Production crews allegedly urged addicts to drink or take drugs to create a better “story”, it was claimed on Channel 4’s Dispatches. One ex-producer on the ITV show alleged drug addicts were even “encouraged to take a detour to visit their dealer en route to the studios”. Another former employee claimed: “Researchers and APs [associate producers] and sometimes producers would smoke weed with guests in the hotels the day before to keep them happy.
“There was a contributor who was a drug addict and had since stopped taking drugs and cleaned their act up.
“But the show wanted them to be on drugs, as there was no ‘story’ without it. One of the producers was asked ‘get that person to take drugs again’ and at one point was asked ‘leave money lying around on a table so they will take that money and go and buy drugs with it’.”
Former producers also claimed they saw guests given alcohol before they appeared on the show. One said: “I would see cans of, lager mainly, being passed between researchers and heading to the dressing rooms. I was told the show was allowed to give alcoholics medicinal alcohol to keep them topped up.”
Another source claimed on Dispatches that staff were also urged to “talk up” guests, or wind them up, to ensure they confronted each other on stage.
The allegations come after the suspected suicide of Steven Dymond, 63, after being on the show. The former construction worker, of Portsmouth, is believed to have died from an overdose on May 9, days after failing a lie detector test.
ITV axed the show after the tragedy. MPs later announced a review into reality television.
ITV said in a statement: “ITV would never condone illegal drug taking. Alcohol is banned in the studio. The only exception is in relation to a small number of guests who are going on to a residential rehabilitation programme after their appearance on the show.
“In these cases, an appropriate level of alcohol is dispensed by staff professionally qualified in alcohol misuse, purely in order to prevent alcohol withdrawal symptoms. All guests are monitored throughout their time in the studio.
“ITV denies any suggestion the production team developed a rapport with guests to ‘wind them up’ and manipulate them into saying things in public they would not otherwise say.”