A TV producer has said he was "distressed" by the level of aftercare given to guests on The Jeremy Kyle Show.
Gavin Hill, who was hired to film behind the scenes footage, claims the ITV show “ruthlessly broke” people before trying to put their lives back together within a 10 minute window.
There have been calls for the show to be axed after the suspected suicide of a guest who failed a lie detector on the programme, reports Mirror Online.
Mr Hill said: “It was distressing to see so many worlds torn apart and so little done to mend them afterwards.
"It was shocking the very little amount of ointment they put on these people before they sent them away – the box is ticked, we’ve done our bit.
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“It was like a sticking plaster. I found it horrific watching this take place.”
After guests leave the stage they normally talk to the show’s consultant psychotherapist Graham Stanier, who leads the duty of care effort and has worked on the programme since it was launched in 2005.
Mr Hill said: “Graham tried to put their lives back together before they left – but what struck me was how they’d ruthlessly broken them in the first place.
“Then they’d hastily try to glue it back together in 10 minutes afterwards.”
He said one example of this was a man being told he was not the biological father of his child then after the show being given a 10-minute debrief and being sent home despite his “very high” level of anguish.
ITV put the series on hold after the death of Steve Dymond, 63, who is thought to have killed himself after appearing on the programme. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said yesterday: “This is a deeply concerning case. Broadcasters have a responsibility for the mental health and wellbeing of participants and viewers.”
Other guests say they were left suicidal after being on the show.
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David Fox, 58, tried to take his own life after failing a lie detector on the programme in 2014. David, from Weymouth, Dorset, said: “I was telling the truth. I felt like killing myself... I rang up to speak to Graham [Stanier] and the help team, but they gave me no help. The show destroyed me.”
Professor Sir Simon Wessely, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, is among those who believes the show should be axed for ever.
He said: “It should be dropped. It’s the theatre of cruelty. Yes it might entertain a million people a day, but, so did Christians versus lions.”
In a leaked email, ITV chief executive Carolyn McCall told staff it would be “inappropriate to continue to broadcast the show when a participant on it has so recently died”.
