A member of the audience at The Jeremy Kyle Show, who witnessed a guest collapse on the show a week before he died, has said he appeared “utterly devastated” when he failed a lie detector test to prove his faithfulness to his fiancee.
Steve Dymond was crying from the moment he appeared on the ITV talk show, according to Manchester-based student Babette Lucas-Marriott.
The 63-year-old had gone on the programme to prove to his fiancee Jane Callaghan that he had not been unfaithful.
But he was found dead days later in the room he rented in Portsmouth.
His death prompted the broadcaster to cancel the show.
Ms Lucas-Marriott told the BBC that Mr Dymond appeared certain that he would pass the lie detector test.
“He was so convinced he would pass this test and that everything would be fine,” the 20-year-old said.
She added that Kyle asked the audience: ”Who thinks he is going to pass?”
She estimated that “99 per cent of the audience put their hands up, including myself.”
Kyle then told Mr Dymond he had failed “and you just saw him collapse to the ground”, she said.
She added: “He just could not believe what he had heard. He was begging his fiancee for forgiveness. They were both sobbing; they were just completely and utterly devastated and it was clear that he had just lost his entire life with his fiancee there.”
Ms Lucas-Marriot said she felt the mood in the audience change and that “everybody felt uncomfortable” and “no one wanted to be there”.
ITV suspended the talk show indefinitely on Monday after learning of Mr Dymond’s death.
The broadcaster said “now is the right time” for the Jeremy Kyle Show to end as it permanently cancelled this week.
MPs have also launched an inquiry into reality TV.
The Commons’ digital, culture, media and sport committee (DCMS) will consider production companies’ duty of care to participants taking part in reality shows and explore whether enough support is offered both during and after filming.
