In his first TV interview since the self-titled disgraced show finished, Jeremy Kyle has opened up about the programme that had the plug pulled back in 2019 following the tragic death of a guest
Jeremy Kyle has said he is still “immensely proud” of his disgraced show during his first ever TV interview.
The 59-year-old, in a chat with Kate Garraway on ITV’s Life Stories, hinted his ITV talk show was already on the way out before the axe fell in 2019, because changes over its 15 years meant “you can’t say boo to a goose now.”
Bosses pulled the plug on the long-running daytime series following the death of studio guest Steve Dymond, who took his own life one week after filming an episode.
Now Kyle, 59, in the show recorded just a few weeks after he was “exonerated” by an inquest in September over causing Dymond’s suicide, tells Kate he accepts the show had to take responsibility for what happened.
“I understand entirely that The Kyle Show had to fall on its sword because of that,” he says.
But he also explains the programme was of its time, suggesting it was nearing the end of its natural lifespan after 17 series and 3320 episodes.
“It was a juggernaut. You’d look now and go ‘it’s a bygone era’. We launched in 2005, just before the advent of social media and I think that changed everything.
“People watched to make themselves feel better about their own lives but the world has changed dramatically – you can’t say boo to a goose now, can you? So understandably shows like that have gone by the by.”
And he adds: “I’m immensely proud of the 17 series, of taking it to America and the people that we genuinely helped. Fifteen years is a long time.”
Recording a show in May 2019, a tearful Dymond failed a lie detector test which aimed to prove he was not cheating on his partner Jane Callaghan.
The 63-year-old was found dead seven days later, having overdosed on morphine. In footage from the show, which never aired on ITV but which was played at the inquest, Kyle told him to “be a man and grow a pair of balls.”
He’d also branded Dymond, who had a history of mental illness and suicide attempts, a “serial liar” and said he “would not trust him with a chocolate button.”
But in September it was ruled there was no “clear link” between Dymond’s suicide and his appearance on The Jeremy Kyle show, with the coroner recording that he’d died from the combined effects of an overdose and a heart condition.
After the ruling Kyle insisted he was “exonerated” and that his name had “finally been cleared” after he’d remained “steadfastly silent in the face of lies, false accusations and unfair criticism over the last five and a half years.”
Now, suggesting the public scrutiny took a huge toll on him and his family after the show was taken off air, Jeremy sighs to Kate: “You can be the king of the castle one day and the next day you’re not allowed in the castle grounds.”
Life Stories: Jeremy Kyle, Tuesday, April 1, 9pm, ITV1
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
