Inside Oprah Winfrey's feud with Jerry Springer as her behaviour is branded 'inappropriate' by late talk show host's staff in explosive documentary

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Producers on The Jerry Springer Show hit out at Oprah Winfrey this month as they recalled her long-running feud with the late talk show host. 

Jerry's controversial tabloid talk show, which aired from 1991 to 2018, made history as the first programme to topple The Oprah Winfrey Show in the ratings, yet Oprah, 70, made no secret of her disdain for the programme - branding it 'appalling'. 

When The Jerry Springer Show first began to gain traction in the late Nineties for its outrageous content Oprah was asked her thoughts on the eponymous host - who died in 2023 after battling pancreatic cancer.

Kicking off her feud with Jerry, Oprah said at the time: 'Jerry Springer is in a class all by himself, if you want to call that a class. I think he just is - he's out, he's gone, that whole show, I think it's appalling. I can't believe what I'm seeing. 

'I watched the other day and this guy pulled his pants down and there he is, he opens himself - I can't believe what I'm seeing when I watch that show!' 

When challenged that it was herself who 'led the way with confessional TV and people baring their soul', Oprah hit back: 'Confessing and baring your soul is one thing, baring your penis is another.' 

Producers on The Jerry Springer Show have hit out at Oprah Winfrey as they recalled her long-running feud with the late talk show host (hosts pictured in the Nineties) 

Oprah also lashed out at the show in a 1999 interview with The Times, when she claimed the programme would pave the way to shows airing sex scenes on daytime television. 

She predicted: 'We will see sexual intercourse on television. And I would not be surprised if one person actually kills another.

'I am all talked out. My contract has two years left, then I am getting out of such shows, because I feel they are going to burn themselves out.

'I am in disbelief about things that are happening on television talk shows. How low can it get? Can public taste keep on sinking? Yes, it can. I have to get out.'

'Up until a few months ago, I felt that Jerry Springer was giving us some serious competition but I don't think it is sustainable because his show is such a vulgarity circus.

'Unless you are going to kill people on the air, and not just hit them on the head with chairs, and unless you are going to have sexual intercourse – and not just, as I saw the other day, a guy pulling down his pants and pulling out his penis – then there comes a point when you have oversaturated yourself.'

While the show continued to be a ratings success for many years, Oprah was correct in predicting there would be a fatality.  

Tragically, Nancy Campbell-Panitz was murdered by her ex-husband Ralf Panitz in July 2000, just two months after they were on the controversial chat show as part of a love triangle storyline. 

Jerry's show  aired from 1991 to 2018 and was known for its outrageous content with Netflix's Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action unpacking the drama behind the scenes 

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While Oprah made it clear she was not a fan of Jerry's programme, he insisted her had nothing but respect for her. 

Responding to her jibes, Jerry told The Post: 'It's fine, I really like Oprah. She's great.

'I know she doesn't like my show, but that's OK. My mum wouldn't have liked this show, either – and I loved her.'

Jerry also praised Oprah's tenancy when she stepped down from her long-running talk show in 2011. 

Speaking to ET Online, he said: 'It is the end of an era. She is the best that has ever been - Oprah and Phil Donahue. Donahue created [the genre] and she perfected it.

'There will never be another talk show like hers, or have the same impact - at least not in the foreseeable future.'

Jerry - who was Mayor of Cincinnati in 1977 - added: 'If she needs a job, I think I can find her one! They have good government programs to help her!'

Former staff members on Jerry's show spoke out about the feud in the Netflix documentary as they referenced the numerous jibes Oprah made.

Toby Yoshimura said: 'The way that Oprah behaved compared to the way Jerry behaved? Jerry was class act. He gave her the right of way and she punched back. It was so inappropriate'

Executive producer Richard Dominick said: 'Oprah p***ed me off, especially because Jerry was so nice. Jerry was the nicest man in the in the world'

Reflecting on beating Oprah's ratings, producer Annette Grundy shared: 'It was like a vindication, like you used to always look down at us and talk about us and make fun of us'

Producer Toby Yoshimura said: 'Oprah would say "why would Jerry put those guests on?" Jerry didn't put those guests on, I put those guests on. You're yelling at the wrong guy. 

'The way that Oprah behaved compared to the way Jerry behaved? Jerry was class act. He gave her the right of way and she punched back. It was so inappropriate.' 

Executive producer Richard Dominick added: 'Oprah p***ed me off, especially because Jerry was so nice. Jerry was the nicest man in the in the world. 

'He was a great man and a gentleman and I felt like she needed to be taught a lesson - that's when we went after her and that's when I could taste the blood.' 

The producers explained that it became their mission to overtake Oprah in the ratings, pushing the boat out to book even more explosive and controversial guests.  

Toby shared: 'That battle with Oprah was kind of this pressure cooker of like - now the knob has to go to 11. 

'But we weren't a huge production machine we were this little band of crazy people that were just trying to survive the week. 

'Sometimes you'd be trying to book a story all the way up to the day before your show and have nothing.

'That's when it's better to just sleep in the office and keep calling and if you were lucky something would happen.' 

Their hard work paid off, however, and in 1998 they finally scored more viewers than the chat show juggernaut.  

Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action explores the show's origins and meteoric rise - as well as the dark side of the ratings behemoth - and what really went on behind the scenes

Reflecting on the moment they beat her, producer Annette Grundy shared: 'Nobody ever beat Oprah! 

'It was like a vindication, like you used to always look down at us and talk about us and make fun of us and we're trashy but now look what happened. The trash wins the day!'

Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action explores the show's origins and meteoric rise - as well as the dark side of the ratings behemoth - and what really went on behind the scenes.

Firsthand testimony and revelations from show insiders, including producers and ex-guests, reveals the 'destruction' the show caused.

Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action is available to watch on Netflix.