S05.E13: Steven and Justin's Story, Part 1

[Azubah]

Oh boy. Just for a little preview of what we're in for, here's a Daily Mail article from 2015 about Steven Assanti.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3267280/The-REAL-800lb-man-Morbidly-obese-man-claimed-victim-thrown-hospital-ordering-pizza-caught-camera-harassing-nurse-mocking-taxpayers-pay-treatment.html

[Ocean Chick]

Oh good - we get TWO James K's this week then, eh?  How special.

[xwordfanatik]

Did they put him on to try to make James K look GOOD?  Not that that could ever happen.

The bar just keeps getting lower and lower.  And now this one has a brother, so it's a 2-parter?

Un-freaking-believeable.  

[gonecrackers]

This guy needs WAY more help than just weight loss surgery.

[Dashing Off]

Me: *reads article* Honey...!

BF: What?

Me: *shows him article* It got worse.

BF: Oh....oooooohhhh, oh no. This is gonna suck.

[Grammy]

I live in Rhode Island and remember when this loser moved to Texas.  I had no idea he was moving there to be on this show. He's disgusting!

[MichelleTX]

Eww, fecking disgusting. Doesn't sound like he deserves any help. Why would they put him on this show? I wish they would help those that truly want it. I highly doubt he does. NASTY ? 

[DayGlorious]

Every episode has either been so tightly bound to the same trope-y beat-to-death story arc or had such an insufferable subject that I just can't even anymore. Guess this will be the third skip week in a row and the fourth out of the last five (I had to watch Nicole for the juggalo trainwreck factor). 

Edited March 29, 2017 by DayGlorious
typo

[MrHufflepuff]

I guess he was on Dr. Phil?

 

 

I didn't watch the whole thing.

[frenchtoast]

This topic will unlock after the episode finishes airing. A live chat topic will open when the episode airs. Please be patient, sometimes the locking/unlocking goes a little wonky. And please keep the live chat stuff in the live chat topic. Thanks and enjoy!

[mamadrama]

You guys. I haven't read the live chat yet but I am only 5 minutes in and my mouth is already dropping open. My teeth are starting to grind. I might need something stronger than tea to get through this one. 

[Guest]

At the end, Steven says he's going to rehab because he "wants to live." 

I really wish he'd rethink that. Go the the light, Steven. Go to the light.

[Miss Chevious]

Just when you think there can't be anyone worse than James, along comes Steven. Justin is a waste of space too.

[gardendiva]

23 hours ago, MrHufflepuff said:

I guess he was on Dr. Phil?

 

 

I didn't watch the whole thing.

Why do they call him "john" on this show? He was also quite a bit less heavy here.

[Pepperminty]

I feel like I shouldn't watch this entire thing, it seems more disturbing than other situations.

Do the patients on this show ever think about will happen when their caretakers die or become disabled? I'd be terrified to be stuck in a bed, not being able to even reach the phone, if suddenly my enabler was gone...

Edited March 30, 2017 by Pepperminty

[DC Gal in VA]

1 minute ago, Giant Misfit said:

At the end, Steven says he's going to rehab because he "wants to live." 

I really wish he'd rethink that. Go the the light, Steven. Go to the light.

The Light whispering to Giant Misfit: "Shhhhh, I just turned myself off in case Steven is headed my way, you know, like people do on Halloween when they run out of, or never even had, any candy to hand out. P.S., If you bump into him, for God's sake, don't tell him we spoke, okay?"

[Kid]

OK I watched that 2 sordid hours.   Here is my question. Why do they even bother to help him?  Let him go drug him self to death - he loves being in his addiction. Some people are too far gone. And I believe he's one of them. What a waste of resources. 

I am sorry, but there are people that are born with conditions they cannot change.   Conditions that are not self-imposed. Missing limbs, lack of eye sight or hearing; yet, they overcome and become productive members of society.

Oh boo-hoo his mom was an alcoholic.  Well, many of us were raised by a bunch of drunks and we transcended at our situation.

[DanaMB]

This guy gives me such the creeps. I feel nauseated just watching him.

Edited March 30, 2017 by DanaMB

[AVM]

I feel like I watched a hour long car wreck ,with three people destroying themselves in slow motion  ,why and for what attention ? They should be glad the drunken mother left ,the father should have too.Two grown men acting like children and the father giving into tantrums....  I see his Mother back in his life and all smiles .

Edited March 30, 2017 by AVM

[fonfereksglen]

1 minute ago, Kid said:

OK I watched that 2 sordid hours.   Here is my question. Why do they even bother to help him?  Let him go drug him self to death - he loves being in his addiction. Some people are too far gone. And I believe he's one of them. What a waste of resources. 

I am sorry, but there are people that are born with conditions they cannot change.   Conditions that are not self-imposed. Missing limbs, lack of eye sight or hearing; yet, they overcome and become productive members of society.

Oh boo-hoo his mom was an alcoholic.  Well, many of us were raised by a bunch of drunks and we transcended at our situation.

Physically abusive drunks ... just saying.  

The waste of our taxpayer money on this entire family is appalling.  We are all paying for all three of them.  Including the dad.  Any one of us who has dealt with trying to get benefits for family members with legitimate disabilities should have a copy of this to pump us up for the endless appeal process.  This giant piece of excrement was given an RV ambulance ride for free, where most insurance companies don't cover  any of an ambulance drive to a hospital in an extreme medical emergency.  This waste of resources bothers so much I just can't articulate my disgust properly.  I just want to scream!

[Miss Chevious]

Both Steven and Justin have the maturity level of a 12 year old. Justin is how old, 25 or so and doesn't drive and plays in the park with a toy car.  Steven is a pathological liar, narcissist and drug addict. And their father is a big enabler, too. He's just as loony as his sons are.

This whole fam damily needs psychological counseling STAT. 

[88Keys]

I kind of get why Justin shuts down and plays with toys all day.  His brother and his dad treat him like garbage.  I thought Justin was the one who could really see what was going on with the two of them.  He was very astute, like an outsider would be.  He probably feels hopeless, and resentful that Dad helps Steven, who doesn't really want to get better.

[islandgal140]

Steven was a mess of issue.  I may be alone here but Steven was setting off my gaydar. 

When Dr. Now came to visit him, I thought he had died the top of his head blonde but than to realize he had picked his head bald? I was too through! And then princess took a broom and swept up a giant ball of hair and I was dead to the bed!

Wow! Princess, Lady Detective. Dialing the last number he called and figuring out he was trying to get drugs by gaming the hospital system. 

He wasn't through the door of his apt and already ordering pizza. 

He was in that apt like

[scoopski potata]

I just started watching the reairing of this. That pie thing....

what the fuck am I watching??? This is already...just...what. 

[Moloch Must Die]

Anyone on the west coast just settling in to watch this shit show? I'm only 5 minutes in and.... WTF? The pie? Screaming about the bedpan? And there are two of these guys? How do we tell them apart? 

 

Already confused.

[Moloch Must Die]

1 minute ago, Moloch Must Die said:

Anyone on the west coast just settling in to watch this shit show? I'm only 5 minutes in and.... WTF? The pie? Screaming about the bedpan? And there are two of these guys? How do we tell them apart? 

 

Already confused.

OK, never mind, they're not twins. 

There's more (and darker) brown scuzz on Steven's [ow mah] legs than on James'.

They need subtitles. Is it their New England accents, their fucked up teeth, or what?

[mmecorday]

Every week at the start of this show, I feel like I'm flying down the chute to the Death Star's trash compactor.

Good Lord, I wish Dr. Now had dumped Steven's ass at a homeless shelter after his shenanigans at the hospital. Did Steven think he was the only patient? One of my best friends is a nurse and she works 12-hour shifts, during which time she rarely has a moment to pee or grab a bite to eat. The way Steven treated the nursing staff was disgusting. What a horrible person. His brother wasn't much better and the father was just a bully. He helped create the monster that it is his son and refuses to own up to it. If he didn't want his son calling every five minutes to get fast food or order pizza, he should have turned off his phone.

I don't think I've ever seen a convoy delivering a patient to the clinic in Houston. Mercy sakes alive.

And there's more from these people next week? I don't know about you, but I'd rather have two episodes back-to-back about the more pleasant people, like Nikki.

[Ivylady]

I'm just watching now. WTF? He needs more help than Dr. Now and the entire state of Texas can give. The levels of dysfunction here. 

2 minutes ago, mmecorday said:

And there's more from these people next week? I don't know about you, but I'd rather have two episodes back-to-back about the more pleasant people, like Nikki.

How are they this terrible? I'd rather they put Marla, Pauline, and Penny in an episode together with Chuck's crying as the soundtrack.

[PrincessPurrsALot]

I am going to unlock the live thread for the West Coast viewing.  Please take your play-by-play reactions there. 

[WhitneyWhit]

Holy ass, this was hard to watch.

Steven shouldn't have been on this show, or any show, or be in any room that isn't padded and heavily secured. This guy is crazy, and not in a snarky, Real Housewives cast member crazy, but as in Criminal Minds episode crazy. I would not be alone with him, ever, yeah he has his own gravitational pull, but he can be mobile when he wants. I was scared when Princess was looking for him because I thought for sure he was hiding from her and was going to waddle out and scare her.

He seriously reminded me of that obsessed Bjork fan who filmed that video of him losing his shit before blowing his brains out.

[Guest]

While Steven was an odious, bacteria-riddled beef creature, I'm side eyeing this entire episode. It seemed overly staged (oh, suuuuuuure Princess just happened to wander in the apartment right after Steven took off on a drug run to the hospital -- which she Jessica Fletcher'd all by herself by using the last number dialed function on the phone) and Steven's ridiculous fake crying. Why was Princess even there? We've seen other poor people have to rely on their own ratchetedy, beat up SUVs to drag their asses to Houston -- while Steven gets taken in an RV? And  gets his own PCA? No way. 

TLC had to have found his nasty ass on YouTube and his Dr Phil episode, thought they had another goldmine Penny/Pauline on their hands, and told him to play it up for the cameras for ratings gold. Even this news article from 2015 says that Steven hopes to be an actor.  

That said, I still hope Steven finds a way off this planet sooner rather than later. He's a bad actor and an even worse famewhoring human being.

[mamadrama]

Well, one thing's for sure...I finally have a face to put with all those trolls that I encounter on the internet. 

Seriously, I don't know if I can live through a Part 2. 

[88Keys]

21 minutes ago, scoopski potata said:

I just started watching the reairing of this. That pie thing....

what the fuck am I watching??? This is already...just...what. 

Buckle up.  It gets worse.

[mamadrama]

3 minutes ago, Giant Misfit said:

While Steven was an odious, bacteria-riddled beef creature, I'm side eyeing this entire episode. It seemed overly staged (oh, suuuuuuure Princess just happened to wander in the apartment right after Steven took off on a drug run to the hospital -- which she Jessica Fletcher'd all by herself by using the last number dialed function on the phone) and Steven's ridiculous fake crying. Why was Princess even there?

It was my understanding that the show, and probably Dr. Now, had Princess go over there to his apartment because he hadn't been answering the phone. They sent the film crew with her. He had apparently been to 20 hospitals that month so the odds of her wandering in before, after, or during one of his little stints were good either way. 

I hate the way he would cry and moan and whine and then, when the person was gone, would laugh or smile or wink. I started out thinking sociopath. By the end, I was leaning towards psychopath. I think he would've killed his whole family for a Papa John's with a side order of Percocets. 

[Ocean Chick]

What they should do is lock Steven in a room filled with pizzas and let him eat himself to death.  And no one goes in to clean him up or help him.  It'd be much cheaper that way for the taxpayers.  Steven is a waste of space.  Then they need to transplant a spine into dad.  And just put Justin into a group home where he only gets the amount of food that he needs, not what he wants,.  And they teach him some life skills.

[Moloch Must Die]

I have a family member who needs total care because of dementia... this, after doing everything right-- eating right, exercising, staying active in the community, working since age 18, etc. Dementia struck for no reason and without any warning. We pay $9,000 OUT OF POCKET every month because insurance will not cover the care of someone with a broken brain. Someone who chose NOT to eat 6 pizzas a day. Someone who said, "Hmmm, my cholesterol is up a few points; I'm going to change my diet and bring it back down." Someone who never asked for a penny from the government. Someone who who die of shame to need toilet assistance. Someone who was never rude to doctors, nurses, or anyone. 

[Dru Blood]

Whooo doggies.  You all thought James K. was bad!  Steven A. is a straight up sadist!  A manipulative, f*^%ed in the head sadist!  Too bad Mom didn't accidentally set the house on fire while she was out drinking one night.  There's a big fat missed opportunity!  Boo hoo.

1 hour ago, Kid said:

Here is my question. Why do they even bother to help him?  Let him go drug him self to death - he loves being in his addiction.

Good suggestion, but unless he is hooked on illegal drugs that Dr.'s aren't subscribing him, then it won't happen.  He has to be documented as a drug seeker and they need to put it in his permanent (read: insurance) chart that he has been caught drug seeking.  Unfortunately, the ER can't turn him away or deny him pain medicine if they don't have proof he is faking or drug seeking.  Maybe it is best he goes into a drug rehab.  Then it gets in to that permanent insurance record and in the future, they can turn him down.  What a monster.

[OSM Mom]

This is from his Facebook page. *sigh*

[DC Gal in VA]

53 minutes ago, fonfereksglen said:

Physically abusive drunks ... just saying.  

The waste of our taxpayer money on this entire family is appalling.  We are all paying for all three of them.  Including the dad.  Any one of us who has dealt with trying to get benefits for family members with legitimate disabilities should have a copy of this to pump us up for the endless appeal process.  This giant piece of excrement was given an RV ambulance ride for free, where most insurance companies don't cover  any of an ambulance drive to a hospital in an extreme medical emergency.  This waste of resources bothers so much I just can't articulate my disgust properly.  I just want to scream!

Yes fonfereksglen, I wondered about that too. I remember James K saying his INsurance--that's how he pronounced that word--wouldn't cover an ambulance ride to see Dr. Now even though Dr. Now told them it was a matter of life and death, and really James was in way worse shape than Steven. Also, isn't Steven too old to be on his dad's policy? So did Medicare pay for this because he is most likely on disability?

[55Unicorns]

3 minutes ago, OSM Mom said:

This is from his Facebook page. *sigh*

WOW!  Does he think we're that stupid?!?

[Dru Blood]

15 minutes ago, Giant Misfit said:

That said, I still hope Steven finds a way off this planet sooner rather than later.

How about a gofundme campaign to purchase a large elephant gun just for Steven?  Who wants to write it?

[88Keys]

"My house is messy"

-So, clean it.

"My clothes are filthy"

-So, wash them. 

"I am low on food"

-That can only be good for you.

[WhitneyWhit]

14 minutes ago, OSM Mom said:

This is from his Facebook page. *sigh*

That poor guy, I know how he feels, I mean, five days a week I have to go work at this place because it's the only way they'll give me a paycheck. Then these other people, who are horrible, make me give them money or else they will come take my car and leave me with nothing. Then, and get this, this company requires me to send even more of my money so I don't have to set in the dark every night or freeze to death in the winter, and don't even get me started on the grocery store making me pay for my food before I leave, and I haven't even gotten into these crooks at the so called insurance company who expect me to pay them so my medical bills will be covered, and then after all that, I have a two year old who actually expects me to feed him and a bank that wants me to pay something called a mortgage so we all won't end up homeless.

This is major warning to anyone considering being a productive member of society instead of a miserable drain on society, it's all a scam.

Press inquires can be sent to Whitneywhit

Edited March 30, 2017 by WhitneyWhit

[Dru Blood]

10 minutes ago, Ocean Chick said:

What they should do is lock Steven in a room filled with pizzas and let him eat himself to death.  And no one goes in to clean him up or help him.

Remember though, you gotta take that phone and tablet away...otherwise he might reach out and touch someone.

[55Unicorns]

1 minute ago, Dru Blood said:

Remember though, you gotta take that phone and tablet away...otherwise he might reach out and touch someone.

EWWWW....don't let him touch anyone, lmao!

[88Keys]

He also says he will be doing a live chat on Facebook after next week's episode.  I suspect that will go about as well as Robin Thicke's Twitter chat or Woody Harrleson's Reddit AMA. 

[goldensglitter]

I truly hope he rots away, waste of space.  This has to be an all time disturbing episode of anything I've ever seen.  Hopefully all of us hardworking taxpayers will give you the mighty heave ho so you are no longer "our" problem.

[hoosiermom]

Satire on fat people,fast food and blaming others.

[mamadrama]

He was posting about his episode on his Facebook page and one of the commenters was a lady from "SKIN TIGHT that happened to be recovering in the hospital at the same time. She said that they ended up having to take his electronics away because he was caught videotaping a nurse's behind. And that they'd hidden video cameras in his room to catch all the abuse. She didn't seem to think that stuff had aired tonight. 

[hoosiermom]

Sorry. I picked the one to post that has foreign subtitles. Lol?