A retired vicar who appeared on Jeremy Kyle with his toyboy has described the "courteous" staff on the programme and said he had "no complaints" about his appearance, following ITV's decision to axe the programme permanently after the death of a guest.

Philip Clements, 80, from Eastry and 25-year-old Romanian model Florin Marin were invited onto the ITV chat show last May after their turbulent relationship reached the headlines.

The channel announced today it was shelving the programme after 14 years following the death of Steve Dymond, whose body was found shortly after failing a lie detector test in front of its live audience.

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The news of the death prompted a clamour of voices calling for an "urgent review" of the show, led by Folkestone and Hythe MP Damian Collins, the chair of the all-party digital, culture, media and sport select committee.

Yet Mr Clements described host Jeremy Kyle and his team as "so courteous", adding that assurance was given that counselling was available if needed.

The pair were given contact details for a production assistant who Mr Clements said was "always accessible".

He added that even since the show has aired in June 2018 that they have continued to be notified if their episode was due to be repeated.

He told KentOnline: "I've got no complaints about the way we were treated.

"They looked after us from beginning to end.

"You get there and you meet various staff and then you're given a little rehearsal.

"We were put in touch with Jackie, a production assistant. She looked after us for the rest of the time.

"She couldn't have been nicer. She was always accessible.

"You don't see Jeremy until he comes on stage for the recording.

"There wasn't really any sort of procedure after filming. It all went on before.

"We were assured that they would be people there to give any sort of counselling.

"We knew that the assistants were around if we wanted to talk to anybody but we didn't need to.

"There wasn't any confrontation between us so there wasn't likely to be any sort of issue.

"They were just so courteous to us including Jeremy."

The pair, who travelled to Manchester to film the show, were married in April 2017 but announced their split just four months later.

They have since reconciled but in a long-distance relationship, with Florin living in Alicante, Spain.

Their turbulent marriage was the first topic of discussion on the popular talk show with Mr Clements explaining to the host that they met via a dating website.

They went on to discuss how an age gap can affect a relationship with Mr Marin's desire to go clubbing into the early hours causing quarrels.

The male model received a grilling over claims he is a gold digger, but he said he wasn't, although he loved the nickname.

The show ended with Jeremy Kyle advising the pair to spend more time together.

Mr Clements says he has contacted the team following today's announcement that the show will be taken off air indefinitely.

He said: "I feel sorry for the whole team, they were great."

He and Mr Marin will next meet in August when they plan to house hunt together.

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