Jasmine Harman has revealed that viewers often ask her how many children she has, thanks to seeing her pregnant so frequently on screen. As one of the longest-serving presenters on A Place in the Sun, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, Jasmine has been a familiar face since joining the Channel 4 property show back in 2004.
With over 440 episodes under her belt—equating to roughly 1,770 house tours—her constant presence on TV, including numerous repeats, often confuses viewers.
The 50-year-old explained with a laugh: “I worked throughout both of my pregnancies, and people very frequently ask me how many children I have as I ‘always seem to be pregnant,’ not realising that they are watching repeats!” Despite the perception, Jasmine is a proud mum to two children, 12-year-old Joy and 8-year-old Albion.
The family currently stars together in Jasmine’s Renovation In the Sun, which follows their move to a run-down villa in sunny Spain and documents the renovations they completed themselves. Jasmine’s husband, cameraman Jon Boast, 46, also appears in the show.
Balancing work and family life wasn’t always straightforward. Jasmine admits: “Sometimes it was quite tough for the children, because if they had been at school and were tired and we wanted to film something…” She adds that while filming sometimes encroached on family time, the experience also allowed them to do fun activities they wouldn’t have done otherwise.
Reflecting on the level of access required for the show, Jasmine notes: “That was the whole point—it was basically full access filming. We were documenting our family life.”
And it wasn’t just the human family members enjoying the spotlight. Jasmine laughs: “The cat and the dog were very happy to be on camera, especially the cat! She was always present in the middle of everything, just checking out her subjects.”
Explaining why she made the monumental decision to uproot her family and live in chaos while the work on the property was being done, she admitted it was the only way they could afford the lifestyle they wanted.
“My husband also wanted to live by the sea, so I said, ‘If we’re going to live by the coast, let’s move to the Mediterranean coast! I always knew that we were probably going to be biting off more than we could chew at some point,” she says. “It was definitely more stressful and more intense than I possibly imagined. At the same time, I always knew it was going to be full on.
“But then you are just haemorrhaging money and trying to get things done in time and working with all the usual delays you have with any kind of construction or this sort of job. There are always things that you discover along the line that make it harder or that make it take longer.
Maybe my lack of renovation experience was a blessing in disguise, because maybe I wouldn’t have done it had I known,” she reflected.