Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: Netflix, TV And Film, News
Mia Williams
Warning: This article contains mentions of animal cruelty that some readers may find upsetting
A new Netflix documentary has resurfaced a 'grotesque' Jerry Springer episode that was only ever aired once.
Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action, arrived on Netflix this week.
The documentary takes a look back at the American talk show host, who died in 2023.
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For those who aren't aware of the infamous character, he was America's answer to Jeremy Kyle - but even more controversial.
If that's even possible to envision.
British filmmaker - Luke Sewell - directed the documentary, and revealed that the whole point of the show, upon reflection, was 'exploiting guests for people’s entertainment, and ultimately just for ratings'.
He added: "It contributed absolutely nothing positive to society in any way, and in many ways was incredibly negative."
There were more controversial episodes than not, including episodes titled 'Black Supremacists vs White Supremacists', 'Attack of the KKK Dad', and 'I Slept with 251 Men in 10 Hours'.
Which is perhaps where Lily Phillips got her inspiration from.
But one episode was so bad that it was completely banned and never showed again after it first aired.
It involved a man and a Shetland pony who, according to the man, were married.
He claimed to have left his wife and kids behind in order to marry the pony.
A producer on the show at the time, Toby Yoshimura, recalls receiving the call in the early hours of the morning.
Yoshimura said: "He says, 'Hi my name is Mark… I’ve been meaning to call the show for a long time because you guys are the only people who would really understand me. I left my wife and my two daughters for a Shetland pony'."
"I’m like, ‘This is a f**king dream’. "
In the bizarre episode, the man horrifyingly revealed that when he brushed the horse, it ‘lifted [its] tail up’.
He then described how he engaged in bestiality, while Springer added that he was 'going to be sick'.
As if the story couldn't get any weirder, he even described how he would look at pictures of the pony in 'panties', with pictures being shown of the poor Shetland pony - called Pixel - wearing knickers.
However, a film critic, Robert Feder, had a very different view of the episode, saying: "To have a guy on that married a horse, that was kissing a horse on stage, this was the most vile, grotesque freak show on television."