BBC Who Do You Think You Are?: Gemma Collins thinks she could be related to Jack the Ripper

Reality TV star Gemma Collins believes she is related to the notorious London serial killer Jack the Ripper after appearing on the BBC's family history show Who Do You Think You Are. Ms Collins shot to fame after appearing on The Only Way is Essex, and has now come up with a 'bizarre' theory about her ancestors' roots in Spitalfields.

Her episode of the show is set to air on Thursday, September 26. It features the 43-year-old discovering that her roots can be traced to Foulness Island, east of Southend-on-Sea, in the 18th Century.

Her family then spread into East London, seeing them live in Dorset Street, where the fifth Ripper murder took place, and then in Dagenham.

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Ms Collins told the BBC: "No-one knows who the ripper was, but we lived next door to where a lot of his victims were being killed. You just don't know."

She added: "I think I was related to him... It's just bizarre, isn't it? Could it be my family? Could he be alluded to be my family?" The TOWIE star added that it was 'unbelievable' to have lived so close to her mother's cousin, whom the family had lost contact with.

Ms Collins, who calls herself the GC, said: "Mum always remembered Christine and then we discovered she’s only 20 minutes down the road from us. Also, what a shocker it’s been for them in their life to wake up and be told 'You’re related to the GC'.

"It must’ve been one of those zombie apocalypse moments. [Thankfully] we all got on like a house on fire."

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