Jeremy Kyle was one of TV’s biggest stars with his talk show on its 17th series, but it was suddenly axed after the tragic death of a guest who was ‘desperate’ to show his partner that he hadn’t cheated on her
Once Britain’s talk show king and one of ITV’s biggest stars, Jeremy Kyle’s career came to an abrupt end after one of his guests took his own life, just days after filming for the ITV show in May 2019. The Jeremy Kyle Show, which first aired in 2005, had run for 17 series and was at the peak of its powers, regularly pulling in up to a million viewers per episode and even taking the format to the US.
But bosses pulled the plug on the long-running daytime series following the tragic death of studio guest Steve Dymond, and Kyle found himself out of work and shunned even by his showbiz friends. In September a full inquest into Mr Dymond’s death found that he took his own life and cleared the presenter of any blame, ruling it would be “speculative” to suggest Kyle and his show played a role in his death.
Now with rumours the straight talking TV host is planning a comeback, he has given Kate Garraway his first TV interview since the scandal. In tonight’s ITV Life Stories he tells her he accepts the show had to take responsibly for what happened, saying: “I understand entirely that The Kyle Show had to fall on its sword because of that.”
Ex-RNLI volunteer Steve Dymond, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, appeared on The Jeremy Kyle Show on May 2, 2019, to try to prove to his on-off partner Jane Callaghan, then 48, that he didn’t cheat on her. In the episode, which was never aired, Ms Callaghan tells the presenter that it was her partner who called the show. Kyle tells her: “He is absolutely determined to prove to you.. he says he loves you and is going to pass 100%”
After a break, construction worker Mr Dymond, 63, is brought on and begins to sob as he says that he had lied in the past but not since their recent split and that he “loves her to bits, so so much”. But the TV cameras then show Ms Callaghan bursting into tears and Mr Dymond looking shocked, with boos heard from the audience, as Kyle reveals the result of the lie detector, telling him: “The test says you are lying, pal, you failed every single question.”
Mr Dymond follows his partner backstage, telling her in a high-pitched voice: “But I wasn’t, I’ve never been unfaithful”. Kyle tells him: “I found it quite interesting that the audience thought you were telling the truth. I wouldn’t trust you with a chocolate button mate. Honestly, I don’t think you even know what the truth is.”
He adds: “So the serial liar goes into the Jeremy Kyle lie detector and gets called a liar and my test’s wrong yet.” As Mr Dymond tries to explain he had been messaging another woman, the presenter asks the audience, “Has anyone got a shovel?”. Telling him to come clean about his cheating, Kyle says: “Be a man, grow a pair of balls and tell her the goddam truth.”
Following the filming of the episode the couple split up. Mr Dymond was found dead at his home on May 9 2019, seven days later.
The three-day inquest Winchester Coroner’s Court found that Dymond had committed suicide via a morphine overdose that contributed towards left ventricular hypertrophy. The inquest also heard that he had called the Jeremy Kyle Show 40 to 50 times in “desperate” attempts to become a guest so he could prove he hadn’t been unfaithful.
The coroner also heard how he had been diagnosed with depression and, in March that year, he had been referred “urgently” to the acute mental health care team as he had been having “suicidal thoughts” after splitting from Ms Callaghan.
But Jeremy Kyle defended his production team for allowing him to take part, saying he believed the show took “the right approach”, and he “always believed the stories were a journey.” He also made clear he was “not involved in the selection of guests” on his TV show, and was “employed absolutely as the presenter,” and nothing more. He later added: “The production, the producing, the after-care, the lie detector test were not my responsibility, I was the presenter.”
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