Jeremy Kyle invites people to insult him online as he joins social media
Watch: Jeremy Kyle announces his arrival to social media but doesn't want too many followers
Jeremy Kyle admitted he is "offering people the chance to call me a complete idiot" as he joined social media for the first time.
The 57-year-old talk show host - currently co-presenting The Talk on TalkTV - said he couldn't think of anything worse, but after years of complaining about it he was succumbing to the pressure to join Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.
Kyle announced in a video clip posted under the handle @JKyleOfficial that he was doing it, "just to keep our incoming overlords happy".
Read more: Jeremy Kyle to fill in for Piers Morgan on 'Uncensored' show this summer
He added: "Why now I hear you cry, after years of complaining, why now do I feel the need to offer people the chance to call me a complete idiot online as well as in the street?
"Well the truth is I personally can't think of anything worse than having to be on these things, but there comes a time in every man's life when he has to succumb to the ultimate pressure, from her indoors.
"And even my kids nowadays are saying 'Come on Dad, get with it!'"
But the daytime host - whose series The Jeremy Kyle Show was cancelled by ITV in May 2019 - declared he doesn't want too many followers.
He went on: "Before you click the Follow button... I don't want to get too big.
"[Piers] Morgan, this is his domain, he's [got] something like eight million followers, and he's completely insufferable.
"Jesus only had 12 and look what happened to Him!
"So discerning and classy people only."
Within an hour he had gained over 1,000 followers on Twitter.
So far on Twitter and Instagram Kyle is following fellow TV stars Piers Morgan, Vanessa Feltz, Peter Andre and Kate Garraway, sports presenter Alan Shearer, golfer Lee Westwood and former Love Island contestant Chris Hughes, along with his wife, his agent and some family members.
Kyle recently returned to TV following the axing of The Jeremy Kyle Show in 2019 after guest Steve Dymond died a week after failing a lie detector test.
Last year he began presenting the Drivetime slot on TalkRadio.
Kyle spoke out earlier this year after Channel 4 aired new documentary Jeremy Kyle Show: Death on Daytime, featuring ex-production staff claiming guests were lied to, baited and manipulated in order to provoke them into fighting on the show.
Kyle said on his radio show: "I have said that I will not comment on the tragic death of Steve Dymond until the legal process has finished and that is the position that I will maintain.
And when, and trust me there will be a time after the inquest, when it is right and proper for me to have my say. Because of course, there are two sides to every single story."
At a preliminary hearing of the inquest into the death of Dymond, the coroner named Kyle as an "interested person" who, "may have caused or contributed to the death of Stephen Dymond”.
Read more: Jeremy Kyle speaks out on documentary which showed him mocking guests
Dymond, 63, is believed to have taken his own life but a full inquest into his death has yet to take place.
For confidential emotional support at times of distress, contact The Samaritans at any time by calling 116 123 or emailing jo@samaritans.org.