To ask what made Jeremy Kyle qualified…

[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!

@PutinSmellsPassItOn

Jeremy Kyle was a radio host who did a show called Jezzas confessions and he was bloody fantastic. I used to wait up for it every night. He should have stuck to what he was good at instead of selling his soul

I just came on to mention Jezza’s confessions on BRMB.

He did the same shouty style on that but I recall it all being a lot less grim than the tv show. (Always detested the TV Programme)

Different question but was it BRMB who organised his wife for him?!

Yes, lying in general isn’t advised. But with addicts you are almost certainly dealing with liars.
Again, I’m not condoning it, but I do understand it as a tactic.
It’s not straightforward to get an addict into rehab. I’m starting to wonder if it should be mandatory anyway….break the law, enforced rehab 🤷‍♀️ I’m not sure we are doing people any favours by enabling them to continue with their destructive addictions until ‘they are ready’
Separate point but on the same lines.

@bonfireheart

Haven't watched the documentary, but didn't he host a show on BRMB radio as Jezza? Was always surprised he got picked up for TV.

Yes he did. I listened to it back then. It was on late at night.

I do recall, one night where a chap called in distraught and wanting to end his life. He was on a bridge somewhere and Jezza ended the show there and then, so he could go find him.

His radio show was actually quite good. There wasn’t all the palaver you’d have on his tv show. People would just ring in with their issue and discuss it. Often he was empathetic and would chat to and advise them. Some people just got told straight up they were being a bit of a dick. And it was all anonymous.

The TV show however I think became more outrageous as it went on. I think in the early days there was a bit more of a mix of different types of people going on the show. But as time went on there seemed to be more of the same kind of folk on there and it just became a show focussed on people living a life on benefits or/and with educational difficulties.

One of the things that really annoyed me about the show was that it was sponsored by an online bingo site, when JK himself had a bad gambling problem.

I just came on to mention Jezza’s confessions on BRMB.

He did the same shouty style on that but I recall it all being a lot less grim than the tv show. (Always detested the TV Programme)

He’d definitely be direct/blunt with some people yes, but he didn’t have as much of the shouty style we came to see on tv.

@hamstersarse

I don’t understand the criticism about making drug addicts believe they don’t have a place at rehab when they do. Anyone who has tried to get an addict to rehab knows they have to actually want it, otherwise it’s a waste of time. It’s probably quite a good tactic.

Also, lots of reference to ‘vulnerable’ people on here. What does that mean? It isn’t always the right way to ‘be kind’, sometimes people do need a shock to the system / huge truth bombs to make any changes to their lives. I’m not defending JK show as such but the reality is that ‘niceness’ isn’t always productive, and whatever you say about JK he did at least have some clear values to espouse. The whole issue is that people are expecting gigantic complicated issues to get solved in a 20 minute segment. That’s impossible for any method or person.

I volunteer at a homeless charity and I can say with absolute certainty that the people who work there full time are as ‘bad’ to the homeless people as JK is. They know they get lied to, bullshitted to, stolen from and they don’t stand for it. There is a certain naivety that exists when you haven’t dealt with ‘vulnerable’ people before, you want to see the best in them but over time you lose patience, I think that also happened to the JK show - him and all the team

I’ve worked/volunteered with several homeless and outreach organisations, and no one spoke to people without accommodation like the guests in the Jeremy Kyle show. Of course there’s a better awareness of people’s issues (homelessness can be so much more complex than people realise), but people were always treated with respect and compassion, even if they were challenging, etc. If you work in outreach you’re not naive to people’s issues or under the illusion that everyone’s an angel, but I’ve never encountered anyone being spoken to like that, across several organisations and programmes. It wouldn’t be normal or acceptable.

About fifteen years ago I worked for the probation service, a number of the service users had been on JK, one woman five times. When asked why you'd do that one said you get a free train ticket to Manchester and a hotel, well yes but you don't need to go to Manchester.... Also yes I understand they were given bar tabs etc but as adults they do have choices, they don't have to max out the bar tab, they don't have to scream at their partner/friend/neighbour on TV, the people I worked with had different beliefs and values to lots of people here, they do solve conflict with aggression etc, they also wouldn't like to be portrayed as idiots who didn't know what they were getting themselves into, they weighed it up and on balance wanted to do it. I didn't agree with the choices they made but they were their choices to make as adults with capacity. That's also a learning point, often they were people with an external locus of control, so things that went wrong had to be someone or something else's fault, it couldn't possibly be the decisions they make.
I also think JK getting the brunt of it is a bit ridiculous, it's not his show, his concept, he's not finding the guests etc that's all production. If it hasn't been him fronting it, it would be someone else. Was it in poor taste, yes definitely, but so is love Island, so was big brother especially by the end, the talent shows praying on those with sob stories, benefits Street, there's one on channel five called nightmare tenants scum landlords! Plus the bailiff shows often showing people at their lowest ebb, the ones with hoarders etc let's not pretend JK was a one off aberration.

I knew someone who was convinced to go on the show under false pretences, when he got there though it turned out it was so he could be told the child he'd raised actually wasn't his. He was heartbroken, it devastated his family.

@PlumpAndDeliciousFatcat

Channel 4 have had more than their fair share of exploitative poverty porn content. Remember Benefits Street?

JK was awful but not uniquely so. Trisha seems to have escaped largely unscathed but her show was very much the forerunner in terms of the JK Show’s strategies - the lure of a free hotel with free booze and promised access to paternity testing, lie detectors, rehab etc.

Trisha had a counsellor on hand who worked with the contestants sometimes for years afterwards. I know this because I knew the counsellor. they used to ring her at 4 am years later and she always picked up, so they had some heart. But they were very troubled souls who desrved the help without being made human zoo spectacles.

@hamstersarse

Yes, lying in general isn’t advised. But with addicts you are almost certainly dealing with liars. Again, I’m not condoning it, but I do understand it as a tactic. It’s not straightforward to get an addict into rehab. I’m starting to wonder if it should be mandatory anyway….break the law, enforced rehab 🤷‍♀️ I’m not sure we are doing people any favours by enabling them to continue with their destructive addictions until ‘they are ready’ Separate point but on the same lines.

But a huge issue is that those who are ready have to wait months for any sort of initial appointment, and then get given a script and have to take it for x months before being considered for a place at rehab. So the time between being ready isn't even always as long as the wait after that- and of course many sadly die, end up in prison, or run into tonnes more debt before that.

I'm sure if getting arrested was a way to actually get a place that'd be great, at least people would know all that was between them and a chance at recovery was a crime.

@browneyes77

I just came on to mention Jezza’s confessions on BRMB.

He did the same shouty style on that but I recall it all being a lot less grim than the tv show. (Always detested the TV Programme)

He’d definitely be direct/blunt with some people yes, but he didn’t have as much of the shouty style we came to see on tv.

I feel like there was an element of tongue in cheek to the radio show as well; I remember he would sometimes do that thing of reaching a crescendo of outrage but it would be reserved for people who were not taking responsibility for whatever their issue was (I don’t know, like a guy with two girlfriends on the go or something) and was delivered in a bit more of an exasperated tough love style. Saying that, wasn’t one of his flexes cutting people off unexpectedly?! It had an Alan partridge vibe to it.

I was a teenager, and me and some friends also used to tune in specifically to listen. I remember having the impression that he was much older than he was and was surprised to see at the BRMB roadshow thing that he was a fairly young guy.

@gingerhills

I used to work for a charity that dealt with very vulnerable people at a critical point in their lives. JK's production team rang us all the time, asking if anyone wanted to come on the show and offering money. We had a big notice in the office that read: If anyone from JK rings, tell them to F Off. But if our clients found out, they got upset as they wanted the money so badly and thought we were stopping them from getting rich.

Yes, I can well believe this.

I used to work at a Merseyside dementia care unit and we took calls from a famous local radio show "hold your plums" (famous for "useless" contestents) asking if any of our patients enjoyed the show and wanted to come on.

@StScholastica Jesus Christ!

@StScholastica Jesus Christ!

I wouldn't know as I never watched the program but I would hazard a guess & say because there was a huge demand & appetite for it? Voyeurism.

I couldn't stand it, didn't watch it, always felt from any clips I did see, or read about that it was very exploitative.

I had to attend a clinic on a fairly regular basis some years ago, and there was a tv in the waiting room area. The minute that JK started to come on after the morning show which preceded it, and was pleasant, uncontroversial viewing, the receptionist would shoot out from behind her desk to grab the remote. Thankfully!

@PutinSmellsPassItOn

Jeremy Kyle was a radio host who did a show called Jezzas confessions and he was bloody fantastic. I used to wait up for it every night. He should have stuck to what he was good at instead of selling his soul

I remember listening to him on Virgin and being very surprised at his TV persona because it was a very stark contrast. I imagine there were producers pushing him (and the rest of the team) to create “drama”.

@Peasock

I am sure that is the case in some circumstances but I also see many people offered immediate rehab and they don’t turn up or leave before completion. It’s all much more complicated and the fatal flaw of the programme was it claimed to make a difference. Even most professional therapy fails in these extreme circumstances they were taking on

@ldontWanna

Nothing. He didn't have to be. He was just the host. He didn't pick the format,the guests,he didn't produce it ,he didn't bribe the (1 million) viewers to watch it.

ITV did all that. They wanted their own Jerry Springer shit show. They wanted the views and the money and they got it, for 14 years and people loved it.

Absolutely. That’s the reality of it. And an awful lot of ppl watched it.

I am sure that is the case in some circumstances but I also see many people offered immediate rehab and they don’t turn up or leave before completion. It’s all much more complicated and the fatal flaw of the programme was it claimed to make a difference. Even most professional therapy fails in these extreme circumstances they were taking on
Over-generalisation

I actually knew JK when he was working on a local radio station before he got his ‘big break’ on TV. He was pretty much the same then. Everything you think about how he is, is true. Odious man.

[quote hamstersarse]@Peasock

I am sure that is the case in some circumstances but I also see many people offered immediate rehab and they don’t turn up or leave before completion. It’s all much more complicated and the fatal flaw of the programme was it claimed to make a difference. Even most professional therapy fails in these extreme circumstances they were taking on[/quote]
Wow that is impressive, I'll send my brother over to where you are in that case. He's been an addict for many years, relapsed over lockdown and after waiting 5 months for an appointment was denied a script because their caseload was too high and is now waiting to see the prescribing doctor. Minimum of 6 months on script (I am sure you're familiar with the challenges of that at home without correct support) before even being put onto a waiting list which they've said is likely to be a year minimum. This is true as I have been to appointments with him and heard phone calls where I have dialled the number myself so know its not a friend pretending. In the meantime my retired parents are being bullied into giving him £50 a day and not knowing whether they are going to wake up to news he is dead or in prison; police have been called numerous times to try and get him to go away when they say no to giving him money but they aren't bothered. It's quite frankly horrendous and somethings going to give very soon, just not sure what.

My sister works in pastoral support at a Primary school and she said that a couple whose children attended the school went on the JK show. She said it had an horrendous effect on the family, who were effectively shunned by the local community and the children suffered horrendous bullying as a result.
It's hard to believed that this type of shit was allowed to be broadcast.

Also if lots of people fail then perhaps it's worth considering that the programme doesn't work for all, rather than that they can't be bothered.