As the non-ghost seeing husband to Samantha, Jay Arondekar is the calm in a swirling and often chaotic spectral storm. Jay serves as the talented cook of the Woodstone; he is also a young man who takes every opportunity to eat what is placed before him, whether it’s Oreos on the floor or strange metal devices or day-old sushi served from a stripper’s body, Jay hasn’t met a food he doesn’t like.

Jay is a proud nerd and loves to geek out over things and people he loves, and is a collector of all manner of things pop culture related. He is also kind, even-tempered and cautious. Even though he cannot see the ghosts, he fiercely loves and trusts his wife and as a result, has grown to develop a caring for the ghosts under their roof as well. This has allowed him to develop creative ways to interact and communicate with them.

Jay does have a longing to interact with his peers, in the exciting big-city environment he had to give up when they moved to the Hudson Valley. Fortunately, he may get to see a new dream come to fruition when Season 3 begins.

Jay’s history runs in unison with his wife Samantha, given her inheritance of the Woodstone Mansion and her ability to see and communicate with the spirits located there. While he was initially hesitant to begin the ambitious task of restoring a 300-year-old mansion and establishing a bed and breakfast, his mind was changed dramatically when his wife was seriously injured from a fall (accidentally caused by Trevor) (‘Pilot,’ ‘Hello’).

In the early days of living in their new home, Jay, as an unemployed chef, was busy with many tasks typical for home-owners: he did his own home renovations and repairs, which often failed (‘Pilot,’ ‘’Possession’), collaborated with Sam and contractors, supported Sam in her own endeavors and had to become adjusted to the most unusual situation of all — dealing with a houseful of nosy, opinionated, and often demanding ghosts he could not see or hear.

As he has sought to be a supportive husband to Sam, he has also grown in his own understanding and support of the ghosts as well. He collaborated with Sam to secure Thorfinn’s remains and give him his longed-for Viking funeral, with Jay himself shooting the flaming arrow into the canoe containing Thorfinn’s bones. He also sought to reassure the ghosts by attempted to thwart the house from getting vandalized by a group of boys (‘Halloween’).

Jay’s caring attitude extends to other members of his family, both living and otherwise. He has a loving and protective relationship with his sister Bela (‘Jay’s Sister’), the only other person other than Sam and Jay who knows of the ghosts in the mansion, due to her online interaction with Trevor. Jay also sought to encourage his mother-in-law Sheryl, herself a ghost existing in an Ohio restaurant, to reconcile with her daughter (‘Sam’s Mom’).

Moving away from the city and his friends has not come without difficulty for Jay. For the most part, Jay handles his isolation with good humor and curiosity (‘The Vault’) but he dislikes being spied on by the ghosts (‘Ghostwriter’) and not being able to be a real part of regular conversations (‘D&D). When Jay found himself kicked out of his group’s Dungeons and Dragons games, Jay connected with Pete, who also is enthusiastic about the game, and he got the chance to play the game with several of the ghosts on two occasions (‘D&D’). In addition, Jay bonded with Pete again with the two watching and enjoying a basketball game together (‘Ghostwriter’).

Jay’s most significant dealing with any ghost,however, was through Hetty’s accidental possession of him during an electrical wiring incident (‘Possession’). This occurred when Jay was preparing a special meal for a wedding planner, but Hetty’s desire to remain in Jay’s body was too strong for him to overcome. When Hetty attempted to drive off the property, she was successfully expelled from Jay’s body.

Season 2 begins with Jay recovering from his fall when the floor collapsed last season, (‘Spies‘). Realizing he struck his head, he proceeds to go throughout the house, hoping against hope, that he can see the ghosts as Sam can. He arrives downstairs, thinking he can finally see Pete, when in fact, it is only the delivery man and Jay walks through his ghostly friend, who is likely as sad as Jay is that he can’t see the ghosts. As the second couple arrives at the Woodstone Mansion, and Sam and Jay take measures to make them feel at home, some of the ghosts begin to reveal how the guests are really feeling about their stay, prompting Sam and Jay to begin investigating their reviews left behind on Yelp by their visitors. While the Ghosts suggest that they are willing to spy on the guests, which Sam is eager to take advantage of, Jay is against the idea, but Sam encourages them to go through with it regardless. Sam begins revealing things to Jay about the couple’s opinions. Soon, Jay realizes the Ghosts have been supplying Sam with information on their guests comments, while stress grows for Sam and Jay over striving to please their guests. Ultimately, Jay confronts the guests over their comments about Sam, leading them to ‘confess’ their Yelp account had been ‘hacked.’ Ultimately, the couple leave a 5-star review for the Woodstone B&B.

Jay’s geek side was on display in ‘The Tree,’ as he became excited to meet local organic farmers June and Ally, but his activist side was also activated, on behalf of Sassapis, when they pushed to have the dying tree brought down. Later, still geeking out over his famous neighbors, he invited June and Ally to the Woodstone Halloween party, and with Sam, held a seance as entertainment. These actions summon an arch-enemy of Hetty, Molly (Hetty’s Irish maid and Elias’ mistress) and when events lead Sam to getting accidentally trapped in the vault, the Ghosts work together to get word to Jay about her predicament. Their efforts are successful and he gets her out. With that episode, Jay seemed to acquire the creativity needed to find more ways to not only interact with the ghosts but also help them.

In ‘The Baby Bjorn,’ Jay devised a plan for Thorfinn to communicate with his grown son Bjorn, who is now a ghost himself, haunting two doors down from the Woodstone at the Farnsby’s (it is also at the Farnsby’s where Jay accidentally discovers that the Farnsby’s are swingers).

Later in the season, Jay and Sam accept an offer by those behind the show ‘Dumb Deaths’ to film the death of Flower. Needing the money, Sam’s talks Flower into accepting their offer. Jay is later told by the aggressive producer that they are switching the project to focus on the death of Pete instead. Concerned about their approach, and the slanderous actor hired to portray Pete, Jay and Sam find a former troop member, who refutes the claims of the show creators. When they press through with the episode anyway, a crew member accidentally walks through Flower, becomes high, and shoots an arrow which hits Jay in the buttocks.

As season 2 continued, Jay made progress in promoting not only the B&B in creative ways but also in his relationship with the ghosts. In ‘The Liquor License,’ a writer for the magazine ‘Sippr,’ along with a group of young people, arrive at the Woodstone for a ‘high-end whiskey tasting,’ leaving Jay in a quandary as he forgot to apply for a proper license with New York state in order to serve alcohol. Jay works with Sam, and also indirectly with Alberta, in order to retrieve a rare, vintage bottle of whiskey stored in the wall, while not attracting the attention of the inspector. And as the holidays arrive, and Jay’s sister Bela arrives with a friend, Jay gets caught up in Bela’s efforts to reconnect with Trevor, as well as Thorfinn possessing Sam, unbeknownst to Jay (‘The Christmas Spirit, Part I and II’).

A new year brings fresh changes to the Woodstone as Jay and Sam hire Freddie to serve as a manager for the B&B (‘The Perfect Assistant’). While his knowledge and positive, can-do attitude makes a strong impression on the couple, they reluctantly fire Freddie based on erroneous information provided by the ghosts (ghost Jessica tells the other spirits that Freddie hit her with his car and dumped her body in the woods). Once they discover that he had not done this, they go to great lengths to hire Freddie back. Later, with additional complications occurring both with Freddie’s relationship with his girlfriend and with ghostly meddlings, the hapless young manager once again has to leave (‘The Family Business’). Looking at security footage, Jay discovers the reservation system was manipulated by Trevor, making it look like Freddie’s error. Fortunately, they are able to get Freddie back again, this time with the young man believing the Woodstone is haunted.

In ‘Ghost Hunter,’ Sam convinces Jay to buy the car (still containing ghost Jessica) that Freddie has sold to a rock band, in order to allow Sasappis and Jessica to be together. Later, ‘the guy wearing the Atari shirt’ makes use of his nerdy and tech-savvy ways to help Thorfinn, Flower (and later Pete) be released from a ghost trap purchased by a suspicious Freddy.

While Jay is proving to be a true friend of the ghosts in his own way, his relationship with them is not without complications. In ‘Trevor’s Body,’ Jay disagrees with Sam and Trevor’s efforts to get Trevor’s parents back together again, and he also disapproves of Sam’s handling of ‘Isaac’s Book.’ Yet, he does forgo his own romantic dinner with Sam in order to make two complex, Viking-inspired meals for Thorfinn and Flower to smell, along with tasting sour ram’s testicles for Thorfinn’s benefit.

In ‘Weekend from Hell,’ Jay accidentally walks through Flower and creates a dish that receives praise from a B&B customer, that Jay then cannot recall. After Flower walks through him again to help him remember, he becomes momentarily obsessed with getting more ‘Flower hits,’ until Sam reminds him of the strength of his own cooking talents. He later creates a dish for a food critic that knocks her socks off — with a little wicked help from Elias.

As season 2 wound down, Jay began to shed his cautious nature in order to help his friends, both living and deceased, as well as do things to help promote his own dreams as well. In ‘Ghost Father of the Bride,’ Jay recommends that the B&B host Pete’s daughter Laura’s wedding, and in a further effort to help his friend achieve his wishes for the wedding, Jay recommends they write a mention of lilies in Pete’s old scouting manual. ‘Woodstone’s Hottest Couple’ found him returning from a trip to New York City and storing some high-dollar sneakers for contractor Mark in the attic — and waking up teen ghost Stephanie once again. But in questioning him, Jay reveals to Sam he actually went to the city and interviewed for the head chef position at his old restaurant. This revelation leads Sam to consult Mark and surprise Jay with the potential of having his own destination restaurant in the old barn near the mansion, with Mark as his business partner.

‘Whodunit’ found Jay creating a ‘murder board’ in hopes of helping uncover who murdered Alberta, which further fuels his sense of connection with the ghosts.

And in the last episode of the season, Sam and Jay get caught up in a scheme to have the Woodstone change hands through the introduction of a young woman who claims she is the daughter of David Woodstone — and the rightful heir to the property. Jay accompanied Sam to the strip club where David dies, eats some sushi originally served on the body of a stripper and gets sick.

The episode ends with Sam telling Jay she believes a ghost has been ‘sucked off,’ with him replying, ‘I hope it’s Trevor.’

As season 3 begins, Jay was found moving into two profound directions — beginning construction on his restaurant and establishing stronger connections with the Ghosts. While still unable to actually see any of the spirits, and believing that Flower had been ‘sucked off,’ Jay sought to make in-roads in comforting a grief-stricken Thorfinn by telling him of the Hindu belief in reincarnation, but Thorfinn comes to take his words to heart and believes the owl occupying the barn is actually Flower. When Jay insists that construction on the restaurant cannot be delayed further, Thorfinn threatens to burn the barn down if the owl, who he genuinely believes is Flower, is removed.

Later, Jay discovers that Sam has actually moved ‘Flowl’ (Jay’s new name for the owl) into a birdcage in the mansion, and is subsequently injured by the bird when he tries to feed it. When the B&B begins losing guests due to their new avian resident, Jay ‘talks’ to Thorfinn again and encourages him to let Flowl go. Thorfinn agrees and a moving memorial service is held for Flower. Jay later releases the bird himself, which comes to attack him again.

As season 3 progresses, Jay dealt with new challenges with the building of his new restaurant but also in his growing and often complicated relationship with the ghosts.

‘Man of Your Dreams’ found him being influenced by Sasappis entering his dreams and affecting his decisions. ‘Halloween 3: The Guest Who Wouldn’t Leave’ found him and Sam caught up in the chaos of Carol Martino inadvertently being invited to their Halloween party, only to choke to death in their kitchen in a manner that leads to two important guest to think Sam and Jay were out to kill them. This same episode found him working to recover a buried object of Flower’s in order to try to bring her back in a seance.

In ‘The Silent Partner,’ with Isaac now owning half-interest in the restaurant, Jay becomes frustrated with the demanding ghost striving to influence the direction of it, just as Isaac acquires a windfall through Trevor’s financial intervention. When Isaac becomes angered at Jay’s dismissal of Isaac’s ideas, Jay reads his bio at Sam’s urging and seeks to make amends by providing a table in tavern especially for Isaac and his friends.

Life at the Woodstone continued to be chaotic for him as the season progressed. ‘Hello, Brother’ found him competing, and eventually winning (with Trevor’s intervention), a video game competition against Trevor’s own little brother, who sought to reside at the Woodstone for a year due to a loophole in Woodstone Awards Program. As if Jay’s life at the Woodstone wasn’t unusual enough, a visiting poltergeist attached to a guest falls for Alberta and is able to attach himself to Jay in order to remain at the Woodstone (when Alberta finds the visiting spirit too clingy, Jay has to ‘return’ Samuel to his original living host). As season 3 wound down, the household learns that Pete has the enviable ghostly power of being able to leave the property.

Since Pete has taken the position of being Jay’s best ghost bud, the two venture forth to Deal Mart, a big-box store, as a first outing, but Jay inadvertently returns home without Pete in ‘The Traveling Agent.’ And in the final episode of the season, ‘Isaac’s Wedding,’ Sam and Jay were at the forefront of prepping the household for Isaac and Nigel’s upcoming nuptials, and in attendance, albeit enjoying a game during the event.

Moving into season 4, Jay found himself with wrestling making restaurant decisions, with Isaac absent, attempting to communicate with the ghosts (and often succeeding) and dealing with making efforts to find Isaac. His efforts to find Isaac included digging according to Flower’s faulty location, and also being accompanied in his efforts by Pete, with Jay having faith that Pete is traveling and working with him.

The episode ‘Sam’s Dad’ found Jay and Sam hosting Sam’s father and his girlfriend, and dealing with complications — and a two significant messes — created by Patience. Because of her, and the events of previous Halloween parties, Jay implores Sam not have a Halloween party, and is alarmed at the ‘witch trial’ the ghosts have planned for Sam, which she blows off as trivial (‘Halloween 4: The Witch‘). To keep things calm they have a yard sale and proceed to sell many of Hetty’s unusual antiques. In the process, Jay sells a statue which looks much like Sam dressed in the Regency costume she finds. From there, Jay spends an afternoon communicating with the ghosts, dealing with police and haggling with the seller in order to get the statue back, since they are all convinced that Patience actually turned Sam to stone.

When Isaac’s blackmail of Patience succeeds, and Patience tells them how to reverse her curse, Flower joyfully hugs Jay, getting him high and causing him to knock the statue over, which dislodges the head. Fortunately, the statue was never Sam, as she was away helping Mrs Farnsby move a desk, but sadly, Jay did have to sacrifice his beloved quasit monster model in order to save his wife from an explosive fate.

Jay is a handsome young man, early to mid 30’s, who typically dresses in a hip and casual manner common to someone of his generation. He has studs in each ear. He also has dark hair, mustache and a goatee. He is of normal to slight build; Thorfinn refers to him constantly as ‘small man.’ Isaac has frequently commented on the positive aspects of his physique.

• Jay is the U.S. inspiration of Mike Cooper from the BBC version of ‘Ghosts.’
• Jay has a special connection with Pete, which is reciprocated by the ghostly scout leader.
• Hetty appears to have left traces of her personality in him after her possession of him (‘Possession’).
• Jay documents in his phone every unique ghost trait or piece of news from Sam, which he calls his ‘Ghost Notes.’
• Jay has seen what Trevor and Alberta look like — Trevor through his dating profile and Alberta through Todd Pearlman’s back tattoo.
• Trevor has communicated with Jay twice by writing on a fogged-up bathroom mirror (‘D&D’ and ‘Halloween 2: the Ghost of Hetty’s Past’).
• Jay has come to recognize Isaac’s presence through his ‘walked through’ odor (‘Halloween 2: Ghost of Hetty’s Past’).
• While high on Flower, Jay not only cooked an acclaimed meal but wrote a rock opera and finished an adult coloring book.
• Jay’s tandoori lamp chops were called ‘orgasmic’ by a notable food critic, the Menu Hunter.
• Jay enjoys being a co-host of the ‘Alberta Haynes Murder podcast,’ even though his main job is to provide commercials for the B&B.
• Jay has passed gas in front of the ghosts.
• Jay accidentally smacked Trevor, in an attempt to high-five Pete (‘Ghost Father of the Bride’).
• According to Sasappis, Jay has a ‘taffy-like’ mind.
• Jay loves to dream of basketball, space travel and sometimes dreams of Sam wearing the Princess Leia bikini.