DOWNING STREET HAS described the death of a man who recently appeared on The Jeremy Kyle show as “deeply concerning”.
The popular daytime show stopped recording and broadcasting on ITV following the death of 63-year-old Steve Dymond, a week after he appeared on an episode.
Dymond is believed to have failed a lie-detector test taken on the show to convince his fiancée he had not cheated on her, leading to the couple splitting up, The Sun reported.
The show, which attracts around one million viewers per episode, is hosted by former insurance salesman Kyle and has run since 2005.
It has been the focus of criticism over its confrontational style, which often pits romantic rivals against each other and has previously descended into violence.
According to Skynews, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Theresa May said Dymond’s was a “deeply concerning case”, calling for supports to be put in place for participants of reality programmes.
Broadcasters and production companies have a responsibility for the mental health and well-being of participants and viewers of their programmes.
“We are clear they must have appropriate levels of support in place,” they said.
ITV said it will not screen the episode in which Dymond is featured while it has also wiped all episodes from its on-demand service the ITV Hub.
A Virgin Media spokesperson previously confirmed to TheJournal.ie that it would be taking the same approach and suspending the show from its schedule.
Additional reporting from AFP
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