Two former guests on the Jeremy Kyle Show have opened up about the emotional turmoil they've faced after agreeing to appear on the now axed series.
Dwayne Davison and Robert Gregory spoke candidly at a hearing for the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Thursday on the treatment of reality TV contestants.
Both men said they felt exploited and humiliated by their experiences on the ITV daytime show. Davison also admitted to taking an overdose of painkillers in 2018.
"I just think – and I still fell now – I wish I could die…because I can’t control this [Jeremy Kyle] thing. In 2018 I took 30 codeine tablets, swallowed it all, I don’t remember what happened but I was given an injection," said Davison, who was dubbed the 'most hated guest' on the show.
He said appearing on the show in 2014 ruined his life 'mentally, physically and monetary wise.'
When he was 21-years-old, Davison accused his girlfriend of cheating on him in a row that the pair decided to settle on the Jeremy Kyle Show, well known for its notorious lie detector test.
"It was a stupid thing to do," admitted Davison at the hearing.
He says the pair had forgotten all about the spat but three days later a representative from the show called them back asking about the details.
"I said to him, 'the argument is over now I don't want to go on the show,'" said Davison, but he claims he was persuaded otherwise by the 'charismatic caller' who 'acted like a best mate' and 'wouldn't take no for an answer.'
After saying 'Yes,' Davison and his partner were driven 106 miles from Nottingham to Salford and put up in a hotel overnight.
He admits he started to have doubts about airing the private matter on national television and even admitted to his girlfriend that night, 'I don't think you cheated' but felt he had 'no choice' but to continue.
"I’ve got no car, no money, no way of going back home, I’m stuck,” recalls Dwayne.
Before his time in front of the camera, Davison said he was locked in a small room on his own for ten hours with 'nothing to do' while his partner was taken elsewhere.
He said he was told that if he needed anything he had to knock on the door to alert one of the show's runners who was sat on the other side.
When his time in front of the camera came, Davison stepped out onto the famous set to the sounds of 200 people booing him and host Jeremy making fun of his name, calling him 'D with a Wayne.'
At the hearing, Davison described the show as "like getting two dogs and winding them up and setting them upon each other."
Robert Gregory also spoke about his 'distressing' exprience.
Gregory, who had never heard of the show, said he was 70 years old and living in Torquay, Devon when he was contacted out of the blue and told, 'someone is looking for you who thinks you may be their father.'
Gregory later made the journey up to Salford in a taxi paid for by the show and after arriving at his hotel underwent a DNA swab.
The grandfather admits he saw some episodes before filming that were 'pretty brutal,' but he was hopeful that his experience would be different. 'That's got nothing to do with what I'm here about. I'm here for a reunion,' thought Gregory.
But the banner selected by producers for his meet up with his long lost son was "I rejected you 47 years ago because you're not my son,” something Gregory didn't know until the episode went out on TV two weeks later.
"[The description was] not what I told them at all," Gregory told the Committee. "They ignored it and completely turned it around."
"They absolutely crucified me. They ripped me apart," Gregory added, "The program itself was basically a character assignation of me."
Both Gregory and Davison also criticised the aftercare given to them afterwards.
"There is no aftercare. It doesn't exist," said Gregory, saying he was simply given £20 and told to get a drink.
While Davison said twenty minutes after filming stopped he was on his way back home in a taxi.
Davison said when the show went to air months later he was bombarded with horrific abuse on social media.
“People in my inbox [were] telling me they’re going to kill me that they were going to rape my girlfriend", he said.
When the abuse spiralled, Davison contacted producers asking them for help.
"I was crying on the phone saying, ‘listen I’ve lost a job, my own family hate me because of how you’ve edited the show. Can you take it down from youtube?”
“They just simply don’t care," he claimed.
In May this year The Jeremy Kyle Show was permanently axed by ITV following the death of guest Steve Dymond.
Dymond died around a week after reportedly failing a lie detector test on the show.
Carolyn McCall, ITV’s CEO, said at the time: “Given the gravity of recent events we have decided to end production of The Jeremy Kyle Show.
"The Jeremy Kyle Show has had a loyal audience and has been made by a dedicated production team for 14 years, but now is the right time for the show to end.
“Everyone at ITV's thoughts and sympathies are with the family and friends of Steve Dymond."
