The presenter Jeremy Kyle told a guest on his TV talkshow to “grow a pair of balls” days before the man is thought to have killed himself, footage at the inquest shows.
Steve Dymond, 63, was found dead at his flat in Portsmouth, Hampshire, seven days after filming the ITV programme in May 2019.
Previously unseen clips were shown on the third day of the inquest into Dymond’s death as Kyle gave evidence at Winchester coroner’s court. The presenter defended his conduct on the show saying: “It was direct, but it was empathetic, it was honest.”
In one clip, Kyle was shown breaking the news to Dymond, in front of a studio audience, that he had failed a lie-detector test about cheating on his ex-fiancee Jane Callaghan, who also appeared on the programme.
Dymond insisted he had not been unfaithful to Callaghan, as both cried on the set. Kyle told Dymond the lie-detector result showed he could not be trusted. Addressing Dymond, Kyle said: “Grow a pair of balls and tell her the goddamn truth.”
Speaking to Dymond and Callaghan, he said: “Will you all calm down please, stop crying.”
Maya Sikand KC, representing Dymond’s family, asked Kyle if he had been “belittling” in his treatment of Dymond during the recording. She quoted Kyle asking Dymond the question: “Did it bother you that she didn’t have an orgasm or are you a typical male and do not give a toss?” After a vague answer, Kyle accused Dymond of “lying again”.
Sikand asked 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.”
He also denied encouraging the audience to take against Dymond, telling the inquest: “Not at all – I asked them to give them a round of applause.”
The inquest had previously heard that Dymond’s first application to appear on the show was rejected because he had disclosed he had suffered from depression and been prescribed antidepressants. A subsequent application was successful after it was supported by a letter from Dymond’s GP.
Kyle told the inquest: “I was simply told he had been to his GP and his GP had written him a letter which enabled him to go on the show.”
Kyle said he felt he had a “double security blanket” with the checks carried out by his production team, and the GP letter to reassure him that Dymond would be an appropriate guest for the show.
Kyle said he had not been given any guidance by the production or after-care teams that he should “modify” his presenting style for Dymond. The show was aimed at resolving family conflicts, Kyle told the court. He said he had created a persona for the programme and 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.
“I de-escalated, I calmed it down and I put them backstage. That’s what I always believed the show was about – conflict resolution.”
The inquest, before the coroner Jason Pegg, is scheduled to continue until 10 September.
• In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.
