Jay Blades has said that he would like to be the first black person to host a primetime game show.
The Repair Shop star, 51, also admitted that he’s had to ‘conform a little bit’ while appearing on his hit TV show, but added that he ‘still keeps his personality’.
It comes as Jay released his autobiography Making It which candidly details how he was searched and beaten by the police and his mental health.
Plans: Jay Blades has said that he would like to be the first black person to host a primetime game show (pictured on the BBC TV show)
Speaking about the BBC and racism, Jay told RadioTimes: ‘I’m fortunate. Someone asked me, what shows do you want to be doing? Do you want to do Strictly?
‘I said I’d like to do a game show – a black person has never been a primetime game-show host. That’s an institutionally racist organisation doing something that keeps the institution white. Plain and simple.’
Jay continued that the game-show idea is still in the pipeline, adding: ‘I had someone say to me, ‘We did have a black guy once do a game show. It was called Jungle Blah Blah Blah…’ I said, I’m just going to pause you there.’
A BBC Spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘The BBC is committed to representing all audiences across the UK and we are proud to have a diverse mix of talent hosting our gameshows and quizzes.
‘Most recently Clive Myrie has been appointed as the new Mastermind host, Rochelle and Marvin Humes are currently hosting the third series of Hit List – previously Ore Oduba hosted daytime quiz Hardball and Alison Hammond co-hosted Saturday night gameshow, The Time It Takes.’
Meanwhile, Jay has said that he ‘totally disagrees’ with a study by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities that found that although racism persists, there’s no evidence that Britain is institutionally racist.
‘I still keep my personality’: The Repair Shop star, 51, also admitted that he’s had to ‘conform a little bit’ while appearing on his hit TV show
He said: ‘Look at who’s on the board of these organisations [such as education, government, housing, employment, mental health]. To me that’s an institution being racist because they’re not inclusive of the people they’re representing.’
And speaking about appearing on The Repair Shop, Jay said: ‘I’m a black guy, six foot three, I’ve got a gold tooth, I don’t speak the Queen’s English… I have to conform a little bit, it’s a TV show, but I still keep my personality.’
It comes after Jay recalled getting called a ‘black b******’ by policemen who attacked him when he was 14.
Candid: Jay has recently released his autobiography Making It which candidly details how he was searched and beaten by the police and his mental health (pictured on Lorraine)
In his new book, Making It: How Love, Kindness And Community Helped Me Repair My Life, the star, who is of Bajan heritage, admits the racial abuse he received from authorities in the 80s was ‘brutal’ and frequent.
The presenter says in an excerpt obtained by The Mirror: ‘The back doors swung open and there were five or six uniformed policemen sitting in the van waiting for me. They didn’t even bother to search me. They just beat the s*** out of me.’
Jay was walking home at night when a police van pulled up next to him, and he never reported the attack.
The furniture restorer explains: ‘It was brutal. They were laying into me with fists, feet and truncheons, and all I could do was roll into a ball on the floor of the van and wait, pray, for it to end. It probably lasted two minutes but it felt a lot, lot longer.
Read more: The star’s interview is featured in this week’s Radio Times (front cover pictured)
‘They were laughing, ”This’ll show you, black b******!”. When they’d had enough they chucked me out and drove off. It was normal, especially in the 80s. Sometimes you weren’t badly beaten up. Other times they’d beat you up and drive off with you.
‘Every now and again you get a kick in the back or a stamp on the arm. They’d throw you out in an area that was predominantly white, and you’d have to find your way out of that area because if the racists saw you there they’d chase you.’
The tragic incident left him keen to fight whoever was ‘treating me in a particular way’, insisting he would get into altercations at school ‘everyday’ for himself and anyone else who was getting bullied.
Jay also candidly detailed his darkest moment which saw him contemplate suicide amid the breakdown of his marriage.
He recalled how as he drove along the M5 in April 2015 he ‘couldn’t see himself existing in the future’ and believes he’s only alive now because the motorway bridges all had crash barriers on, reports The Mirror.
In his new book, Making It: How Love, Kindness And Community Helped Me Repair My Life, he also explains how after driving 100 miles to Wolverhampton he stayed in his car for around a week, not eating or drinking.
‘It was brutal’: It comes after Jay recalled getting called a ‘black b******’ by policemen who attacked him when he was 14 in another extract from his new book (pictured as a child)
Jay said: ‘I couldn’t see myself existing in the future. It was everything, the breakdown of my marriage, my business, me not being able to speak about it to anyone.’
‘I had entered a world that was dark, completely dark. I couldn’t even think straight about the effect on my kids, who I loved more than life itself.
‘If the [crash] barriers weren’t there you wouldn’t be speaking to me right now’.
Once he ran out of petrol, Jay pulled up in a near-empty car park and didn’t leave his car for a week, saying he was in a ‘dead zone’.
The media personality further discussed his mental breakdown when he split from his wife Jade in another excerpt shared with Daily Mail.
Reflection: Jay, who is of Bajan heritage, admitted the racial abuse he received from authorities in the 80s was ‘brutal’ and frequent
Jay wrote: ‘I had spent years fixing things: chairs, communities, estates, homeless people, young people. I had fixed all of those things, but now I couldn’t fix my relationship. I couldn’t fix me.
‘Each morning brought a new day. And each day, the car park filled up around me with purposeful shoppers. I felt nothing. I was numb, asleep . . . dead. Beyond repair.
‘My life had come crashing down around me. I was 40, I was in a cloud of dust and couldn’t see anything. This is it, I thought. There’s no way forward. All the things I have achieved are worth nothing now.
‘Eventually, I took a long look at myself in the rear-view mirror. My eyes were red and bloodshot, and there were days of beard growth on my chin. I had to find a hotel and take a shower.
‘Using my credit card, I ordered room service and ate the first real meal I’d had in days. I’d lost a stone since leaving home.
‘Next morning, the police wanted to talk to me. My wife had reported me missing, and when I paid for the room by card, alarm bells rang.
‘The police brought a psychiatric nurse, who began asking me questions from a clipboard. I answered on autopilot, feeling like I wasn’t really there. It all seemed to be happening to someone else.’
Jay continued: ‘But I got jolted awake when I overheard the nurse say to the policeman: ”I’m not sure yet that we need to section him.”
”’We think you might be a danger to yourself, sir,” the policeman said. That was scary. Then, to my astonishment, a man I knew walked in. A friend.
‘His name was Gerald Bailey, a businessman who had served as a trustee for my charity, Out Of The Dark. ‘I will look after this gentleman,’ he said.
‘I sat in his plush motor, sobbing. Proper, shoulder-heaving, gut-wrenching sobs. Everything poured out of me. When I stopped crying, I realised I’d got my feelings back. I was alive again.’
‘I couldn’t see myself existing in the future’: Jay also candidly detailed his darkest moment which saw him contemplate suicide amid the breakdown of his marriage