ITV has suspended filming and broadcasts of The Jeremy Kyle Show after the death of a guest who appeared on the programme, amid growing scrutiny of how reality television affects the people who take part.

The broadcaster said it would not screen the episode in which the person took part, in addition to immediately removing all past episodes of the programme from its ITV Hub catch-up service and ending repeats on other channels.

ITV did not identify the participant, explain how they had died or give any indication of when the show would be back on air. However, multiple reports citing people who said they knew the person who died named him as Steve Dymond, 63.

A spokesperson for the broadcaster said: “Everyone at ITV and The Jeremy Kyle Show is shocked and saddened at the news of the death of a participant in the show a week after the recording of the episode they featured in and our thoughts are with their family and friends.

“ITV will not screen the episode in which they featured. Given the seriousness of this event, ITV has also decided to suspend both filming and broadcasting of The Jeremy Kyle Show with immediate effect in order to give it time to conduct a review of this episode of the show.”

The show is made at MediaCityUK in Salford. Greater Manchester police said they had no knowledge of any involvement with a death connected to the programme.

The death is likely to focus further attention on how participants are affected by appearing on such reality programmes. This year, ITV said it would review the support it offered to people who appeared on its Love Island programme after the suicides of former contestants.

The Jeremy Kyle Show launched in 2005 as the UK’s answer to The Jerry Springer Show in the US and is a mainstay of ITV’s morning schedule, clocking up more than 3,000 episodes. Guests discuss personal conflicts and relationship problems in front of a studio audience.

Kyle is known for berating participants over how they live their lives, turning to lie detectors and paternity tests to settle discussions with topics such as “My friend stole my boyfriend but am I pregnant with his baby?”, “My boyfriend’s mum has chosen a paedophile over him!”, and “Did my dad have sex on my mum’s grave?”

Timeline Jeremy Kyle show controversies Show Hide The first episode of the Jeremy Kyle show is broadcast on ITV The show is nominated for a National Television Award in the most popular factual programme category. A man appears in court after head-butting a love rival while appearing on the show. During the trial the judge described the show as a form of 'human bear-baiting'. The show is criticised by Ofcom after it broadcasts a guest saying the 'clearly audible' word 'cunts' in the direction of the audience before the watershed. ITV said 'the word was not edited out due to human error since it was not heard over noise from the audience and the theme music.' A 26 year old man is jailed at Peterborough Crown Court for grievous bodily harm. He assaulted his 23 year old female partner after they had appeared on the show together regarding infidelity. The show's producers 'absolutely refute' the judge's claim that the show exploits 'the foolish and gullible'. The 1,000th episode of the show is a Coronation Street special, with actors from ITV's flagship soap taking part in the show in character. Kyle attempts to export the format to the US, but the American version is cancelled the following year An episode is broadcast that Ofcom subsequently finds has breached the broadcasting code for not providing enough information to viewers to 'assist in avoiding or minimising offence'. During the episode a 17 year old girl was called 'a silly anorexic slapper' and a 'crackhead' by her elder sister. On Easter Sunday morning the show broadcasts an episode subsequently deemed to have breached broadcasting rules with offensive language, aggressive confrontations and sexual references. Kyle is knocked over by a guest as a brawl erupts during a sequence entitled 'I'll prove we're not sisters - can you prove you're not on drugs?' The show is suspended after it emerges that a guest has died shortly after appearing on the show. All past episodes of the programme are removed from the ITV Hub catch-up service, and repeats are ended on other channels. ITV announces that the show is to be taken off air permanently. MPs on the Commons culture select committee condemn the show as a forum for tearing people apart in a 'Roman Colosseum-type way'. Kyle himself declines to appear before the MPs, although executive producer Tom McLennan does.

This week’s Radio Times listings give a flavour of the show’s output, summarising the pulled episodes as featuring “studio squabbles”, “feuding families”, “fighting talk”, “families at war”, and “irate debate”. It regularly attracts an audience of more than 1 million viewers in its 9.25am timeslot and is also repeated on ITV2.

Guests are recruited by urging people to contact the show’s researchers if they have a dispute that needs settling, such as concerns over true paternity or a struggle with drug addiction, asking: “Would you like Jeremy’s help?”

The programme appears to thrive on creating confrontation, with security guards on hand to separate irate guests who regularly physically confront each other on stage. In 2007, it was described by a judge as a “human form of bear baiting” after a man assaulted a love rival while appearing on the programme.

“It seems to me that the whole purpose of the Jeremy Kyle show is to effect a morbid and depressing display of dysfunctional people who are in some kind of turmoil,” said the judge.

A former producer has claimed that they are instructed to wind up participants by keeping family members apart before appearing on the programme and coaching them on how to confront each other on stage.

Although participants are offered discussions with the show’s in-house psychologist and packages of support after appearing on the programme, many report that appearing on the programme did not make their lives better.

In 2014, the regulator Ofcom criticised the show for not doing enough to prevent the distress and humiliation of a 17-year-old guest who was called a “crackhead” and a “silly anorexic slapper” by her older sister.

A spokesperson for the show said: “The Jeremy Kyle Show has significant and detailed duty of care processes in place for contributors pre-, during and post-show which have been built up over 14 years.”