A Jeremy Kyle guest has told a reality TV hearing of how he attempted to kill himself and said “I wished I could die” after appearing on the show.
Dwayne Davison spoke of his experiences while giving evidence at a hearing into reality TV, which was launched afterthe deaths of Jeremy Kyle guest Steve Dymondand Love IslandersMike ThalassitisandSophie Gradon.
Guests on the now-axed show were kept in locked rooms backstage and given no aftercare, it was claimed.
Mr Davison became known as the show’s “most-hated” guest when he accused his girlfriend of cheating on him on the ITV program.
“I just thought I was in a nightmare of a movie and I still feel like now, I wished I could die… because of the same thing that I can’t control this Jeremy Kyle show thing,” he told MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee.
Mr Davison added that his post-show care was a one-minute phone call and his taxi fare home, after having his possessions taken away and being confined for 10 hours.
Fellow guest Robert Gregory said he was brought on the ITV daytime program to be “crucified” by Kyle over a fabricated family incident.
Mr Davison said he did not want to go ahead with the show, but had already been taken by taxi to the studio and could not afford to get home from Manchester.
He said he attempted suicide in 2018 after becoming the show’s “most-hated” guest, saying: “I wished I could die.It has ruined my life.
“I can’t escape what he has done to me.”
“It’s like getting a dog and winding it up, getting another dog and winding it up, and setting them on each other.”
Mr Davison and Mr Gregory were giving evidence to MPs investigating reality TV following the death of participant Steve Dymond, which led to ITV axing the show in May.
Guests giving evidence said their stories and words were manipulated for the show, and they were sent off without any care.
Mr Davison said that Kyle was offensive to guests in order to provoke them, and these outbursts were edited out.
The former guest claimed whatever he said back stage was twisted, amplified, or just made up, in order to make him into a villain.
Mr Gregory, who was 70 when he appeared on the show, said he was accused of abandoning his son , who he actually had no knowledge of.
He said he was vilified on the show for his alleged abandonment, despite telling producers the facts about his past.
He said: “They crucified me. They absolutely ripped me apart.”
FormerLove Islandcontestant Marcel Somerville has told MPs he turned down the chance to appear on an earlier series of the reality show because he had concerns about the diversity of the line-up.
The Blazin ’Squad star, who had already found fame in the music group, appeared on the third series of the dating show when it was rebooted on ITV2.
He was shocked by the attention he received after leaving the show in fourth place with then-girlfriend Gabby Allen, adding that not all of it was positive.
He said: “I came out and I had like six hundred something thousand followers. I was like ‘Wow, this is crazy’.
He added: “They aren’t necessarily people that like you. Some of them are there to be horrible to you. There will be racist stuff. Horrible people saying horrible things.”
Somerville, who appeared on the same series as Mike Thalassitis, a year after Sophie Gradon appeared on the program, added: “You are in the spotlight. No matter what you do, anything that happens there is going to be a story about it.
“Public break-ups – everything that happens. You are like, ‘This is the worst period of my life’.
“That was the worst period of doing Love Island.”
He suggested more help was needed by contestants after the show had aired.
Somerville added: “Six months down the line when you are fully into dealing with the fame.
“They definitely changed it now with what happened to Mike and Sophie.”
Yewande Biala, who appeared on the 2019 series of the show, also gave evidence to MPs – but said she was given extensive social media training and psychological support.
Somerville said after he left the show, he had contact with producers – but only due to other projects he was working on.
Beyond that, the former contestant said there was no support in place.
He said: “You are kind of left to your own devices. It wasn’t like a big thing of them contacting you.
“It wasn’t much of a‘ How are things going now? ’”
With regards to being prepared for social media, he said: “Training-wise, I didn’t get told how to tweet or how to post, or what to expect from it.”
In a statement, ITV said: “Supporting the physical and mental health of everyone involved in our programs is our highest priority.”
“ITV constantly strives for best practice in all our programs, and last year we asked Dr Paul Litchfield, a former Chief Medical Officer with extensive experience of working with large companies and Government in the area of mental health, to independently review our processes on Love Island.
“This review led us to extend our support processes for this year’s series to a level that we consider industry-leading.
“We were truly sorry to hear that Dwayne was experiencing mental health problems and suicidal thoughts and have apologized to him that we did not remove the clips from our official ITV YouTube channel.
“We have offered to pay for counseling, as he has requested.”
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