Katie Price's ex-husband Alex Reid says he 'self-harmed' after appearing on 'The Jeremy Kyle Show'
Katie Price’s ex-husband Alex Reid has revealed that appearing on The Jeremy Kyle Show drove him to ‘self-harm’.
The cage fighter claims he didn’t receive any aftercare after featuring as a guest on the show in 2012.
Humiliated by the experience, he said he then threw himself into professional fights without any training as a form of ‘self-harm’.
Read more: Piers Morgan defends 'The Jeremy Kyle Show' after the death of one of its guests
In a piece for the Metro, he wrote: “While shows often have aftercare systems in place, I didn't receive any so I distracted myself by taking on martial arts fights without training.
"Looking back this was probably my version of self-harming, but at least I didn't feel the pain of social media and public ridicule.
"The show feeds off insecurities, heaped with high-drama petrol to create at best, an on-stage explosion but at worst, a chilling exposure of our society’s desperate car-crash media thirst.
"There are hordes of good people chewed up and spat out by the reality show machine. How many end up taking their own life? Very few. But how many have their personal life destroyed?
He added: "Career crushed? Mental health endangered? Probably all of them."
Read more: ‘The Apprentice' star Lord Alan Sugar defends the show in wake of aftercare debate
Reid’s comments come in wake of The Jeremy Kyle Show’s suspension following the death of guest Steve Dymond, who reportedly took his own life after failing a lie detector test on the programme.
Since then, an insider on the show has revealed that Dymond’s death is ‘just the tip of the iceberg’, accusing the programme of “exploiting” vulnerable guests.
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.”