Jeremy Kyle defends ‘direct’ presenting style following death of chat show guest

Steve Dymond, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, is believed to have taken his own life seven days after filming for the Jeremy Kyle Show in May 2019.

Mr Kyle told Winchester Coroner’s Court that clips from the programme featuring the case of Mr Dymond and his partner, Jane Callaghan, showed he had “de-escalated… calmed it down”.

He also denied encouraging the audience to take against 63-year-old Mr Dymond, telling the inquest: “Not at all – I asked them to give them a round of applause.”

Mr Dymond had taken a lie detector test for the programme after being accused of cheating on Miss Callaghan, from Gosport, Hampshire.

The court was shown a number of clips from the show, including Mr Kyle telling Mr Dymond: “Be a man, grow a pair of balls and tell her the goddam truth.”

Another featured the presenter asking “Has anyone got a shovel?” as Mr Dymond attempted to explain why he had been messaging another woman.

A further clip showed Mr Kyle saying: “The studio thought you were telling the truth, I wouldn’t trust you with a chocolate button, mate.”

The presenter explained that he felt he had a “double security blanket” of the checks carried out by his production team and a GP letter to reassure him that Mr Dymond had been an appropriate guest for the show.

Mr Kyle said he had not been given any guidance by the production or aftercare teams that he should “modify” his presenting style for Mr Dymond.

Rachel Spearing, counsel to the inquest, asked Mr Kyle on Thursday: “Do you believe he was humiliated?”

The broadcaster replied: “I do not, and I have read over time apparently I called him a traitor – I didn’t – that he was cowering. I did what I always do and always did, it was what the show… as I understood the show is, sad as it might sound, it was a typical part.”

He added: “It was a show with my name on it, with a production team and an aftercare team behind it.”

Defending his presenting style, Mr Kyle said: “I think that people who came on the show… I think the show had been on air for 15 years, and I believe the approach for conflict resolution was always the same.

“Yes, it was direct, but it was empathetic, it was honest.”

Referring to Mr Dymond’s case, Mr Kyle added: “I de-escalated, I calmed it down and I put them backstage.

“That’s what I always believed the show was about – conflict resolution.”

Maya Sikand KC, representing Mr Dymond’s family, asked Mr Kyle if he had been “belittling” over his handling of the guest during the recording.

She quoted Mr Kyle asking Mr Dymond: “Did it bother you that she didn’t have an orgasm or are you a typical male and do not give a toss.”

She said he responds: “I can’t remember when” with Mr Kyle continuing: “You are lying again aren’t you? You can’t remember when she did.”

Ms Sikand said Mr Dymond then says: “I cross my heart,” then Mr Kyle says: “Just give me the results.”

She asked Mr Kyle: “This is pretty belittling isn’t it?

He replied: “I wouldn’t agree with you, I would say it’s the part, from the beginning I had a joke with him, he did get upset but he wasn’t upset from the beginning, that’s the journey and that’s the way the Jeremy Kyle show was.”

Mr Kyle told the court he was “not involved in the selection of guests” for the show.

He said: “I want to make a point: I have, in my 14-and-a-half years, not been involved in the selection of guests. I was employed absolutely as the presenter.”

He said he was sent a dossier the night before filming which detailed the approximately 20 guests involved in a day’s recording.

“I had no involvement in the process of selection or anything like that,” he said.

He later added: “The production, the producing, the aftercare, the lie detector test were not my responsibility, I was the presenter.”

The presenter said he had created a persona for the show but had not been trained in handling emotional guests.

He said: “The show developed, it was a character, a part, by understanding that, from day one, as I keep saying, it’s conflict resolution so it involved many aspects of many stories and many different approaches.”

Mr Dymond had rung ITV 40 to 50 times in “desperate” attempts to become a guest on the show, the inquest previously heard.

He had been diagnosed with a depressive disorder in 1995 and had taken overdoses on four occasions – in January 1995, twice in December 2002 and in April 2005, the court was told.

It also heard he had attempted to harm himself in December 2002.

On Thursday morning, Chris Wissun, director of content compliance at ITV at the time, told the inquest that the show had a “standing rule” not to allow guests with “current depression” to take a lie detector test and the aftercare team “continually assessed” their welfare.

The hearing was told that after the filming of the show had finished, Mr Dymond had told a researcher: “I wish I was dead” and he had also said: “Life is nothing without Jane.”

Mr Wissun said the aftercare team offered Mr Dymond eight to 10 sessions of cognitive behavioural therapy for self esteem and confidence building after the show to help him address with his “problem with lying”.

He said that a researcher called Mr Dymond the day after the recording to tell him that counselling was being arranged for him and added: “Sadly, because of Mr Dymond’s death that didn’t go ahead.”

Graham Stanier, the director of aftercare for the Jeremy Kyle Show between 2005 and 2019 and who was also the show’s on-air counsellor, said in a statement read to the inquest that Mr Dymond was subject to “continuous assessment” following his acceptance to be on the show.

He said this included background checks with his work colleagues and Miss Callaghan and her daughter.

He said he had only said “hello” to Mr Dymond and was not involved in his pre-show assessment.

He said: “As far as I can I recall no issues were flagged to me with regards to Mr Dymond.”

– The Samaritans can be contacted on 116123 or email jo@samaritans.org.