This time last year, Jay Blades was fronting one of the BBC’s highest-rated shows, which regularly attracts seven million viewers.
Now the Repair Shop presenter has been forced to step back after being accused of controlling and coercive behavior towards his wife.
The star, who rose from an inauspicious start to become one of TV’s best-known faces and was feted by the King, is quietly finding a new audience after launching a career as a DJ.
Blades, 54, is offering his fans the chance to “experience the best vibes of the weekend” by playing live DJ sets from his guest bedroom, MailOnline can reveal.
The furniture restorer has swapped the benches in his workshop for two players and a microphone while playing records specializing in smoochy soul, gospel and jazz music, as well as “rare grooves.”
Jay Blades is quietly finding a new audience by launching a career as a DJ, after being accused of controlling and coercive behavior towards his wife.
The furniture restorer has swapped the benches in his workshop for two decks and a microphone while playing records specializing in smoochy soul, gospel and jazz music, as well as ‘rare grooves’.
He has built more than 2,000 followers by streaming three-hour performances late nights on weekends on an online music streaming service where artists are paid through subscriptions and tips.
Blades has previously ventured into the world of DJing, playing live gigs.
Now launching his new career on Mixcloud, Blades wrote: ‘Looking for the perfect soundtrack for your weekend? Look no further!
‘Whether you’re unwinding from a hectic week or getting ready for a night out, my live DJ sets are guaranteed to set the perfect mood. Don’t miss it!
‘Let’s make every weekend unforgettable with the best songs and the best vibes!’
In addition to shows on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, Blades will also offer ‘pop ups’ on Tuesday nights.
In one session he can be seen gyrating to groovy sounds while telling fans, “These are some new vibes, you know?” You are very lucky.”
Blades, sporting his trademark bold glasses, also appears to have found a new catchphrase as he repeatedly says: ‘Oh God. Oh God.’
Jay is offering fans the chance to ‘experience the best vibes of the weekend’ by playing live DJ sets from his guest bedroom, MailOnline can reveal.
He has built more than 2,000 followers by streaming three-hour weekend sets on an online music streaming service where artists are paid through subscriptions and tips.
He adds, “I told you Jay, you don’t do it the normal way, it’s different.”
Urging more fans to sign up, he says: ‘Listen people, make sure you follow me so you get notified when I’m back on air and you should also share the link; you should share the link because I do things a little differently.’
The shows are broadcast live from his home near Wolverhampton in an upstairs room featuring his high-tech equipment and huge record collection.
It all seems a world away from her appearances on the popular family show in which audiences bring worn-out family heirlooms to be restored by a team of experts.
After launching him down the road to fame and fortune, Blades had the world at his feet as his career ascended to ever more brilliant heights.
The star, who was awarded an MBE in 2021, struck up an unlikely friendship with King Charles, who appeared in one of Repair Shop’s most memorable episodes.
Jay married glamorous fitness instructor Lisa Zbozen, 43, in a romantic beachfront ceremony in Barbados in December 2022.
He is accused of physically and emotionally abusing Lisa, who heartbreakingly revealed earlier this year that her life was “shattered.”
Jay was accused in September of physically and emotionally abusing his wife, Lisa Zbozen, over a 20-month period.
Earlier this month, the usually stylish six-foot-three star wore a puffer jacket, hoodie and tracksuit bottoms as he left Kidderminster magistrates’ court after appearing in the dock charged with controlling and coercive behavior against Lisa.
Shortly afterwards, the BBC and other television channels began suspending programs in which Blades appeared, as the presenter announced that he had withdrawn from three of King Charles’s favorite charities.
Blades also resigned as chancellor of Buckinghamshire New University with immediate effect.
It was at the university that Blades, who left school at 15 without any qualifications, enrolled as a mature student on a criminology and philosophy degree in 2001.
Blades grew up in Hackney, east London, and has described how he used to live among rats in his poverty-stricken childhood home, after he and his mother Barbara were abandoned by his Jamaican father Trevor when he was single. a baby
The star described how they were left “devastated” after “the man who contributed to my birth” made a series of promises to his mother before disappearing and “taking all her money.”
He went on to discover that he is one of 26 children on his father’s side, with siblings spread across several continents, including six in South America and two in Africa.
Jay has previously told how racist bullies made fun of him at school.
Suffering from undiagnosed dyslexia, he barely knew how to read or write when he left school.
Blades took jobs and worked in factories, but at the age of 21 he was living in a Salvation Army homeless shelter.
A year earlier, Blades’ first child, Levi, now 33, was born after an on-again, off-again relationship with his childhood sweetheart, Maria.
She then had another son, Dior, now 29, from a separate relationship.
Blades told how he began to move forward when, through a shelter manager, he was given the opportunity to volunteer at a homeless center in Oxford.
He described the experience as “a beautiful awakening” and, after completing more community business projects, he and his then wife, Jade, a textiles graduate, ventured into furniture restoration.
They created a charitable social enterprise to restore reclaimed furniture as a means of training young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Blades told how he hit rock bottom again after splitting from Jade, with whom he has an 18-year-old daughter, Zola, in 2015.
The marriage broke down when his charity went bankrupt and he ended up homeless again, living in his car, believing he would “not see tomorrow”.
Blades lived on handouts from his friends, but said that around the same time, television producers saw a short film about the charity and thought it would fit perfectly into a new BBC programme, The Repair Shop.
Blades met King Charles, then the Prince of Wales, when he was awarded his MBE for his services to the craft.
After a few months, the couple met again during the filming of a special episode of the show at Dumfries House in Scotland.
In the episode, the future monarch chose an antique clock and a piece of pottery made for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 to be restored by the show’s team of experts.
Blades attended the coronation at Westminster Abbey in May last year and was later invited by the King to his 75th birthday party at Highgrove.
Blades has spoken about his “bromance” with the King, whom he described as “a fine old man”, and told how they were brought together by their shared passions for craftsmanship and heritage restorations.
Their friendship was such that it didn’t seem at all unnatural when Blades broke protocol by touching Charles on the arm during the filming of the episode.
Blades presented a series of documentaries in which he teamed up with celebrities including Dame Judi Dench and Sir David Jason.
A new series of the award-winning show and a host of other television projects were in the works when Blades was arrested in May and later charged.
Shortly after, it was revealed that she would be taking a break from filming and sources said the decision was also linked to the violent death of her uncle Richard Braithwaite, 72, in north London in March. A neighbor has been charged with murder.
In a video on his Instagram account, Blades said: “I’m leaving social media for a while and will be back in a moment.”
‘I’m going to go do some therapy and just relax. Please take care of each other, take care of yourselves and I will see you soon.’
After Blades’ court appearance, television channels, including Channel 4 and Channel 5, began shelving shows Blades was due to star in.
New Repair Shop episodes featuring Blades have been pulled from the schedule, while a Christmas special is also said to be “in the air”.
Meanwhile, Blades informed the King’s Foundation that he was resigning from his role as an ambassador for the education charity.
He also resigned as co-chairman and trustee of Heritage Crafts and as an ambassador for the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust. King Charles is the patron of both organizations.
Blades’ personal site previously said: ‘He is the antithesis of the throwaway culture that surrounds us, believing that the old can become new, the worn can shine again, and the broken can be fixed.
‘It is perhaps no coincidence that his belief in the restoration of objects arises from the belief that humans can also be repaired, repaired and rejuvenated.
‘He is the living embodiment of that. A man whose backstory will give you insight into the obstacles he has had to overcome and how those considerable challenges make his rise to where he is today seem even more impressive.
“Jay is always motivated to do better.”
Blades will appear at Worcester Crown Court for a pre-trial hearing on October 11.
