Jeremy Kyle show - should it be permanently axed?

[Squiff70]

The Jeremy Kyle show has been taken off air indefinitely due to the apparent suicide of one of its guests.

Is it a 'harmless' but controversial show or is it time it was axed for good?

Personally, I'm on the fence. I don't watch the show (I used to, years ago, but stopped after questioning what I was doing with my life!) and can't stand the show any more. In the show's defence, it seems they have good before, during and after care for the guests and they are scrutinised by three mental health nurses and a clinical psychologist before going on the show. This SUGGESTS to me that they are/were taking responsibility for the welfare of their guests but this man seems to have somehow slipped through the net after being apparently ousted on a lie detector test for infidelity.

On the flip-side of the coin, ITV News have reported that "Tory MP Charles Walker, a vice-chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on suicide and self-harm prevention, branded it “cruel television”."
He said: “I think that the we all should have done more to flag up this type of television, the problems with this type of television.

“When you take highly strung - often vulnerable – people, you put them under a huge amount of pressure.

“Yes it makes good television but it also makes for cruel television as well.”

Is the show preying on some of the most vulnerable people in society? Is it cruel telecision or do guests appear of their own free will, being made full aware of the potential consequences of appearing on the show?

What do you think?

I do think the entire "reality" brand is toxic now, love island included. Just putting people in front of cameras and setting them up to behave badly is a piss poor standard for any programme maker to aspire to for starters, plus these people then have to go back to their daily lives afterwards and of course it's going to affect them. Kyle goes a step further though because he actively bullies people.

It's disgusting and JK should be fired into the sun. Watching it as a psychologist, makes it even harder. These are poor, uneducated, desperate people who should not be paraded in his freak show.
As for the lie detector test, no person with more than 3 brain cells would accept those results as any sort of reputable evidence for lying.
It's very sad that this poor man who has killed himself, may have been publicly humiliated for lying when he may have infact been telling the truth.

Read this copy and paste from another thread and try to tell me there isnt something seriously wrong at ITV.

mabelsgarden Mon 13-May-19 22:36:05

@HelenaDove

ITV have turned into the lowest common denominator . Was at my parents on Saturday night and we were watching a film Voyage of the Damned on Talking Pics TV (its about the St Louis) ive seen it before on the same channel My 24 year old niece and my dad found it as interesting as i did. So DM was outvoted. The film finished at 9.45pm. So DM put it on ITV (her default channel) and WTF were Bradley Walsh and co. doing FFS

"Agree about the new Bradley Walsh show - ('Guest List' or something?) It was bleedin' awful. Embarrassingly bad. I am stunned that someone as talented and funny as Bradley Walsh, would stoop so low as to churn out utter garbage like that show from last Saturday night.

It was like a cross between Celebrity Juice, and a naff 1980's chat show, with B list guests. Emma Bunton and her 'partner' singing a duet made me cringe. He is from an ancient 1990s boyband who haven't been relevant this century, and she is the Spice girl with the weakest voice. And Piers Morgan and Jack from Love Island were on it too. And shocker Jack put lipstick on, and gave Bradley a kiss! shock

And Joe Pasquale in an adult nappy! confused Also Holly bloody Willoughby's constant squeaking, and (obviously fake) outrage really grated on me. It was soooooo bad"

It's disgusting voyeurism.

I used to support a woman who had been on the programme. I knew her when I worked in a women's refuge.

She was coerced to go on the programme by her (violent) partner, who was extremely controlling. From what she told me (and from what I gather from others) there was no understanding of the dynamics of domestic abuse, and anyone with any sense would not set up essentially a confrontation with those dynamics.

She also said that the after care was a quick chat with Graham straight after the show (together, so not safe) and that was it.

I've spoken with other colleagues who have also worked with extremely vulnerable women - in abusive relationships for example or involved in prostitution who have been on the show with similar stories.

I agree I find all reality TV exploitative - whether it's Kyle or Love Island it exploits naive people who all think it will be different for them - they will come over as lovable and 'real', unlike all those horrid people. And they don't realise that they can be edited to come over however the programme-makers want them to.

Or in the case of Kyle, I heard from someone who knew someone who went on it - they give participants a fake reason that they are going on, so they'll be thrown off balance when it's filmed, they ply them with booze so they come over like yobs, they don't put make up on them, to ensure they look horrible and pasty under studio lights, and if they bring nice clothes with to try to look decent, they don't let them wear them, so they look like slobs. Nasty stuff.

I can't watch this stuff, I just find it stressful and unpleasant.

Our bullying culture.

I agree with Sneaky. A guy failed a lie detector. He's committed suicide. No-one forced him to go on the show and we can assume he didn't like being outed as a liar?

The above statement suggests that the poster believes that the man was guilty of whatever 'crime' he was accused of.

But was the result actually accurate? Various google searches suggests it is anything between 60-90% accurate - which means up to 40% inaccurate!

So, for all we know - maybe he wasn't lying but the show made out he was, holding the lie detector result as absolute proof, and if he really wasn't guilty he couldn't deal with everyone thinking he was. So could we assume he was innocent of the 'crime' and couldn't deal with aftermath of people thinking he 'did it.'

Whilst here, can we try not to use the term 'commit suicide.' Suicide is not a crime any more. The man took his own life.

Aragog - was me who posted that, and on hindsight, you’re right - good argument.

@Aragog - I'm not saying I believe he was guilty. We don't know for sure. I just believe it was being broken up with by his fiancée, who he said was "the love of his life" which that led to the tragedy, not necessarily the actual show.

@FrancesHaHa That really is very distressing and disturbing to read. Some of these poor women - and men - are being exploited and controlled in abusive relationships. I'd never really considered that until you said it. That's a fucking slap in the face if ever there was one.

It definitely should be axed. It should have happened years ago. Disgusting show taking advantage of vulnerable people in the name of "entertainment".

It's TV's equivalent of AIBU, but less entertaining.

It seems the gentleman who killed himself had many issues. Its been reported that there was a warrant out for his arrest due to unpaid fines, his estranged son had recently contacted him and he was living in lodgings at 62 years of age. His girlfriend splitting with him may have been the last straw. Looks like he thought the only way she'd take him back was if he did a lie detector test. It was also reported by his landlady that he admitted he told some lies on the test but not about cheating.

I'm not sure the show can be held responsible for that but obviously it can't continue now as it will always be associated with this.

JK's ego has led to his downfall as he got more and bolshy as the programme has run. I think he's probably finished although I agreed with a lot of what he said about children being entitled to know their fathers, kids who were put into care confronting dysfunctional parents, DNA tests etc. I think the show did some good in terms of shining a light on social issues in society.

Short answer: yes.

And there's a reason we don't allow lie detectors in the courtroom.

I think the show did some good in terms of shining a light on social issues in society

So where are the big changes that have occured then.

Because from what ive seen from ppl making excuses for this show on social media this show has done as little to change things as other poverty porn has.

DNA test results reveal that the JK show is the offspring of Bedlam and bearbaiting. I believe the latter was banned due to the effect on spectators rather than the participants.

Another show that "shined a light on social issues"

www.theguardian.com/media/2018/feb/22/couple-filmed-evicted-channel-5-tv-show-win-damages-high-court

Don't wash your dirty laundry in public. They go on that programme to do just that and for money. Don’t know who is more stupid, them or those watching it.

All reality TV shows are a complete waste of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.

She was coerced to go on the programme by her (violent) partner, who was extremely controlling. From what she told me (and from what I gather from others) there was no understanding of the dynamics of domestic abuse, and anyone with any sense would not set up essentially a confrontation with those dynamics.

Doesn't surprise me. In 2009 a guest was badly assaulted by her abusive boyfriend after 'failing' the lie detector test she was bullied into taking. It should have been taken off the air back then. And this is only public because he was prosecuted, makes you wonder how many other women get beaten up afterwards behind closed doors.

Fascinating reading about how the show is constructed (at least in 2008): www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/media/2008/sep/07/itv.television

I do also remember a couple of episodes- one was a man who brought his girlfriend on for a lie detector. He used to inspect and sniff her underwear everytime she came home to see if she'd been cheating. JK treated this like the funniest thing ever when really it should have been red flag central.

The other was the man who brought his ex on the show to see if she'd cheated with her new partner whilst they were still together. She refused to do a lie detector saying he was violent to her, so JK started his snarling at her- you must have something to hide, abuse is irrelevant as you are no longer together. Because nobody ever gets harmed by their ex do they!

Utterly clueless re DV and I hold Graham and the so called experts in the most contempt.

Ghastly programme. I hope this is it finished.

No idea why people would watch it. Surprised it has even one viewer to be honest.