Jeremy Kyle has turned down a request to appear before MPs investigating reality TV following the death of a guest last month.
ITV axed The Jeremy Kyle Show in May following the death of participant Steve Dymond, who had failed a lie detector test on the show. The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee then launched an inquiry into reality TV.
Committee chairman Damian Collins said Kyle was invited to take part in the inquiry as “an important witness” but had turned it down.
“The Jeremy Kyle Show is an important programme we will be looking at as part of the inquiry into reality television,” Collins said. “We believe that Jeremy Kyle himself should be an important witness to that, as the show is based around him as the lead presenter of it.
“We have sent an invitation to Mr Kyle through his representatives and we have received word back from them that he has declined to appear in front of the committee on Tuesday next week.”
Senior executives, including ITV chairman Sir Peter Bazalgette and chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall, will appear in front of MPs on Tuesday.
The MPs will also question Tom McLennan, the executive director of The Jeremy Kyle Show, and Graham Stanier, director of aftercare at ITV. ITV recently announced an enhanced duty of care process for participants on the show, including a minimum of eight therapy sessions for contestants.
Dymond, who was 63 and from Portsmouth, died around a week after failing a lie detector test on The Jeremy Kyle Show.
