Presenter and comedian Tom Allen was left in disbelief after discovering he had a long-lost relative who was a member of “TV royalty” while on ITV’s DNA Journey three years ago

Comedian Tom Allen made a shock discovery while on ITV’s DNA Journey(Image: Getty Images)

Comedian Tom Allen was shocked after discovering his long-lost relative. The comedian, who is among the presenters of this year’s Red Nose Day, appeared on ITV’s DNA Journey back in 2022 alongside fellow comedian Joel Dommett and the pair headed on a road trip to learn more about their families. During the episode, Tom revealed his shock after it was discovered that he had a connection to Loose Women icon Gloria Hunniford.

The show revealed that the pair were cousins through Tom’s mother’s maternal line. In one sweet moment, Gloria met with Tom and Joel in a restaurant, with Tom admitting: “I’m so nervous…It’s really intimidating the whole thing. What if they’re slightly irritated by me? It’s exciting. I can’t rest.”

It was revealed that the pair were cousins through Tom’s mother’s maternal line(Image: ITV)

However, things went smoothly for the group. As Tom greeted the TV legend, he said: “I hear you’re my cousin,” before joking that he thought Gloria would be disappointed that it wasn’t Joel she shared a connection with.

Several months after the clip aired, Tom appeared on Lorraine where he recalled the moment he learned that Gloria was his cousin.

“I got this text message saying that I was related to Irish TV royalty and I thought, ‘Well there’s not many options with that really other than Graham [Norton] or Gloria.’ But I was still surprised,” he said.

Gloria then joined the conversation via video, calling Tom “the loveliest cousin that I’ve just discovered”. She said: “When somebody says to you on a TV programme we’ve discovered a cousin of yours and he is very well known, you’re like ‘Who could it be?’ Well it turned out to be you Tom.”

She added: “I’m so thrilled and I know we’re going to meet up with your mum soon because your mum comes from Northern Ireland and I’m very much looking forward to that.”

During his appearance on ITV’s DNA Journey, Tom also paid tribute to his late father. In 2021, the Apprentice star’s beloved father Paul sadly died at the age of 80 after suffering a heart attack.

“I’m so sad to report that my wonderful dad has died. It was a total shock. He was with mum and he had a heart attack last night,” he wrote on social media.

“He said things like ‘You can never run out of love’ and ‘Always go into everything with a good heart’. He was also inclined to write ‘shove it’ in a birthday card.”

The TV personality added that he wanted to open up about his loss in order to help his own “grieving process”.

He continued: “It feels like part of the grieving process that I wanted to tell you: He was a wonderful kind man and we love him very much.”

While on the show a year later, Tom took a moment to remember his father. “I got booked to do the Royal Variety Show and they had tickets in the front row under the royal box,” he reminisced.

Tom then took a moment to compose himself and became emotional. “The day after, my dad said ‘oh, if my family had seen you up there on that stage, they wouldn’t be able to believe it’,” he added. “But I suppose it’s, I don’t know, it just sort of feels like there was a ghost there.”