[Amy]

HE had to settle for second place in Big Brother 5 but hunky Jason Cowan seemed to win a much bigger prize.

The muscle-bound Scot was reunited with his biological mum - Jane Astrauskas - who gave him up for adoption 28 years before.

To a sentimental public, it looked like Big Brother had achieved something incredible. But reality TV is one thing and cold harsh reality is another. Jason, 31, has told the Sunday Mail there was no tearful Surprise Surprise-style reunion and there is no ongoing relationship to speak of.

The former air steward, from Motherwell, has only seen his biological mum twice, once for their first meeting in three decades and a second time to be photographed for a celebrity magazine.

He reveals they have never sat down together, one to one and haven't even talked on the phone for more than a month.

'We kept in touch for a wee while with phone calls but it never felt right,' he says. 'It felt quite false, to be honest.'

And the most positive outcome of the whole affair is the fact it has drawn him closer to his adoptive family.

'I'm happy I met my biological mum,' says Jason, who now lives in Manchester.

'That was my goal. I just wanted to see what she looked like and ask her a few questions. That's what I did and, in my mind, I'm happy now.

'I've got a family that I've been brought up with and I know as my mum, my brothers and my sisters. All of this has brought me closer to them and I now realise I don't need another family.

'I'm not being cold-hearted. I'm just being practical.'

Jason admits he was overwhelmed when he emerged from the Big Brother house in August.

During conversations with other housemates, he had revealed he was adopted as a child but the self-styled Jungle Cat had never expected to be confronted by that aspect of his past at the end of his 10-week BB run.

'Maybe that was a bit naive,' he says. 'But I had other things on my mind in there. I was always going to find her when I was ready. My plan was to wait until I was married and had my own kids.

'You hear stories about people going to find their biological families. I thought if I had a family of my own, it wouldn't matter so much if she rejected me.

'So when it came out during Big Brother, well, you can call me sceptical... but it did annoy me a bit.'

He had lost out on the Big Brother title to transsexual Nadia Almada. But there were greater shocks in store.

Reading through the 10 weeks of press cuttings left Jason emotionally devastated.

The big brash Scot who had strutted into the house wearing a leopard-print thong and a toothy grin, spent the first day outside sitting in his hotel room crying.

'I didn't eat or sleep for the whole weekend,' he says.

'For the first time in years, I cried. The morning after I got out I just sat on my own in my hotel room and cried.

'I was reading all these articles with people telling lies about me and about my biological mum coming forward, this woman that I hadn't seen in nearly 30 years. I didn't know any of the people they were talking about and didn't even know her.'

Jane, 46, gave Jason up after becoming pregnant, aged 16.

He was raised by his foster family - mum Eleanor Cowan, her late husband Johnny and five older children - just four miles away from Jane's home in Wishaw, Lanarkshire.

He admits he still struggles to understand why Jane never got in touch despite living so close. But he's grateful for the upbringing he had.

'I had a great childhood,' he says. 'My mum is 74 now and she's fantastic.

'Eleanor Cowan is my real mum and she's a saint. She doesn't smoke or drink. She dedicated herself to fostering a lot of kids with problems and giving them a great upbringing. She brought me up to be the person I am today. If I'd gone somewhere else or had stayed with my biological family, who knows how I would have turned out.'

But he would still like to know the identity of his biological father, a piece of information Jane has yet to provide.

'I asked her about getting in touch with him but she hasn't really got back to me on that one,' says Jason.

'I've heard he's quite a shy man so maybe he just doesn't want to get into the limelight but I would like to have a beer with him then go on my way.

'Jane is nothing like me. She has dark eyes, skin and hair. I don't see myself in her. Maybe I would see myself in him.'

Christmas will mark the end of an amazing and turbulent year for Jason He'll spend it on his own in Manchester, turning down family invitations in a bid to avoid any 'fuss'.

But he doesn't regret a single minute. Big Brother turned his life around and he's still glad he did it - even though he had to pretend to be a bisexual to win a place and was booed mercilessly when he emerged as runner-up.

He's still in demand for personal appearances at nighclubs, he's just done a naked photo shoot for Cosmopolitan magazine (to raise awareness of male cancers) and he's planning to set up his own fitness business in the new year.

He chooses not to attend any of the Big Brother parties and the only one of his fellow housemates that he sees regularly is his fellow jungle cat Victor.

But Jason's happy to live with the legacy of his taste of fame.

'My life was going nowhere,' he says. 'I was skint, going from job to job, didn't have a house or a future.

'I've always wanted to get married and have kids but I could never see it happening. Now everything I do is so I can afford a nice family house and look after my kids when they come along.

'Before Big Brother I was working a 40-hour week and getting £250 for it. Now I got into nightclubs for an hour and get £2500 - that's the difference.'

Sunday mail