British broadcaster ITV has permanently canceled a highly-rated daytime reality show on Wednesday after a guest on the program died one week after failing a lie detector test on the show.
“The Jeremy Kyle Show,” which ran for more than 14 years, was taken off the air after Steve Dymond, 63, was found dead on May 9 in his home in Portsmouth, UK.
“Given the gravity of recent events we have decided to end production of ‘The Jeremy Kyle Show,'” ITV CEO Carolyn McCall said in a statement on Wednesday.
{mosads}The show, which is often compared to the U.S.’s “The Jerry Springer Show,” has been accused over the years of exploiting its guests by putting them in situations that oftentimes induced trauma.
In an episode filmed in early May, Dymond took a lie detector test in an effort to confirm he had been faithful to a romantic partner, but was informed after taking the test he had failed. The episode featuring Dymond did not air.
Police have said that Dymond’s death was not suspicious, and have not yet determined a cause of death, according to CBS News.
ITV is investigating Dymond’s participation in the episode, and the UK’s broadcasting regulator Ofcom has said it will review the findings.
British politicians ripped the show following Dymond’s death, including a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May, who called the news “deeply disturbing.”
“Broadcasters and production companies have a responsibility for the mental health and wellbeing of participants and viewers of their programs,” the spokesman said. “We are clear they must have appropriate levels of support in place.”
Conservative Member of Parliament Charles Walker told the BBC that guests on the show were “not really guests, they’re victims.”