January 2021 in the middle of the pandemic when we would go on our daily walks. This has been in the works for years.”

He went on to praise his sister’s dedication which he says has been “out of this world”.

“You have also put yourself out there publicly for everyone to voice their opinions about this & you never faltered. Even the vile/disgusting messages we all received just encouraged us to be more open regarding our Surrogacy journey.”

He ended his tribute by saying: “You aren’t just my sister or Arthur’s sister-in-law you are AN ANGEL & also our BEST FRIEND.”

He also thanked the donor.

“None of this would have been possible without our donor, a woman we have never met or even seen a picture of but has given us the GIFT OF LIFE.”

Dowling rose to fame after appearing on the the second series of Big Brother which he went on to win.

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