Global: View Result Counter does not evaluate properly in IF statements

I am trying to print something in row 1 only

Putting this in re-write field OR global: custom text field

{% if counter == 1 %}

This should be printing in row 1

{% endif %}

Does not return/print anything.

If I do != it prints "This should be printing in row 1" in row 1 and row 2.

Strangely, when I use a template file. Ex: views-view-fields.html.twig

{% if fields.counter.content == 1 %}

This should be printing in row 1

{% endif %}

I get the opposite result. Using == prints "This should be printing in row 1" in row 1 and row 2

and when I use != nothing gets printed.

I also unchecked all the boxes that add extra divs/markup from the views UI and same result.