THE Repair Shop’s Jay Blades has recalled the bombshell moment he discovered he had 25 brothers and sisters due to his womanising dad.
The presenter grew up with his single mother Barbara and his half-brother Justin on a council estate in East London.
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However he didn’t meet his father Trevor until he was 21, when he discovered he also had a much wider family.
He told The Mail on Sunday: “He told me I had four other siblings but I then found out that wasn’t true at all.
“I have 25 in total, including six in America, two in Africa and three in Jamaica. I’ve met 11 of them and I am really close to my half-sister, Sophie.”
Jay, 50, had two children by different mothers by the time he was 25 and admits settling down wasn’t at the forefront of his mind at that age.
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He said: “I didn’t even think about settling down. Growing up, I only knew of two families where the mum and dad were married.
“I loved the ladies I was with but things didn’t work out and I moved on, even though I always stayed in touch with my children.
“I didn’t want to be like my father.”
Family is at the heart of The Repair Shop which airs on the BBC and sees a team of expert work together to repair family heirlooms and possessions.
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Despite being on its sixth season, Jay still feels like he isn’t a typical BBC presenter, having left school at 15 with no qualifications before going to university when he was 29.
He explained: “I am someone who has made some very big mistakes in life, someone who has had to work really hard to mend myself.”
The Repair Shop airs on Wednesday’s at 8pm on BBC One.