S08.E15: Maggie and Ann

[Tara Ariano]

A woman addicted to shopping forces her granddaughter to sleep on piles of purchases and shower outside with a garden hose; a hoarder's fed-up partner issues an ultimatum following a decade of empty promises.

[Primetimer]

Can our hoarders learn that stuff won't fill the void loved ones leave behind?

Read the story

[LittleIggy]

So CiCi was a granddaughter while that guy who looked as if he was old enough to be her dad was a great-grandson? Grandma must have had some widely spaced apart kids.

Why would CiCi want to move back into that place?

Edited March 28, 2016 by LittleIggy

[Tosia]

I hated Ann....mainly cuz of her warning voice, "Austin". Loving her dead brother more than her live kid. Loved Michael's hair and football shoulders! Lots of anger in Ann. Too bad that Austin had to put up with that. Leave, man!

Maggie was an old crab who's got no other hobbies, than shopping. I didn't feel sorry for her, just Cici.

Edited March 28, 2016 by Tosia

[Josiah Bounderby]

Donte called Maggie his great great grandmother, right?!?

I think this is one of those African-American families where terms like auntie, cousin, and grandmother are general descriptors rather than exact terms.

[OSM Mom]

Either that or they're one of those families that has kids when they're 15.

[Brooklynista]

Once again I'm confused about who's the therapist, Melba or Dorothy. Dorothy is always the one that seems to do the healing.

[auntieminem]

Didn't Ann say her twin also died and she raised her daughter?  Then there was talk about her granddaughter visiting so is that her niece's daughter or did she have other kids besides poor Austin.  There was something about her boyfriend that was off and I was not fond of.  Glad she is getting therapy and hopefully she can learn better ways of dealing with her loses.  I also hope she can build a better relationship with her son.

 

Maggie, not much to say except I think we know what her place will look like in a year.  Poor Cici, I wish she would not have returned to the home with Maggie.  

[Linderhill]

 

On top of that, Ann has an unspecified number of dogs (again with the westies

Actually those are Yorkies (Yorkshire Terriers) not Westies (West Highland White Terriers.  They were Yorkies last week too along with Maltese dogs.

[Toaster Strudel]

I have trouble with the theory that losing loved ones leads to hoarding, for starters.

 

Ann was just nasty and argumentative.  I'll bet that the way she controlled people with the hoard extends to other areas of life.  I am disappointed they didn't dwell on the dogs, pads & smell... and them being caged.  At the end, the boyfriend was saying one thing... his facial expression the opposite.  I think he was looking for an excuse to bolt.

 

Maggie's house was a disaster before and after.

Edited March 28, 2016 by Toaster Strudel

[Pepper Mostly]

I have trouble with the theory that losing loved ones leads to hoarding, for starters.

 

Ann was just nasty and argumentative.  I'll bet that the way she controlled people with the hoard extends to other areas of life.  I am disappointed they didn't dwell on the dogs, pads & smell... and them being caged.  At the end, the boyfriend was saying one thing... his facial expression the opposite.  I think he was looking for an excuse to bolt.

 

 

I just kept thinking about her skincare clients. I bet the number dwindles to nothing after this. Sanitation and hygiene are absolutely essential in jobs like that. Would you want her touching your skin? Shudder.

 

She was a nasty passive aggressive witch, wasn't she? So busy mourning the past she chased the present away. Her body language during any conversation with her son was telling--set jaw, hands on hips, scowl. Why did they never address the number of dogs? We didn't see any pee pad carpeting in the after pictures, how was that resolved??

 

I wish some of the experts would say what Peter from Clean House used to say to people who refused to get rid of anything that belonged to a dead loved one--"if this is so important, why is it in the bottom of a box of junk? Is that an appropriate way to honor the memory of this person?" People like Ann always whinge about how throwing away the belongings of their dear departed is "like throwing them away! wah!" But really, piling them up and letting your dogs pee on them is the proper way to memorialize them, I guess? Sweet tapdancing Jesus.

[operalover]

The episode was bizarre. It's possible Austin is in college and has a room in the house. My 2 sons still have their rooms there although they have their own apartments. They are 21 and 23, Those are the transition years. I bet Austin has a lot still in his childhood room. The twin sister and the child she raised? I call shenanigans. How old was she? when did this happen? Where is the child she supposedly raised? I saw another show about someone grieving a twin there whole life and it turned out it was some kind of mole/growth that someone told her was her unformed, unborn twin. Then on the show I was watching she found out this actually was NOT her twin, just a tumor. I was wondering if it was something like that? A twin lost in utero. Because why didn't they give us a timeline for the dead twin? 20 years ago, what?

Poor poor girl who grew up in Grandmas shithhole. Again, not clear, is there running water and plumbing and a bathroom now in that house? how can they live there? It makes me wonder how crappy Peaches house is that the girl found that place "nice". It is going to be full in a month! The other place too. Ann is psycho. Lol about the VHS tapes, every year my sons got NHL 1995, NBA 1995...so ridiculous she was saving those!

[Josiah Bounderby]

I also don't believe that every hoarder has their hoarding incited or intensified by the death of a loved one. That is just reality tv shorthand.

[operalover]

Some people turn to drugs or food or alcohol. These people turn to hoarding. I forget one hoarder put it nicely when she said MY mental illness takes up 12 rooms to the ceiling and everyone can see it! I wonder how many people are living today in their squalor hoard with rats that the show has not shown yet? thousands?

[JudyObscure]

I didn't like the way Ann talked to Austin and I didn't like the way Michael was so quick to tell Austin, "If you don't like it you can leave."  It seemed obvious to me that Austin wasn't welcome in his own house.   Yes he's grown, but in some cities the cost of apartments is far more than someone on a starter salary can afford. What's the poor kid doing, messing up your land fill?  Leaving a cereal bowl out on the kitchen counter?  Then we had Michael's announcement in the end that it was cleaned up enough so that he decided to stay.  Lucky them.

 

Loved Cici.  I really wished they had had time to do a little painting and flooring repair for Maggie's house.

[OSM Mom]

Michael is an asshole IMO. Something about him just rubbed me wrong. I also called bullshit on the twin and raising her granddaughter. Nope.

[operalover]

I hate about this show is they have 2 days to come and clean out something that even working full time with 12 guys will take 5 days. Why the rush. 

 

Wasn't there an A & E forum were Zasio and Paxton used to post? Maybe they took it down, I can't find it. I would get really nuts with people trashing the hoarders. But I really want to find out this Twin thing. It sounds made up. No details about when the twin died and how old the daughter she had to raise was and where the daughter is now.

[Grommet]

The family relationships in this episode were impossible to decipher. It annoyed me.

 

Ann was a bitch and I felt sorry for Austin. He seemed like a nice, reasonable young man who probably had a shitty childhood growing up in the hoard, with the added bonus of her mother's jerk boyfriend living there. I wonder who owns the house?

 

Cici was lovely, as was Donte. I hope Cici finds a decent place to live, because Maggie's house will be full within a year.

[stillhere1900]

I want Cici to come live with me. I'm a 100 percent clean freak. She will love her very clean bedroom and private bathroom. ;-p

Edited March 28, 2016 by stillhere1900

[scootypuffjr]

Cici was all kinds of adorable, wasn't she? I really hope things turn out okay for her - she deserves better than what she's got so far. I also wish they had had the time to fix up Maggie's house better. Sometimes they leave the house looking so nice, and I wish this family could have had that moment too, and a more pleasant environment in which to live.

A good episode as far as I'm concerned - I got Saint Dorothy and Matt Paxton and Dr. Green, so I'm good. Now if only Dr. Tolin had been featured too, it would have been perfect.

Edited March 28, 2016 by scootypuffjr

[Mrsjumbo]

Once again I'm confused about who's the therapist, Melba or Dorothy. Dorothy is always the one that seems to do the healing.

I thought that too. Dorothy & Matt, as the professional organizers, did more therapy than Dr Zazio or Melba.

I give Austin credit for his restraint when his mother's boyfriend was telling him to leave.

Loved Cici & felt really bad when she was so happy about the cleaned out hell hole.

[auntjess]

 

Grandma must have had some widely spaced apart kids.

It happens.  My grandfather was a "change of life" baby, and was an uncle several times over, at birth.

It does get confusing figuring out cousins vs second cousins.

[notyrmomma]

The twin sister and the child she raised? I call shenanigans. How old was she? when did this happen? Where is the child she supposedly raised? I saw another show about someone grieving a twin there whole life and it turned out it was some kind of mole/growth that someone told her was her unformed, unborn twin. Then on the show I was watching she found out this actually was NOT her twin, just a tumor. I was wondering if it was something like that? A twin lost in utero. Because why didn't they give us a timeline for the dead twin? 20 years ago, what?

I pretty much call bullshit on the whole twin story and I'm glad I'm not alone (I feel bad how "judgy" i've been in watching these shows lately).  It reminded me way too much of that other Hoarders show where the hoarder said she was storing the purses for her twin sister, then you see her husband pop out of nowhere and say that she doesn't have a twin sister, for the Hoarder to come back and tell the cameras that husband had an affair with said twin sister.  It was an unintentionally funny exchange.  I seriously though someone was going to come out of the woodwork and say, "what twin sister?"

[funky-rat]

I pretty much call bullshit on the whole twin story and I'm glad I'm not alone (I feel bad how "judgy" i've been in watching these shows lately).  It reminded me way too much of that other Hoarders show where the hoarder said she was storing the purses for her twin sister, then you see her husband pop out of nowhere and say that she doesn't have a twin sister, for the Hoarder to come back and tell the cameras that husband had an affair with said twin sister.  It was an unintentionally funny exchange.  I seriously though someone was going to come out of the woodwork and say, "what twin sister?"

Yeah, that whole thing was weird and confusing.  It showed her in a photo with what appeared to be 2 boys.  One was at the clean up.  Then she says about her sister, and adopting her daughter, but nothing more is said...until later, when they say she's been saving her daughter's pageant dresses from when she was little, and they briefly show a girl who appears to be in her early 20's standing there.  I mumbled "Well, I'm confused" after I heard that.

 

I don't recall the other episode with the non-existent sister.  I do remember an older woman who had TONS of purses - she'd blown so much money on them.  Then they brought someone in to value them - they were almost all fakes.  The woman refused to believe it.

 

[Dittohead]

Ann's boyfriend looked to be about the same age as her son. 

It irked me to no end when Michael told Austin he could leave if he didn't like the smell of dog poop in his bedroom, after Michael himself gave us all a litany of his own complaints about Ann's hoard.  I just hope Austin can find better living arrangements.  And I hope the dogs are able to live outside of their cages. No dog deserves to live in confinement, or in a hoarded, disgusting house.  They have no way of escape, compared to humans.