Viewers of ITV Daytime have been shocked to discover that a guest who filmed an episode of The Jeremy Kyle Show apparently took his own life before the episode aired.
Steve Dymond, 62, was found dead at his home last Thursday, after participating in the programme at the start of May.
Read more: Jeremy Kyle guest diagnosed with depression three months before show appearance
He is said to have been traumatised and humiliated after failing a lie detector test which he had taken in an attempt to prove he hadn’t cheated on his partner, Jane Callaghan.
ITV pulled the episode in question yesterday morning, explaining that an investigation would be carried out.
The network remained silent today as friends of Steve spoke to various publications.
But The Jeremy Kyle Show has now released a lengthy statement explaining its position on aftercare for participants of all its programmes.
It reads: “ITV has many years experience of broadcasting and creating programmes featuring members of the public and each of our productions has duty of care measures in place for contributors.
“These will be dependent on the type of show and will be proportionate for the level of activity of each contributor and upon the individual.
“All of our processes are regularly reviewed to ensure that they are fit for purpose in an ever changing landscape.
“In the case of The Jeremy Kyle Show, the programme has significant and detailed duty of care processes in place for contributors pre, during and post show which have been built up over 14 years, and there have been numerous positive outcomes from this, including people who have resolved complex and long-standing personal problems.
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“Prior to the show a comprehensive assessment is carried out by the guest welfare team on all potential contributors. The guest welfare team consists of four members of staff, one consultant psychotherapist and three mental health nurses.
“The guests are interviewed by guest welfare face to face at studios and prior to filming. Throughout filming the participants are supported by the guest welfare team in the studios during the recording phase of their show.
“After filming has ended all guests are seen by a member of the guest welfare team to ensure they are feeling calm and emotionally settled before any participant leaves to travel home.
“An evaluation of their needs is also carried out at this time and should they require any ongoing service regarding the problem they discussed on the show then appropriate solutions are found for them.
“This could include residential rehabilitation, counselling, anger management, family mediation, child access mediation or couple counselling for example.
“The day after recording of the show the participant will be contacted by production to carry out a welfare check and provide details of the services that have been sourced for them.
“The production team keep in touch with the participants in the days between recording and transmission and participants are given a production mobile contact number should they need to contact the show at any point following transmission.
“To continue best practice, we regularly review our processes. As we have 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.
We 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, and we cannot comment further until this review is completed.”
If you are struggling with depression or suicidal thoughts, contact Samaritans free on 116 123.
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