'Jeremy Kyle Show' insider says death is just 'the tip of the iceberg'
A TV insider who claims he used to work on The Jeremy Kyle Show has said the death of a recent guest is “the tip of the iceberg” and accused the programme of “exploiting” vulnerable guests.
The popular ITV daytime show was removed from the schedules today after it was revealed that a guest died shortly after filming an appearance.
ITV said it has suspended the show indefinitely so that a full investigation can be carried out.
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The insider, who tweets under the handle @tvtenterhooks, claims in their bio that they “find people for TV shows” and said they worked on The Jeremy Kyle Show for six months.
“Can assure you, story is the tip of the iceberg,” they wrote. “Exploiting people with serious mental health/addiction problems. Promise ‘aftercare’ after f**king people’s lives up.”
They added: “Can’t tell you how long I’ve waited for this s**t to be investigated.”
Journalist Carole Cadwalladr and comedian Fern Brady were among others who took to social media to share their own experiences in relation to the controversial chat show.
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Cadwalladr shared a piece she wrote in 2008 about the programme and said she was “amazed it took this long” for the show to have such grave effects on its subjects.
I went undercover on Jeremy Kyle show in 2008 & found a vulnerable mentally ill young man being bullied & abused. Now someone’s dead. Amazed it took this long https://t.co/aKS4o2ndyR
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) May 13, 2019
I briefly worked at ITV in Manchester where they filmed Jeremy Kyle. Later I worked at a halfway house for mentally ill ex offenders. Two of our clients were on that show while under our care so that tells you how low producers were happy to go.
— Fern Brady (@FernBrady) May 13, 2019
The controversy comes in the wake of increased discussion around aftercare for people who appear on television triggered by the death of Love Island contestant Mike Thalassitis, who was found dead in March at the age of 26.
Love Island has since promised to extend its support process and proactively offer help to islanders participating in the new series, which recently began filming.
ITV has been approached regarding the insider’s comments.
Read more: Love Island producers defend aftercare process
The broadcaster has also removed archive episodes of The Jeremy Kyle Show from the ITV Hub on demand service.
Speaking earlier today, a spokesperson said: “Everyone at ITV and The Jeremy Kyle Show is shocked and saddened at the news of the death of a participant in the show a week after the recording of the episode they featured in and our thoughts are with their family and friends.
“ITV will not screen the episode in which they featured.
“Given the seriousness of this event, ITV has also decided to suspend both filming and broadcasting of The Jeremy Kyle Show with immediate effect in order to give it time to conduct a review of this episode of the show.”
The Jeremy Kyle Show first aired in 2005 and more than 3,000 episodes have been produced to date, with Kyle pocketing £2m a year for fronting the programme.
This morning, ITV replaced the usual episode with Dickinson’s Real Deal.