LIFE is still sweet for Essex boy Brian Belo almost two years after he won the nation’s hearts and, with them, Big Brother.

The cheeky 21-year-old, who was raised in Basildon and now lives in Billericay, has been making the most of life as a minor celebrity since winning the Channel 4 reality show.

Brian has made a healthy living, from magazine and television deals and personal appearances for television shows and nightclubs.

He said: “I’ve been to clubs all over England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. It’s been a perfect job for a 21 year-old – basically getting paid to go out all the time.

“I recorded a song called Essex Boy, which I’ve sung at some of the clubs. Sometimes they get you to pick a girl out of the audience and give her a kiss.”

Brian moved straight back in with his mum, in Ampers End, Basildon, after he won Big Brother in August 2007.

He has since invested the £100,000 first prize in a two-bedroom flat in Billericay, where he currently lives alone.

Brian has stayed single since splitting up with fellow Big Brother contestant Amanda Marchant earlier this year.

He said: “I’ve met quite a few girls since, but I’ve just been going out on lots of dates. I usually take them to Nando’s and the cinema over at Bas Vegas.”

Brian has met a host of celebrities too – including pop group Girls Aloud, actors Danny Dyer, Ross Kemp and Barbara Windsor, glamour model Caprice, and even Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

He said: “Cheryl Tweedy had a chat with me and Amanda backstage after a Girls Aloud show one night, not long after we came out of Big Brother.

“She told me all about who I could trust and should and shouldn’t talk to. She was really caring, just like she is on the X Factor.

“Danny Dyer told me he liked my mum, who he’d obviously seen interviewed on Big Brother, which was nice of him.”

Brian has so far appeared on Harry Hill’s TV Burp, his favourite soap opera Hollyoaks, two episodes of Channel 4 show the Friday Night Project, which stars comedy duo Alan Carr and Justin Lee Collins, and Chris Moyles’s Radio One breakfast show.

He said: “That was quite funny because it was obvious I didn’t really know who Chris Moyles was. I told him I didn’t really listen to Radio One, I prefer Essex FM.”

Brian will next appear on television tonight, on Channel 4 comedy panel show Eight Out of 10 Cats, hosted by comedian Jimmy Carr.

Brian said: “It was a Big Brother themed show and I was one of six former contestants they had on.

“We got quite a bit of stick, but it kind of comes with the territory. You get a lot of people coming up to you, saying ‘you haven’t done anything to actually warrant all this’.

“I kind of agree with them, but being on Big Brother was a lot of fun and everything since has been a bonus.

“When you’re in the house it’s like going back to being a little child, where there are no mobile phones and no bills to pay.

“You just spend all your time talking and playing around and we all got on so well. Winning didn’t really change me much. I think staying in Essex kept my feet on the ground. I couldn’t live in London.”

Brian is comfortable financially, but realises he can’t keep riding the minor celebrity gravy train for ever.

He said: “I’m at the stage now, where I’ve got to start thinking about what I want to do next.

“I know I can’t spend the rest of my life living off what I did when I was 19. I’m going to have to get a proper job.”

Brian studied film and television for a British National Diploma, at South East Essex College, in Southend, from 2003 to 2005.

He would like to use the skills he learned there in the future.

He said: “We learned about filming and editing and how it all works. I think I would like to work behind the scenes on television one day, maybe even on Big Brother.”

The new series of Celebrity Big Brother is due to return to Channel 4from January 2.

It was not screened in 2008 because of the controversy surrounding the alleged racism, levelled by other contestants towards Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty in the 2007 show.

Brian said: “I know the producers on the show and they’re going to be really careful this time not to cause offence.

“Hopefully they’ll stick to light entertainment, not big controversial issues.

“I think most people prefer Big Brother when it concentrates on the funny little things that go on, like silly arguments over an egg.”