Jay Blades

Jay Blades (born 21 February 1970)[1][2] is a furniture restorer and presenter originally from Hackney but currently based in Wolverhampton.[3][4] He is best known for presenting The Repair Shop and Money for Nothing.[5] He has also appeared in Would I Lie To You?, Celebrity Masterchef, Richard Osman's House of Games, and Michael McIntyre's The Wheel.[6][7]

Jay Blades
Born (1970-02-21) 21 February 1970
London
NationalityBritish
OccupationUpholsterer, TV presenter
Known forThe Repair Shop
Money for Nothing
Jay Blades' Home Fix

Blades was raised in East London with his mother and half-brother.[4] He is one of 26 children his father fathered in different countries.[4] He has dyslexia which was not diagnosed at school.[4] He experienced racism at school and from the police.[4] As a young man he worked as a labourer and in factories.[4] He then went to Buckinghamshire New University as a mature student to study criminology.[4][8]

When Blades married, he and his then wife, Jade, set up a charity based in High Wycombe, Out of the Dark, to train disadvantaged young people in furniture restoration.[4] The charity lost funding, Blades's marriage broke down and he became homeless.[4] He was supported by friends and by the Caribbean community.[4] Around the same time, TV producers saw a short film about the charity which led to his work as a television presenter.[4]

Blades lives in Wolverhampton, as of 2020.[4] He has three children: a daughter from his marriage and two children from previous relationships.[4][8][9][10]

References
  1. "Twitter". mobile.twitter.com. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  2. Jones, Emma (19 April 2020). "Jay Blades' degree in criminology led him on path to star in The Repair Shop". mirror. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  3. "Furniture dealer turned TV star Jay Blades chats about his style in Wolverhampton". Shropshire Star. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  4. Saner, Emine (7 September 2020). "'I spent a long time being this macho man': Jay Blades on love, loss and the liberating power of tears". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  5. Andrew Williams (10 April 2018). "Jay Blades talks upcycling versus restoring". Metro. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  6. "BBC - Celebrity MasterChef fires up the ovens for another hot summer - Media Centre".
  7. "Richard Osman's House of Games, Series 3, Episode 26". BBC. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  8. "The Repair Shop's Jay Blades reveals incredible story discovering he has 25 siblings". www.msn.com. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  9. "Repair Shop's Jay Blades". mirror. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  10. Youngs, Ian (1 April 2020). "From repairing lives to hosting The Repair Shop". BBC News. Retrieved 29 June 2020.


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