Jeremy Kyle branded contestant Steve Dymond a "serial liar" just one week before the guest was suspected of taking his own life.
Steve appeared on an episode of the Jeremy Kyle Show during which he was subjected to a lie detector test to prove he did not cheat on his partner.
The guest subsequently failed the test, to which Jeremy Kyle told him he “would not trust him with a chocolate button”.
During the scene the crowd jeered at Steve, before Jeremy turned to the audience and asked “Has anyone got a shovel?’’
Dymond was then found dead just one week later in Portsmouth after suffering from a morphine overdose.
The Jeremy Kyle Show - that had aired on ITV for 14 years - was swiftly axed following Steve's death.
According to coroner Jason Pegg, Jeremy's toxic remarks "may have caused or contributed" to Steve's death.
After watching the episode, Pegg said: “Jeremy Kyle adopted an approach where he called the deceased a ‘serial liar’, that he ‘would not trust him with a chocolate button’ and made a comment, ‘has anyone got a shovel?’.”
After Steve's death, his son Carl Woolley had revealed that dad had told him he had felt "humiliated" after appearing on the show.
Steve - who had suffered overdoses in the past - allegedly told his son he had "been humiliated, taken for a mug and pounced on by the presenter”, said the coroner.
The late guest's brother, Leslie Dymond, also confirmed that Steve had recalled having a "terrible time" on the show.
Jason Pegg also suggested that Jeremy Kyle would have been aware that Steve had previously been diagnosed with depression.”
In light of this, the coroner said he was “satisfied that acts or omissions of Jeremy Kyle may have caused or contributed to the death of Stephen Dymond”.
Pegg also added that Jeremy Kyle was an "interested person" in the case.
Jeremy Kyle and ITV have been contacted for comment.
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