The 78-year-old hosted Jerry Springer for 28 seasons from September 1991 to July 2018, with the show featuring controversial topics such as incest and outrageous behavior from guests, who often used profanity and got into physical altercations on set.

During an appearance on David Yontef’s Behind the Velvet Rope podcast, Springer was modest when asked if considers himself the “granddaddy of reality TV.”

“No, I just apologize. I’m so sorry. What have I done? I’ve ruined the culture,” the London, England native said, before joking, “I just hope hell isn’t that hot because I burn real easy. I’m very light-complected, and that kind of worries me.”

Springer added that he’s “just a schlub who got lucky,” adding that showbusiness was “never a thought in my mind.”

The Jerry Springer Podcast host began his career working as a campaign aide for Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Following Kennedy’s assassination in 1968, he worked for a Cincinnati-based law firm. In 1971, Springer was elected to the city council, before becoming mayor of Cincinnati six years later in 1977.

“After being mayor, I was offered the job to anchor the news for the NBC affiliate in Cincinnati, and I did that for 10 years,” Springer said, noting that it “was kind of a rational transition” to “go from politics to reporting to news to anchoring.”

Springer then described just how the Jerry Springer show came about, telling Yontef he was almost forced into the job.

“The company that owned the station where I did the news owned talk shows. So they owned Phil Donahue, Sally Jessy Raphael,” Springer said. “Well, Phil was retiring, and so the CEO took me to lunch one day and said, ‘Phil’s retiring. We’re starting a new talk show, you’re the host.’ So I was assigned to it as an employee.”

Springer said that “the show took off” and he “wound up in showbusiness through no thought of my own.”

“I don’t have any particular showbusiness talent,” he added.

After Jerry Springer ended, the producer began hosting Judge Jerry, a reality show in which he would hear real-life cases and give verdicts in a television courtroom. It ran from 2019 to March 2022 but was canceled after three seasons, meaning Springer was left without a TV-hosting gig for the first time in decades.

“Right now, I’m just taking a little bit of time to try out this retirement thing,” Springer told The New York Post in March 2022. “I’m 78, and NBC/Universal has been so great to me. I’ve been on TV for 40 years now, 10 [years] in news and then 31 years with our shows.

“It would be embarrassing for me to say, ‘Why can’t I do another year or two?’” he added. “I’ll see how much I adjust [to retirement] and, if not, I’ll do other projects.”

Do you have a tip on an entertainment story that Newsweek should be covering? Let us know via entertainment@newsweek.com.