Who is Jay Blades? BBC presenter and The Repair Shop host charged with coercive behaviour towards wife

BBC presenter Jay Blades has been charged with engaging in controlling or coercive behaviour towards his wife.

Blades, 54, appeared at Kidderminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday after being charged by West Mercia Police with one count of engaging in controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship.

According to court documents, the charge relates to his fitness instructor wife Lisa Zbozen, who announced on her Instagram page in May their relationship was over. The couple married in the grounds of a beachfront villa in Barbados on November 22, 2022.

BBC presenter Jay Blades. Picture: Shane Anthony Sinclair/Getty Images | Getty Images

The presenter, who fronts primetime show The Repair Shop, will appear at Worcester Crown Court for a plea and trial preparation hearing on October 11.

In a statement, West Mercia Police said: “54-year-old Jason Blades of Claverley in Wolverhampton has been charged with controlling and coercive behaviour.

“He appeared at Kidderminster Magistrates Court this morning (Friday 13th September) and has been bailed to appear at Worcester Crown Court on Friday 11th October.”

It is understood a repeat of David & Jay’s Touring Toolshed will no longer be on the BBC’s schedule on Friday night.

Who is Jay Blades?

Furniture restorer Blades, who was made an MBE for services to craft in 2022, found fame on The Repair Shop, the restoration programme he has presented since 2017, which sees members of the public take worn-out family heirlooms to be restored by a team of experts.

He also presented the BBC’s Money For Nothing until 2020, appeared on Celebrity Masterchef and Celebrity Bake Off as well as Comic Relief and delved into the history of the West Midlands and the East End for two Channel 5 documentaries.

In March 2023, he became Buckinghamshire New University’s first chancellor having studied for a degree in criminology and philosophy from 2001, and in May 2023 he won a daytime Bafta TV award along with other members of The Repair Shop for a special featuring the King, who was at the time the Prince of Wales.

In the one-off special, Blades and the restorers visited Charles at Dumfries House in Scotland for The Repair Shop: A Royal Visit.

The programme also won the daytime prize at the National Television Awards the same year.