Emmerdale’s Jay Kontzle is set to become a dad for the third time as he and wife Mimi have announced they are pregnant again - but it's come as a bit of a shock.
The 30-year-old singer-turned-actor plays Billy Fletcher on the ITV soap, having landed the part in 2018.
He’s proved popular with telly fanatics and his fans will be over the moon to hear of his exciting news although Jay has revealed he was "sweating" when he found out.
The actor, originally from Crewe, Cheshire, already shares KaiBo, six and Zian, four, with his artist wife Mimi, who he married in 2017.
Telling of the happy news, Jay spoke to OK! telling how he was left in shock and "sweating" after Mimi delivered the news while he was on his lunch break at the ITV soap.
“Mimi called me during my lunch break on set and told me,” he told the publication.
“I was sitting eating lunch in the sun and all of a sudden I went hot and started dripping with sweat. I was a bit shocked!” he laughed.
“Before that, Mimi had said she wanted to get a pregnancy test and I said, ‘A pregnancy test? That’s a lot of money that, especially with the cost of living going up.’
"Then I was in work and she decided to throw a spanner in the works over lunch!”
The baby was so much of a surprise that Mimi had given away all their baby stuff a week before they found out as she was so sure she "didn’t think it would happen".
Mimi, 32, is due in November and laughed as she explained how she told her husband the news over the phone.
She said: “I rang him and said, ‘You’re never going to guess what? I’m pregnant!’ He replied, ‘You’re not!’ And I said, ‘I am!’” “She was so casual – and there I was sweating!” Jay added.
Mimi revealed she had been teasing Jay about having another baby before the shock pregnancy.
“I’d been winding Jay up for months before, saying I really wanted another child – but his answer was always no,” she told. “So I think that made me want another one more, basically just to be spiteful. But then it kind of backfired and I did end up getting pregnant.
"I don’t have a regular period anyway but I was late and I knew something was up, so I did a test. I was shocked it was positive but it’s a nice surprise and we know we’re lucky to be having another child. We’re excited and it’s a blessing.”
The couple want to keep up their family tradition of giving their children Chinese names, in honour of Mimi's heritage.
They don't know the gender yet but Jay said: “Both our kids have Chinese names, so it will be another Chinese name.
“It’s also about the meaning. Zian means peace and waves, and KaiBo is about family.”
Mimi added: “I am Chinese, so it’s tradition really. We come from two cultures with Jay being Black and me being Chinese, and we thought it would be great to raise our kids knowing what ethnicity they come from and where their heritage is from.
"It’s very important to us and they should always know where they’re from.”
Jay said: “If someone from China comes to the UK, they are given an English name but we thought it would be nice to give them a Chinese name to reflect their heritage. I think it makes them appreciate their culture more.”
Jay met Mimi when she attended a gig he was playing in Nantwich, Cheshire alongside his former bandmates in The Mend.
Mimi went along with her sister, who was a big fan. They tied the knot in 2017 and welcomed their daughter to the world a few weeks later.
Britain’s Got Talent lovers will remember Jay as one quarter of boyband who made it through to the live finals in 2012.
The band was formed in 2008 by ex-Take That manager Nigel Martin-Smith, and had a huge legion of fans before they announced their split in 2015.
Since his debut on Emmerdale in December 2018, Jay has found himself a the centre of some gripping storylines.
Earlier this year he admitted that he found it "frightening" watching his co-star Paige Sandhu transform into killer Meena Jutla.
Fans were stunned when Meena kidnapped and tortured newly wed couple Billy Fletcher and Dawn Taylor.
Just months later, Billy was hospitalised after sustaining horrendous injuries from an attack and was left feeling broken as he told Dawn that it was racially motivated.
Doting dad Jay was brought up by his grandparents after a tragic start in life.
He was only a baby when he suffered a fractured skull after a car hit his pram as his mum pushed him across a pelican crossing.
A car hit the pair with Jay’s pram going through a shop window.
His mum was badly injured but Jay was labelled a “miracle baby” after surviving the incident.
Then when he was four years old, Jay’s mum passed away after being involved in a car accident.
She was just 21 years old and was travelling to DJ at a club in Manchester.
The soap star moved in with his grandparents who went on to raise him.
