Jeremy Kyle (born 7 July 1965) is an English broadcaster and writer. He is known for hosting the

tabloid talk show A tabloid talk show is a subgenre of the talk show genre that emphasizes controversial and sensationalistic topical subject matter. The subgenre originated in the United States and achieved peak viewership from the mid-1980s through the end of t ...

The Jeremy Kyle Show ''The Jeremy Kyle Show'' is a British tabloid talk show presented by Jeremy Kyle and produced by ITV Studios. It premiered on the ITV network on 4 July 2005, and ran for seventeen series until its cancellation on 10 May 2019. It was the most p ...

'' on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

from 2005 to 2019. He also hosted a US version of his eponymous show, which ran for two seasons beginning in 2011. In 2022, Kyle became a presenter for ''TalkRadio'' and ''TalkTV''.

Early life

Kyle was born in

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, Southeast England, southeast England. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers River Thames, Thames and River Kennet, Kennet, the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 mot ...

, and is of Scottish descent. His father was an accountant and personal secretary to the

Queen Mother A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also used to describe a number of ...

for forty years. Kyle has claimed that his older brother, Nick, has experienced drug addiction. He attended the

Reading Blue Coat School ('Truth Conquers All) , established = , closed = , type = Independent day schoolPublic school , religious_affiliation = Church of England , president = , head_label ...

, a boys'

independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...

Sonning Sonning is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England, on the River Thames, east of Reading. The village was described by Jerome K. Jerome in his book ''Three Men in a Boat'' as "the most fairy-like little nook on the whole river". Geogr ...

, Berkshire. Kyle's first job was at

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...

. He studied History and Sociology at the

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institut ...

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

Radio

From 1986 to 1995, Kyle worked as a

life insurance Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer or assurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death ...

salesman, recruitment consultant, and radio advertising salesman. He then became a radio presenter and after working at

Orchard FM Heart Somerset (formerly Somerset's Orchard FM) was an Independent Local Radio station serving Somerset, England. Originally owned by (and officially remains licensed to) Orchard Media Ltd, the company was purchased by GWR Group in 1999, and s ...

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, and

Leicester Sound Leicester Sound was an Independent Local Radio station which broadcast to Leicestershire. The station merged with two other East Midlands stations, Trent FM and Ram FM to form Capital FM East Midlands (part of Global's Capital FM Network) on Mo ...

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, he was signed by

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

Invicta FM Heart Kent (previously Invicta FM) was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Kent from studios at John Wilson Business Park in Whitstable. History Invicta in the 80s Originall ...

in 1996. In 1997, he joined

BRMB Free Radio Birmingham is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Birmingham and the West Midlands. As of September 2022, the station has a ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, presenting the shows ''Late & Live'' and ''Jezza's Jukebox''. In 2000, Kyle moved to the

Century FM Century Radio was the brand name of a group of independent local radio stations in England. The brand was developed with the launch of 100-102 Century Radio in North East England in 1994, with John Myers as managing director and John Simons as ...

network, taking this format with him. The show was called ''Jezza's Confessions''. It was broadcast between 9pm and 1am. He won a Sony Award for ''Late & Live'' in 2001. On 1 July 2002, he made his first broadcast on

Virgin Radio Virgin Radio launched in the United Kingdom in 1993. In 2008, Virgin Radio UK was sold to TIML, a subsidiary of The Times of India group, and the name was changed to Absolute Radio; the Virgin Radio name was not included in the sale. In 2001, ...

, presenting ''Jezza's Virgin Confessions'' every weekday from 8pm to midnight. In mid-2003, he broadcast the show from 9pm to 1am every weekday, and in January 2004 the show went out from 10pm to 1am, Sunday to Thursday. He left Virgin Radio in June 2004. From 5 September 2004, Kyle presented the ''Confessions'' show on London's Capital FM. The new programme aired Sunday to Thursday from 10pm to 1am with live calls on relationship issues of all kinds. ''Capital Confessions'' came to an end on 22 December 2005 to make way for

, a similar show which ran from January 2006 to December 2006. In late 2007, Kyle began a new show ("The Jeremy Kyle Show"), broadcasting across

GCap Media GCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. The merger was completed in May 2005. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. ...

One Network The One Network was the collective name for thirty-eight regional Independent Local Radio licences operated by GCap Media in the United Kingdom. It was formed from the combination of GWR Group's 'The Mix Network' and Capital Radio Group's 'The ...

, of which

and

, his previous employers, were a part. The programme differed from his previous shows in that he interviewed celebrities. Kyle also began broadcasting a new programme, on

Essex FM Heart Essex (formerly Essex Radio and then Essex FM) is a British commercial radio station. It was launched on 12 September 1981, broadcasting from Southend-on-Sea and since 27 October 2004 from Chelmsford, both in Essex. History Heart began a ...

, in November 2007. Kyle joined Talksport on 21 September 2008 to present a lunchtime sports show every Sunday called ''The Jeremy Kyle Sunday Sports Show''. As a result of Talksport's Premiership coverage on a Sunday, Kyle's show was cancelled, and he left the station.

Television

In 2005, Kyle moved his format to ITV with a programme also entitled ''

''. Members of his production team later accused Kyle of looking down on his guests. He was recorded referring to participants on his show that day as “thick as shit”. In September 2007, Manchester judge Alan Berg described the show as "trash" which existed to "titillate bored members of the public with nothing better to do". In February 2008, ''The Jeremy Kyle Show'' was again criticised in court after a man who found out during the recording of a show that he was not the father of his wife's child later pointed an

air rifle An air gun or airgun is a gun that fires projectiles pneumatically with compressed air or other gases that are mechanically pressurized ''without'' involving any chemical reactions, in contrast to a firearm, which pressurizes gases ''chem ...

at her."Attack after Kyle show 'tragedy'"
, BBC News, 13 February 2008; retrieved 24 August 2011. Other shows Kyle is involved with include ''Kyle's Academy'', a ten-part series for ITV daytime which first aired on 18 June 2007. A team of experts (life coaches and psychotherapists), headed by Kyle, takes five people and works with them over an intensive fortnight to help them on the road to a happier more fulfilled life. Kyle has also presented ''Half Ton Hospital'', a show about morbidly

obese Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...

people in the United States. On 19 April 2011, Kyle began presenting a documentary series called ''Military Driving School'', where he visited the

Defence School of Transport The Defence School of Transport (DST) Leconfield is located at Normandy Barracks, Leconfield near Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire in England. It is a tri-service organisation which forms part of the Defence College of Logistics Policing and ...

Leconfield Leconfield is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, about north-west of Beverley town centre on the A164 road. The civil parish consists of Leconfield, the village of Arram and the hamlet of Scorborough. The 2011 ...

in East Yorkshire, following a group of new recruits as they undergo training as front line military drivers. In 2011, he was the presenter of the ITV game show '' High Stakes''. In 2015 & 2019, Kyle has presented two series of ''The Kyle Files'', a primetime show on

. In 2015, he fronted a ten-part daytime series called '' Jeremy Kyle's Emergency Room''. The show returned for a second series in March 2016. From March 2016 until August 2018 Kyle relief presented

's breakfast programme '' Good Morning Britain''. In May 2019, the recording and broadcasting of ''The Jeremy Kyle Show'' was suspended after a guest committed suicide shortly after appearing in an episode of the series. A review of the episode occurred before any resumption of the programme's transmission, and on 15 May 2019,

confirmed that the series had ceased production with immediate effect. It has since been revealed that more guests had taken their own lives following their appearances in this and another programme hosted by Kyle on Channel 5, ''Britain's Worst Husband''. Kyle began developing a new show for

three months after his show was cancelled.

's director of television

Kevin Lygo Kevin Lygo (born 18 September 1957) is a British television Executive (management), executive, presently Director of Television at ITV Network, ITV. Early life Lygo is the son of Royal Navy officer Raymond Lygo. Educated at Cranbrook School, Ken ...

said a pilot episode was being made with Kyle, but the new show would not air in ''The Jeremy Kyle Shows old timeslot. In early September 2021, it was announced that Kyle would present

TalkRadio TalkRadio (previously styled as talkRADIO) is a talk radio station broadcasting nationally in the United Kingdom, which was relaunched on 21 March 2016. Based in London and owned by Wireless Group, a subsidiary of News Corp., it is the sist ...

Drivetime between Monday and Thursday. The show started on 13 September. In April 2022, he announced his return to television to present a primetime show for TalkTV.

Personal life

He stated in his book ''I'm Only Being Honest'', published in 2009, that he has

obsessive–compulsive disorder Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental and behavioral disorder in which an individual has intrusive thoughts and/or feels the need to perform certain routines repeatedly to the extent where it induces distress or impairs general ...

. Kyle's first marriage to Kirsty Rowley in 1989 was short-lived because of his addiction to gambling, which made him accumulate a debt which peaked at £12,000, and took some years to pay off. He married Carla Germaine in 2002. The couple separated amicably in 2015; they had three children. Their divorce was confirmed the following February. Kyle also has a daughter from his first marriage. In late 2012, Kyle was diagnosed with

testicular cancer Testicular cancer is cancer that develops in the testicles, a part of the male reproductive system. Symptoms may include a lump in the testicle, or swelling or pain in the scrotum. Treatment may result in infertility. Risk factors include an u ...

. He received

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...

and underwent surgery to remove the affected testicle. In February 2018, Kyle announced his engagement to Vicky Burton, his children's former nanny. They eventually married. In 2021, Kyle stated that he had been diagnosed with an

anxiety disorder Anxiety disorders are a cluster of mental disorders characterized by significant and uncontrollable feelings of anxiety and fear such that a person's social, occupational, and personal function are significantly impaired. Anxiety may cause physi ...

after ''

'' was axed.

Filmography

References

External links

''The Jeremy Kyle Show''
at

itv.com itv.com is the main website of ITV plc, the UK's largest commercial television broadcaster which operates 13 out of 15 regions on the ITV network under the ITV brand (or the UTV brand in Northern Ireland). The website offers online streaming, ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kyle, Jeremy 1965 births Living people Alumni of the University of Surrey English radio DJs English television presenters English television talk show hosts People educated at Reading Blue Coat School People from Canning Town People from Reading, Berkshire People with obsessive–compulsive disorder Virgin Radio (UK) English people of Scottish descent