During his 27-year run as a TV host, Jerry Springer became synonymous with a few tropes: the paternity test, the bleeped-out swearing, the security guards always ready to break up a fight. Nearly every one of his 4,000 episodes could be considered explosive, but there are a few moments that surpass even the wackiest standards of tabloid TV.
After his death on Thursday at the age of 79, there is no better time to look back at the craziest Jerry Springer moments of all time.
You Slept With My Stripper Sister!
Let’s start with a 2011 clip that has everything: one family member revealing a “secret” to another, a cheating boyfriend, and, yes, a stripper sister. The unassuming woman tells Springer upfront that she knows whatever her sister has to reveal to her “can’t be good”, because we all know how this goes. But, to be fair, her sister has a history of sleeping with the woman’s exes. When she comes onstage and lets her sister know that she bedded her boyfriend after a night at the club and apologizes, there is the requisite slapping and hair-pulling. Things only get worse when the boyfriend tries to say he’s sorry, but ends up slapped as well.
Confronting a Racist Family
Springer often hosted racists and Ku Klux Klan members on his show – and as the son of Jewish-German refugees who fled the Nazis, the subject was quite personal to him. In 1995, he told an antisemitic priest, “I don’t hate you, I feel sorry for you.” When the priest went into a Holocaust-denial rant, Springer told him to “shut your face”, which almost led to blows.
‘I Slept With 251 Men in 10 Hours!’
In 1995, Springer spoke to Annabel Chong, a 22-year-old porn actor who took part in the “world’s biggest gangbang”. Despite the predictable slut-shaming that took place (“Are you ever going to be able to love a man?” Springer asked), Chong spoke of the experience as an empowering reversal of gender norms. “Why not?” she said of her decision. After some years in the industry, Chong went on to work in software development – and left her record behind. It was broken by Jasmin St Clair, who also went on Jerry Springer to discuss the feat.
‘I Married A Horse’
In 2004, Springer introduced the world to Mark, a Missouri farmer and zoophile who introduced a truly disgusted audience to his wife, a horse named Pixel. “I had to earn her love and respect,” Mark said in a voiceover, while showing off photos he had taken of Pixel wearing women’s underwear (with a hole cut in the bum for her tail). “As far as sex goes, we make love. We don’t fool around on each other.” Springer would later tell Meredith Viera that he did not know what Mark was going to reveal on the show, which explains why he felt physically ill on-air.
‘Married to Your Dad But Want You Back’
In a love story of Shakespearean proportions, a Montana woman fell in love with a California man, who apparently walked 1,200 miles to be with her (he didn’t have a car). When they broke up, she ended up with his father, who she had a child with – her ex-husband’s younger sister. But regret nagged at the woman so much that she tried to reunite with the son on Springer’s show. He declined.
“Zack … the 70lb Baby”
A rare happy ending for a Springer guest: in 1996, baby Zack Strenkert made headlines for his size and weight. (He was later diagnosed with Simpson Golabi Behmel Syndrome, which causes overgrowth.) His parents lived an unconventional life, putting their infant in adult diapers, but it didn’t matter. “Wouldn’t change him for the world,” his father said during his first appearance on the show. Strenkert returned to the show as an adult, saying he was happy and working as a competitive gamer.
