The sad final messages of Steve Dymond have been revealed, sent before he took his life after failing a lie detector test on The Jeremy Kyle show.
They form part of a probe into the alleged lack of care towards some guests and staff on the ITV show.
Steve died of a suspected overdose aged 63 in 2019 after he was filmed trying to show fiancee Jane Callaghan, 51, he hadn’t cheated on her.
But the tests, which are not 100% accurate, said he was lying and their relationship ended, then 10 days later he took his own life.
His final texts read: “I hope the Jeremy Kyle show is so happy now.
“They are responsible for what happens now. I hope this makes good ratings for them. I bet they keep this quiet.
“Never never never did I cheat on you. Never never. My final words.”
The show had run for 14 years but ITV bosses axed it after the tragedy.
At the time, Kyle said: “Myself and the production team are all utterly devastated by the recent events.
“Our thoughts and sympathies are with Steve’s family and friends.”
But a new Channel 4 documentary investigating the show says Steve’s episode, which never aired, would have humiliated him.
A show worker tells the investigation: “I felt like I had blood on my hands. We felt like we killed someone.”
Steve’s landlady Shelley Thaxter, 58, who found his body, said: “Steve told me that when he was on this stage, Jeremy Kyle basically, laid into him, [saying] you’re a liar.
“He couldn’t get off the stage. It’s like a cat caught in the headlights.”
When she called programme makers to tell them about his death she claims their first reaction was to worry about losing their jobs.
Steve’s ex Jane tells the documentary she liked the show and has a tattoo of Kyle’s autograph on her arm, but later says she is on medication because of what it did to her.
She said: “He had [expressed suicidal thoughts before] but he was always saying it. I feel so sorry for him, I didn’t think he would do it.”
All show guests were offered rehab.
In unseen footage, shown on the documentary, Kyle is heard saying to colleagues: “They’re terrible f***ing guests. They’re as thick as s***.”
Channel 4 said: “Jeremy Kyle was approached for a response to the series. He did not provide a statement for broadcast. We will reflect his position in the film.”
ITV said: “The show had extensive, detailed duty of care processes in place for contributors built up over 14 years.
“Should they require ongoing help appropriate solutions were found. Due to the gravity of events in May 2019, ITV decided to end production of the show. It would not be appropriate to comment further on that in advance of the inquest this month.
“ITV does not accept the central allegation of this programme of a ‘bad culture’ within the production team. ITV would never condone any of its production staff misleading or lying to guests.
"All guests were aware of the nature of the show and the presenter’s style before taking part. All guests gave their informed consent, in writing, to take part.
“Since 2018 ITV has taken significant steps in relation to its duty of care of participants.”
Disturbing calls ‘weekly’ claim
Production staff claim they had people regularly phoning them to say they were going to take their lives after appearing on the show.
They say guests would beg for their episodes not to go out, while staff were under pressure to churn out episodes.
One female whistleblower on a Channel 4 documentary said: “Virtually every week, there would probably be two calls a week from people saying that and it was your job as someone who had no mental health expertise to determine if they were telling the truth.
“Who was I at 21 to be determining if someone wants to kill themselves?”
A male worker alleged: “There was this constant sense of justifying what we were doing. There was probably a Steve Dymond level of upset every week.
“You are meeting mentally or physically vulnerable people, thinking, ‘I don’t think you’ve even got the strength to do this’. But it felt like insane pressure.
"This is a big TV job. You‘ve got to keep on going.”
Producer Natasha Reddican, who booked Steve, took her life in February 2020.
Staff also claimed they felt brainwashed into believing lie detector tests were 99% accurate.
Former workers say they are in therapy after what happened to Steve and one said they felt they had a “black stain on my soul”.
ITV said: “The show had extensive and detailed duty of care processes.”
‘My wife was 1st JK suicide’
Steve Dymond is not the only guest to take his own life after appearing on a show Jeremy Kyle was hosting – one such death happened in 2005.
Paul Pawson, 57, went on a Channel 5 programme called Britain’s Worst Husband with wife Erica, who took her life days after filming an episode of it.
Paul tells Channel 4: “I remember when I heard about Steve [Dymond] dying. I was in here watching Good Morning Britain.
“I was like, ‘What the hell? They didn’t stop the programme for my wife’.
“She killed herself after being on the JK show, October 2005. When my wife died they did nothing.”
They went on hoping to help their relationship but Erica followed Kyle’s advice of dumping Paul and then took a painkiller overdose.
Meanwhile, Natasha Reddican, the producer who booked Mr Dymond on the show, took her own life in February 2020. And Emma Ibbertson, the ex-partner of Adrian Hughes, says he attempted suicide after going on the show in 2015 over claims he stole a bracelet from a friend.
In response, ITV said all of the show’s guests were supported “prior to filming, throughout filming and after filming”. It also offered a range of ongoing help including “rehabilitation, counselling, anger management and mediation”.
* The two-part documentary Jeremy Kyle Show – Death on Daytime starts on Sunday at 9pm on Channel 4.
