To be shocked by Jeremy Kyle

From what I've seen of this programme, I agree some people are being exploited.

The two good things are that he does seem to offer people with addictions professional help and he seems to sort out paternity issues sometimes.

I acknowledge that you don't have to go on the JK show to get such help but perhaps some people couldn't do it independently.

It has been referred to as bear baiting for humans and is the modern day equivalent of gladiators

Why do you think most will be on benefits, BlueBelle? They may be on low incomes.
Dental checks and eye checks n Scotland are free to everyone.

Denistry is free Anniebach if you are on benefits and I would imagine most on this show are on benefits

theres Free dental check ups in Scotland and Free eye checks ..its prevention BEFORE the rot sets in and then costs much more to the health service

Who knows - perhaps Gransnet too?

I think I remember reading that the show’s producers sometimes approach people whose stories appear in magazines like Take a Break to try to get them on the show.

The government cannot afford the current health service.

There but for the grace of God... I have watched this show several times and just cannot imagine why anybody would want their problems aired in public. There's nowt so queer as folk. Jeremy Kyle gets quite a kick out of exploiting them.
I have noticed a number of the people who go on this show have missing teeth. As a regular at the dentist's I find this sad. The Government should make free dentistry a priority just as health care is.

I want to thank Gransnet and all grans in this so worthwhile discussion which has helped me to view Jeremy Kyle Show from legit perspectives other than my own and I have come to the view that it's exploitative without being as bad as many other exploitations of vulnerable people.

Degrees of exploitation sort of thing.

Iam64, the word 'exploitative' is I think the best criterion.

Yes I do understand the JK show shows some genuine human experiences, I also believe it exploits vulnerable people. That's very different than the way artists use their work. Grayson Perry would be a good example. His 'Julie" series focuses on all kinds of human frailties and experiences but, it isn't unkind or exploitative, rather it recognises the vulnerabilities that go hand in hand with being human.

Iam64, it's not that both make money from human misery. It's that despite that Jeremy Kyle make a lot of money from the interviews the human stories are often genuine in portraying human experiences which concern us all as human beings.

Alexa, you draw a comparison between artists and Jeremy Kyle because both make money from human misery. I prefer mine to come from Grayson Perry or Leonard Cohen, Dickens or Dostoyevsky, to Jeremy Kyle to be frank.

MaryEliza, my point is that human misery entertains some of us some of the time. Human misery also should be known about, and talked about because it's part of life as we well known from these good pages.

It just so happens that modern life is such that we get a lot of our human stories from television.

True, some people make a lot of money from human misery. Novelists, reporters, playwrites, artists, and poets describe the human condition and they too can earn a lot of money.

Nope not buying this generation unto generation thing. It’s not set in stone. My parents spent their whole lives as a drama and I definatly didn’t inflict drama and arguments on my kids. You also live and learn. Or you can do.

It’s a lazy generalisation that thinks parents all parent who they were taught.many don’t.

Far fewer parents smack today where as when I was a kid in the 70s most parents did.

It’s a programme to exploit and laugh at the daft the sad the clearly mentally ill and the idiotic.

Awful TV

Sorry gilly you’re absolutely right and it was unethical and exploitative. I’m sorry to say that I don’t think some of these organisations eg the hospitals act in the best interests of their patients either in these situations for a variety of reasons

I meant fully considered consent to be shown on TV ( in a very bad state ) Maryekiza not cobsebtcfir treatment . Sadly the 2 people I was referring to were desperate ( begging even) for treatment but none was forthcoming .

sodapop the child was being humiliated by his parentage being discussed on national television

Sorry Anniebach thought you were referring to an adult 'child' however if the child was not on the show I don't see how they are being humiliated.

That’s a different issue gilly and is covered by mental capacity legislation. If a patient is not competent to give consent to treatment the doctor acts in the patients best interests and this is a professional and legal responsibility for which they are accountable to the courts and their regulators.

But how capable of giving fully considered consent is a desperate alcoholic or someone in urgent need of MH care? Not at all.

I would imagine all hell would let loose if someone was shown on the programme without consent.

Surely the faces in that situation should always be blurred to protect privacy.
Whatever the problem or injury, no-one should be expected to decide during their medical emergency whether they are okay with being on national TV.

I find it heartbreakingly exploitative and dehumanising that people are used like this - and many of them are being used. I know we can learn from these programmes but it should never be at the expense of individuals in these situations . Human beings should never be treated merely as a means to an end but as ends in themselves. That’s the fundamental underpinning principle of humanity and one more honoured in the breach than the observance sadly.