Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask what made Jeremy Kyle qualified…

369 replies

ClandestineAdulation · 13/03/2022 21:09

… to host a talk show, give ‘advice’ and judge people the way he did?

The Channel 4 programme about the show is on and it’s just made me think about it all again!

OP posts:
mummabubs · 13/03/2022 22:46

@MsJinks

I heard about the hotel from a girl I worked with exactly as described on here - she was a guest, but she had been lied to about who wanted to meet her on the show. She was very vulnerable and had been excited to go on the show, which then set her back a long way - awful. I also saw a local lad on getting slated and bullied but I knew he had learning difficulties and mental health issues - I couldn’t watch it after that. I can’t believe psychologists oversight body didn’t say anything to Graham! In the interest of fairness I met a lady who went on one of the first shows, after applying for Trisha I think but getting JK - she said the aftercare was really good - I think the show got worse as they realised what the audience wanted, which is a sad indictment of society, but I would hope the aftercare remained of a good standard.
My earlier post's quote didn't work, annoyingly, but to emphasise again that the BPS (British Psychological Society) and HCPC who are both of the bodies associated with the regulation of professional psychologists wouldn't have said anything to dear old Graham because he wasn't one. 🤦🏻‍♀️
FoxyFoxyLoxy · 13/03/2022 22:47

@ClandestineAdulation

… to host a talk show, give ‘advice’ and judge people the way he did?

The Channel 4 programme about the show is on and it’s just made me think about it all again!

But he never claimed to be qualified. He was never holding himself up as a psychologist or to have any training.

Yes it was an awful, bear-baiting programme and he doesn't come across as a nice man at all, but qualifications or otherwise don't come into it.

Booklover3 · 13/03/2022 22:51

@SD1978

The entire show was the issue. Blaming him solely as the front man, is pathetic. They production team and the channel itself needs to be held accountable. It was poverty porn for the masses and the stupid. I don't for one minute believe that those who went on it didn't know what they were signing up for- the UK's version of Jerry Springer. It was an opportunity for 5 minutes of fame. To claim afterward you didn't know how the show worked....everyone did. The whole production team should be held accountable, not one man alone. He was vile, yes, and should be accountable, yes, but not alone.
This
ClumpingBambooIsALie · 13/03/2022 22:55

@mumda

The Jeremy Kyle Show was the most popular programme in ITV's daytime schedule, with an average of one million viewers and a 22% audience share. www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48279613

It was hugely popular among the very people who took part. Mostly people without jobs. Oh and students. I assume arts students have something else to watch now.

Didn't they fund lots of counselling and DNA tests.

I once endured a psychiatric hospital stay where it felt like somehow they managed to find a channel showing Jeremy Kyle to put on the patient lounge TV for about 28 hours a day.
RantyAunty · 13/03/2022 22:59

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

Original poster
ClandestineAdulation · 13/03/2022 22:59

I use the term qualified very loosely! Some posters have said that he had a radio show and took people’s ‘confessions’ and that may be why he was picked up as the host - I didn’t know he had that ‘experience’.

That being said, I appreciate that he doesn’t have to have any particular qualifications and I doubt many (if any!) talk show hosts of this type have any experiences that make them qualified, it just baffles me that the standard for a host for a show that is supposed help people is based on entertainment factor alone.

OP posts:
FoxyFoxyLoxy · 13/03/2022 23:00

The "Graham" person who used to be the "expert" is, according to his Insta profile, a Consultant Psychotherapist.

That to me says that he is trying to portray himself as a medical doctor, who has progressed through the foundation and registrar stages to Consultant. But that's not what it means at all, is it? It really means that he is consulting in the loosest terms, in the way I could be a Consultant Knitter or a Consultant Chocolate-Eater.

I think that bio is intending to deceive.

drawingpad · 13/03/2022 23:01

@FoxyFoxyLoxy

The "Graham" person who used to be the "expert" is, according to his Insta profile, a Consultant Psychotherapist.

That to me says that he is trying to portray himself as a medical doctor, who has progressed through the foundation and registrar stages to Consultant. But that's not what it means at all, is it? It really means that he is consulting in the loosest terms, in the way I could be a Consultant Knitter or a Consultant Chocolate-Eater.

I think that bio is intending to deceive.

Yep!! Like Slimming World 'consultants' - made up shit to try and indicate they have a clue.

BOOTS52 · 13/03/2022 23:04

Just being a general arrogant twat dickhead..he used to be nearly frothing at the mouth and just horrible narcissistic man and no one was allowed to disagree with him at all or he got all on his high horse. I read that he could get a new show. Shocking how vulnerable people were treated and could not ever imagine going on a show to air my issues. Didn't he treat his ex wife horrendous also.

FoxyFoxyLoxy · 13/03/2022 23:05

It's more than that. Structuring your job title as "Consultant Psychotherapist" as others would be titled Consultant Surgeon, Consultant Cardiologist rather than as a "Psychotherapy Consultant" says to me you are trying to pass yourself off as a highly-qualified medical professional.

Nobody's going to think a slimming world consultant is a fully trained medic. But a Consultant Psychotherapist?

ldontWanna · 13/03/2022 23:06

@ClandestineAdulation

I use the term qualified very loosely! Some posters have said that he had a radio show and took people’s ‘confessions’ and that may be why he was picked up as the host - I didn’t know he had that ‘experience’.

That being said, I appreciate that he doesn’t have to have any particular qualifications and I doubt many (if any!) talk show hosts of this type have any experiences that make them qualified, it just baffles me that the standard for a host for a show that is supposed help people is based on entertainment factor alone.

You are very naive if you think the premise of the show was to help people. ITV wanted the ratings,viewers and money and they copied a format they saw worked very well in America. Helping people was the spiel not the aim.
drawingpad · 13/03/2022 23:08

@FoxyFoxyLoxy

It's more than that. Structuring your job title as "Consultant Psychotherapist" as others would be titled Consultant Surgeon, Consultant Cardiologist rather than as a "Psychotherapy Consultant" says to me you are trying to pass yourself off as a highly-qualified medical professional.

Nobody's going to think a slimming world consultant is a fully trained medic. But a Consultant Psychotherapist?

Oh no, I was agreeing with you along the lines of you could be a consultant chocolate eater when I mentioned SW. although, the idea is to suggest they are qualified and knowledgeable, even if not i a medical way.

Touchmybum · 13/03/2022 23:09

@Redshoeblueshoe

I'm watching. OMG I got the impression that ITV had wanted him back at some stage. I honestly can't see him working on TV again
He's finished after this. It's not entirely fair either, I don't think. Steve Dymond, according to his partner, was always threatening to take his own life, and was massively in debt. Only 4 of the production staff were prepared to speak out anonymously - (a) why didn't they vote with their feet at the time? and (b) what about all of the rest? Even Kirstie's mother, in spite of her criticism, didn't regret going on the show because she got 15 months with her daughter as a result. Not sure about this expose - described as Death on Daytime - JK wasn't the only sensationalist, methinks!!
TomBradysLeftKneecap · 13/03/2022 23:13

Oh please, everyone loved it at the time. It was like the British Jerry Springer and less intelligent than Kilroy (who also got cancelled). And it was 100% agreed that JK was a massive dick if my gym was anything to go by as we all used to yell at the screen at the same time.

Just remember it was of its time. I mean, Jerry Springer became a freakin musical!

Touchmybum · 13/03/2022 23:13
  • he was an inveterate liar!! Not justifying JK, but...!
TomBradysLeftKneecap · 13/03/2022 23:14

I should add I haven't seen the documentary as 4OD can't cope with the amount of people watching it at the same time.

sst1234 · 13/03/2022 23:19

This thread and all the outrage here smells of hypocrisy because everyone commenting loved watching the show and many others like it. And now are being all virtuous slagging it off. No one forced people to appear on the show and no one forced you to watch it.

j712adrian · 13/03/2022 23:20

Simply, his and the producers' bank accounts.

drawingpad · 13/03/2022 23:22

@sst1234

This thread and all the outrage here smells of hypocrisy because everyone commenting loved watching the show and many others like it. And now are being all virtuous slagging it off. No one forced people to appear on the show and no one forced you to watch it.
I never loved watching it, what are you talking about?
FangsForTheMemory · 13/03/2022 23:25

I once watched 15 minutes of it. I was in a hospital waiting area and it was on. There was a chap clearly mentally distressed with several people yelling at him. It was horrendous.

FangsForTheMemory · 13/03/2022 23:26

@sst1234 Speak for yourself.

HazelBite · 13/03/2022 23:26

It was hideous but but why would anyone want to go on the programme anyway???
I got the feeling some people just wanted to be on tv, at any cost and a night away in a hotel all expenses paid!

YouOKhun · 13/03/2022 23:26

@mummabubs

He was not a 'real' psychologist (which sadly is an unprotected title in itself). I think they called him one for the first few series and then got in trouble so just started referring to him as "the genius". He was a CBT therapist and as you said, baffling he'd have any involvement in this if he had an ounce of integrity as a therapist. One of my family members worked in an NHS mental health service at the time the show was popular and whilst they (obviously) didn't tell us any details I do remember them despairing at the number of referrals the service received for people who had been on the Jeremy Kyle show, been promised that "the genius and the team will fox everything" and then were offered literally one or two sessions before being farmed back into the NHS. Aftercare on the show was non-existent.
He’s a member of the BABCP which is the professional body for CBT therapists but he’s not accredited by them. Being a member is easy, being accredited is very different. He was a registered MH nurse before that.

I agree, it’s absolutely incredible that someone who worked in mental health would allow themselves to get involved in the abuse and manipulation of people for entertainment. I can think of a few TV “therapists” who clearly don’t think about the ethics of therapy and appear to have very shady qualifications. You can either make entertainment or you can provide ethical and safe therapy, you can’t do both.

I don’t have high expectations of the self-promoting Jeremy Kyle or the rest of the team. I’m sure none of them have a shiny shit about the people they manipulated. However I do have expectations of a someone who presumably worked in the roles he did for the good of others and presumably would have had enough training to know that the JK show was cruel and pretty dangerous and was always going to lead to someone being desperate enough to take their own life. I still can’t believe it was on air at all, let alone for as long as it was.

Georgeskitchen · 13/03/2022 23:28

@Octomingo

Didn't he do jezza's confessions on local radio around the early 2000s? I suspect that's why he was initially picked.
Omg yes I remember this!! I used to listen to it in my car driving home from work!!