Mr Motivator held at gunpoint during traumatic robbery in Jamaica | Ents & Arts News

Mr Motivator has spoken out about being tied up by a gang armed with guns, knives and machetes during a home robbery 15 years ago.

Speaking on the Celebrity Catch Up: Life After That Thing I Did podcast, the 69-year-old recalled the robbery and how he felt helpless to protect his daughter.

The veteran fitness fanatic, real name Derrick Evans, said he noticed a side door was open while they were having dinner and then eight people ran in.

He said: “One of them had a gun, the rest had knives and machetes. The first thing they did was tie us up and put us on the floor.

“The most upsetting thing for any father is you don’t like feeling helpless and hopeless. I remember my daughter saying: ‘Dad, why are these men doing this?'”

Mr Evans was taken upstairs to open the family’s safe after refusing to allow the criminals to take his wife Sandra upstairs.

He added: “They got away and I got myself free and loosened everybody up – (it was) traumatic.”

Evans said he had later realised one of the group of criminals was a builder who had worked on his house the previous year.

He said: “Let people earn your trust before you let them in. Sometimes we’re too trusting and the very people we trust can be the people that let us down.”

He revealed his wife was able to save her engagement ring by hiding it in her mouth.

He said: “I thought we’d lost it, but that wife of mine is so clever – she put it in her mouth without anybody knowing so they didn’t get it.”

The TV fitness instructor found fame in the early 90s and is best known for his colourful lycra.