Following the axe of The Jeremy Kyle Show, the host spoke of finding out who his true friends were amidst the fallout.
But there was no doubting the loyalty of one pal – Peter Andre, who last year publicly showed his support.
Peter slammed ITV for not looking after his pal Jeremy Kyle in the wake of his TV show being dropped.
The Jeremy Kyle Show was pulled off air in 2019 following the suicide of a guest.
Jeremy, now working for talkRADIO TV, has only spoke out in 2021 about the impact the experience had on his own mental health.
Read more: Jeremy Kyle Show: Viewers divided over calls for it to return to ITV
In his new! magazine column, Peter came to his defence after learning how he struggled, writing: “I really didn’t like the way he was personally attacked and blamed at the time, so it’s not surprising he struggled.
“In my opinion, the network should have protected him as he was a scapegoat when one of his past guests allegedly took his own life.
“There are other shows like Love Island who have lost people and the show is still on air.
“Jeremy is an amazing presenter and it’s great to see him doing so well and landing a new radio show.”
Read more: The Jeremy Kyle Show to be examined in new C4 series – what is Jeremy Kyle doing now?
Peter Andre’s previous comments on reality TV
In 2019, Peter Andre called for all reality TV shows – including Love Island and The X Factor – to be taken off air and banned.
Speaking out after he hit the headlines for defending the Jeremy Kyle Show, after it was taken off air indefinitely following the death of guest Steve Dymond, Pete revealed that he thought the show was being unfairly singled out.
Opening up to The Guardian, he said: “I thought, what about all these other shows – Love Island, for example – where people have died? There has to be a duty of care across the networks. It’s not just one person or one show.”
Explaining that he believes that the stars of reality TV shows are “ripped apart” on social media and discarded after their 15-minutes of fame, Pete said that he believed that if they had “one ounce of weakness” they would soon become depressed.
Asked which shows he would take off air, the father of four revealed The Voice, Simon Cowell’s X Factor and even Channel 4’s The Undateables were in his sights.
‘Look at the whole thing’
He said: “Any show where there is a reality side. They’re all great shows in their own way, but what about the people who have left The Voice or The X Factor who have been devastated because they’ve been told they’re rubbish, and it drives them to drink? You’ve got to go across the board if you’re going to do this. You can’t single out.”
The star added that he thought reality TV show bosses “need to look at the whole thing”.
He said: “They need to analyse who’s going on these shows. They should know whether they’re in the right frame of mind to do that sort of thing. How are they going to cope with pressure? They can’t just go, okay, that person looks good.”
Pete’s comments came after former Love Island stars Sophie Gradon, 32, who appeared on the show in 2016, and 26-year-old Mike Thalassitis – who starred in the third series in 2017 – took their own lives.
Steve Dymond, 63, took his own life a week after failing a lie detector test on the Jeremy Kyle Show back in May, 2019.
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