The family of the fiancee of a man who died a week after appearing on The Jeremy Kyle Show has defended the programme's producers.
Steve Dymond's body was found in a rented room in a Portsmouth flat last week.
On the show, Mr Dymond took a lie-detector test to convince fiancee Jane Callaghan he had not cheated but failed it, reports said.
The episode has not been aired and ITV has now cancelled the show permanently amid criticism from MPs that it was failing to look after its guests.
Ms Callaghan's daughter Amy Turner told Sky News that Jeremy Kyle and the producers should not be blamed for his death and "should not be punished for trying to help".
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She said the programme's makers "do not deserve this, it was not their fault".
Ms Turner said: "They were in constant contact with us all including Steve. He even told the team he was feeling very positive and that he really wanted the help.
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"He was accepting all the help they offered until he just started to ignore their phone calls. They were persistent on trying to contact him, and we also tried to contact him but got no answer.
"The team have gone above and beyond to help us all. It was his choice, no one else's and Jeremy and the team shouldn't be punished for trying to help someone."
Ms Turner said her mother had been told of Mr Dymond's death by the police on the evening of 9 May but she was sceptical because it appeared he had been active on WhatsApp that afternoon and also two days later.
On 11 May, the family was contacted by the show's producers and aftercare team to check on their well-being and offer any help they needed.
Ms Turner said: "This is when we told them that we didn't think he was dead and he was faking it to hurt Jane and to try and hide from his lies, and informed them that there was still some online activity from him.
"We were very confused and wanted to just find out if it really was true. So the team flew down that evening and saw us with our permission."
She added: "They were lovely and made us feel comfortable and relaxed."
The following day, producers accompanied Ms Callaghan and Ms Turner to Portsmouth Central Police Station to get confirmation that Mr Dymond had died.
Ms Turner told Sky News: "We are so glad we had them with us for the support", and then later the team members took the pair back to Ms Callaghan's home and stayed with them all evening.
On 13 May, a family group were accompanied by producers to the coroner's office.
Later one of the team "fought for so long on the phone" for the family to be able to see Mr Dymond's body at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham, Portsmouth.
Ms Turner claimed they had originally been told this was not possible as it was now more than 4Read More – Source
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