According to the Coventry Telegraph, a 23-year-old woman and her partner, 26, had their children looked after by staff on The Jeremy Kyle Show while they appeared as guests.
However staff became concerned about the toddlers, claiming that one child had a bruised face and both were “unresponsive, emotionally vacant, dirty and unkempt”.
Both children smelled strongly of faeces and urine even though their nappies were clean - with show staff concluding that they hadn’t been washed for some time.
“The two children were not properly clothed, you had let them get too cold, you hadn’t fed them properly and you hadn’t washed them"
They called police as a result, who visited the couple’s house with social services.
Officers were shocked by what they discovered; the house was filthy, the children were malnourished, and the eldest of the two toddlers was found to be caked in faeces.
The couple, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the children, were arrested and charged with child neglect offences which they later admitted.
On Tuesday at Coventry Crown Court they were sentenced to 12 months in jail, suspended for two years.
During the case, Judge Philip Gregory said the overweight couple - who have since welcomed a third child - were ‘not stingy with their own portions’.
He told the defendants: “You had the care of two very young and vulnerable children. This was an enormous privilege.
“You were responsible to discharge that care carefully and properly so that these two children were well looked after, properly fed, kept warm and kept clean.
“Over a period of at least two months you failed immeasurably to fulfil that responsibility to these two children.
“As a consequence your home was visited and was found to be, quite frankly, disgusting.
“The two children were not properly clothed, you had let them get too cold, you hadn’t fed them properly and you hadn’t washed them.”
The court heard that both of the children are now with adoptive parents.
The couple’s baby, who was born a few weeks after the visit from police and social services, is now in the care of the man’s mother.
Staff at the Jeremy Kyle Show have been praised for alerting authorities.