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The Jeremy Vile show: When the cameras stop rolling, what scars are left behind for the stars?Even if you have had a full-time job since July 4, 2005, you will be familiar with The Jeremy Kyle Show. Generally, though, the argument will centre on a sad story about elemental human weakness: domestic violence, infidelity, hooliganism, antisocial behaviour, bad or nonexistent parenting.Underneath all that, almost always, there’s drug abuse, alcoholism or mental illness, often all three, in what sociologists call ‘constellated disadvantage’.?.It has had its critics: in 2007, a Manchester district judge, Alan Berg, was required to pass sentence on a man who had head-butted his love rival on the show. He called the Jeremy Kyle experience ‘human bear-baiting’ and told the accused man: ‘These self-righteous individuals should be in the dock with you. They pretend there is some kind of virtue in putting out a show like this.’That pretence of virtue is almost worse than the programme itself: the show’s psychologist, as well as various producers, make large claims about the good they do. They offer counselling, or they get people into rehab or, with their trusty lie detectors and DNA tests, they claim to sow the seed of truth that blossoms into a happy, if complicated, family unit. Kyle started his career as a salesman, moved to local radio, then on? to present Jezza’s Confessions for Manchester-based Century FM, which seems to be where he got his appetite for shouting at people with problems. He says he ‘believes the only way to solve a problem is through honesty and openness’. He himself is not free from human weakness; he was addicted to gambling, which led to the disintegration of a very short marriage in 1990. His former wife said he stole thousands from her in the service of his habit, which he has now kicked. On the show’s website are heartwarming stories of people who have rebuilt their lives thanks to Kyle’s trusty sword of truth and extravagant aftercare. Even though it is impossible to imagine a family whose life would be improved by an inaccurate lie detector test result or even an accurate DNA test, followed by a load of shouting, it is possible, from a distance, to believe them. I contacted the press office to see if they could put me in touch with a?couple of former guests, but there was silence. That’s pretty unusual: I think these people know they’re not doing a huge amount of good. But I don’t think they realise how much harm they can do.Chris Lyons was 17 when he went on Jeremy Kyle, with Andi, his mother. They were living on the Isle of Wight; she was running a hotel with her now ex-husband and Chris was running amok, abusing drugs and solvents and customers. He applied to go on Trisha Goddard’s show, which was soft and supportive and made apparently genuine offers of rehab.? When Kyle replaced Trisha, he took over her files, so producers contacted Andi and Chris. Each was interviewed separately. Andi says: ‘Chris was up until two or three o’clock in the morning, talking to them.’I heard this from everyone I spoke to, bar one: they keep the families technically together, but functionally apart, with a researcher assigned to each, seemingly with the brief of winding them up.The next day, they were taken to the studio and put in separate rooms, where they say the baiting continued until it was time to go on. Chris says: ‘They kept coming in and saying: “Your mum said this about you. Your mum said you were a dirty crackhead.” Some of the stuff they told me, I thought: “My mum doesn’t even talk like that, my mum would never say that.”?’Anyway, Kyle seemed to decide, as the show started, that Chris’s drug problems were actually Andi’s fault. ‘Because I’d been married three times, he said: “Any child would have problems after going through three marriages with you.” But their dad died. He was making it sound like it was my fault their dad died.’Chris interjects: ‘I actually said at one point: “This is really unfair on my mum.” And the audience clapped, they agreed.’ That bit was lost in the edit. So, they had the confrontation, Chris had a drug test, which came back negative (‘He said: “You’re clear. Well done for that.” But I’d been on pills and coke two nights before, so I thought: “Your test’s wrong”), Andi got shouted at, and afterwards there was half an hour of counselling.They returned to the Isle of Wight. Andi was embarrassed, but relatively unaffected, by the broadcast, but it was hard on Chris. ‘It ruined my life. All of a sudden, I wasn’t Chris Lyons any more. I was just that guy off The Jeremy Kyle Show.’Robert Dunnill is the great success story of the Jeremy Kyle experience. Aged 42, he lives in Scarborough and his spick-and-span house is papered with? photos of a Russian woman he met on the internet, whom he intends to marry. When I arrive, he has a video of the show he appeared on, back in 2005. He met a girl, Sammy, on the seafront, took her home, and soon they were engaged. They split up and she started going out with his dad, Frank. Frank and Sammy quickly married and, on their wedding day, they told Robert that Sammy was pregnant. He was distraught. At this point, he applied to go on The Jeremy Kyle Show. And finally, he felt vindicated. The Jeremy Kyle Show told the world who was wrong and who was right. ‘They give me a lot of backing. And Jeremy Kyle himself was fantastic.’Robert says the show gave him his dignity back; it was a huge relief, it took the stress out of the situation, it meant that people at work gave him more support, and it’s been repeated 12 times now, so the world keeps on seeing how wronged he’s been. ‘Before that, all me family were half with me and half with them. Because of Jeremy Kyle, they understood where I was coming from.’So that’s how it works when it works. Some people need the validation of pure victimhood, and they deserve it — and then they’re happy when they get it. It’s just a shame Jeremy Kyle’s brand of victimhood and vindication has so many other undesirable side-effects.? ................
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