The Repair Shop's Jay Blades was almost sectioned over mental health
Note: The following article contains discussion of themes including suicide.
The Repair Shop's Jay Blades has opened up on previous mental health issues that almost saw him sectioned.
The television presenter, who has helmed The Repair Shop since 2017 when the show began, spoke to the Dish podcast about being considered for sectioning during a mental health breakdown in 2015, after splitting from his first wife and the breakdown of their High Wycombe charity Out of the Dark.
"Everything flopped for me. The business, the relationship, everything. It was a charity and we also had a business, and then I was running it with my ex-wife," he said, explaining his decision to move from High Wycombe to Wolverhampton in 2015.
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"Basically, I couldn't see myself being in tomorrow, if that makes sense. As I couldn't see myself being in tomorrow, what happened was I got in a car, got on the M40 and was looking for a bridge to crash into."
He explained that instead, he drove to a retail park and stayed there "for a week" before then finding a hotel to shower and eat.
After speaking to hotel staff, Blades revealed how the incident almost led to him being sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
"So then I got me shower gel, came back to the room and there was five people waiting for me. There was a psychiatric nurse, I think there was two of them, and then there was another really stern, like major, and then there were two police officers," he continued.
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"They started interviewing me, and all this time I'm like, I wanted to take a shower, I need to have a bath, I stink. And it was only when they said to me, ‘Oh, we don't have to section him', I was like, who are you sectioning? Because I'd done 20 years in community and I knew what sectioning was. And then they said, 'I was gonna section you, 'cause we thought you was gonna be a harm to yourself and harm others,' and all that kind of stuff."
He added that the police notified his ex-wife of the incident so she called a friend in Wolverhampton who came to pick him up and look after him, citing this as the reason for his move to the city ever since.
Two years later, Blades began hosting The Repair Shop which has now run for 13 seasons. He married his second wife Lisa Zbozen in Barbados in November 2022.
The Repair Shop airs on BBC One and streams on BBC iPlayer.
We encourage anyone who identifies with the topics raised in this article to reach out. Information about how to access support is available via the NHS, and organisations who can offer help include Samaritans on 116 123 or Mind on 0300 123 3393.
Readers in the US are encouraged to visit mentalhealth.gov or the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
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