Jay Blades of The Repair Shop has announced the devastating death of his uncle.

The presenter and furniture restorer shared the heartbreaking news with his fans in a video posted on Instagram, announcing that his uncle was tragically murdered.

“This is something like a public service. I was just at my uncle’s funeral, he was murdered a few weeks ago,” he began.

“A really nice guy, this shouldn’t have happened to him, but it really affected me and I feel a bit confused.”

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Blades continued, “So I’m going to stay off social media for a while. I’m going to go to therapy and just unwind because sometimes when something happens you really need to take stock and just relax.”

After assuring his fans that he would be back “soon,” he added: “Take care of each other, take care of yourselves.”

Blades’ comments section was flooded with condolences and messages of support from fans and friends, including BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin, who wrote: “I’m so sorry to hear this. Sending you all lots of love xx.”

Fred Sirieix of “First Dates” also expressed his support by commenting with a red heart emoji, while 5News anchor Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije said, “Take care, brother. I’m so sorry for your loss.”

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Blades, who has hosted The Repair Shop since 2017, recently returned to screens for another season of the BBC One show alongside his team of skilled tradesmen.

The new episode also introduced a new expert: the trained textile restorer Rebecca Bissonnet.

“If you’re really excited about The Repair Shop coming back, you’re not the only one. We work really hard to make people’s dreams come true and that’s why it’s so exciting to be able to show you what we’ve been doing,” Blades said ahead of the show’s return.

The repair shop will be broadcast on BBC One and streamed on BBC iPlayer.

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