Former Dr Phil show guests accuse show of giving alcohol and drugs to addicts

Former Dr. Phil guests have accused the show of giving alcohol and drugs to addicts before their appearances on certain episodes.

US Survivor winner Todd Herzog appeared drunk on an episode in 2013, and in a joint investigative story between STAT and the Boston Globe, he claims he was given a bottle of vodka and a Xanax pill before his appearance.

Herzog was battling alcoholism at the time, and says he was sober when he arrived at the Los Angeles studio, only to find a bottle of Smirnoff in his dressing room.

"I get that it's a television show and that they want to show the pain that I'm in," Herzog told STAT and the Globe. "However, what would have happened if I died there? You know, that's horrifying."

The show has denied placing the vodka in the dressing room.

Several other Dr. Phil guests backed up Herzog's claims to STAT/the Globe, saying those behind the show have put addicts at risk by helping them acquire drugs while in their detox processes.

In another allegation, Marianne Smith says a producer told her and her heroin-addicted niece Jordan to go to LA's Skid Row to get heroin when Jordan began withdrawing.

A woman named Joelle King-Parish, whose heroin-addicted daughter Kaitlin was on the show in 2016, says Kaitlin was not given medical attention by the show when she went into withdrawal.

Martin Greenberg, a psychologist who works as the show's director of professional affairs, told the publications the allegations were "absolutely, unequivocally untrue".

"Addicts are notorious for lying, deflecting and trivialising," he said.