S00.E00: Special: Deborah and Jim: Where Are They Now (Orig S02:E06)

[SFoster21]

That lady with the sad kids lost her house and her husband.  Her poor brother.  I doubt she cleans up even now.

 

It's awfully hard to kick the hoarding habit, it seems.

[FormerMod-a1]

Since this was mostly a reairing of the original episode, with an update at the end, we may rearrange the episode title to reflect the original season and date.  But for now I just added to what was already there.

Original Episode Description:

Deborah is a 49 year old mother of two who fears that her hoarding may cause her two children to be taken away. Her husband Ron claims that Deborah's hoarding triggered his depression and alcoholism and Deborah claims that Ron's alcoholism fueled her hoarding. The situation went from bad to worse when Ron attempted suicide seven years ago. Now Deborah must either change or risk losing her family. Jim is living a double life. He manages a successful honey business as a bee keeper but at home he lives as a compulsive hoarder. His 37 year old daughter Heather has threatened to call Adult Protective Services on him if he doesn't change for the sake of himself and his eight month old granddaughter.

My comments on the re-aired episode with updates:
Those poor kids with Ron and Deborah.  I remember the youngest, Sam, thinking it was his responsibility to keep his dad from attempting suicide again.  And being so sad about the people helping them clean leaving.  The kids being so happy that they actually have usable bedrooms.  At least Deborah learned to control her hoarding, or so the BSOJ said, and they boys are living with her.  I know they divorced, but is Ron in the picture at all?  They didn't actually have an interview with Deborah, so I wonder if things were actually improved.  I wonder how the kids were doing too, but also don't want them to get more negative exposure on TV.

And Jim and the guns.  Wow 13 guns buried in the hoard in the house, and many loaded.  Yikes!  Nice to hear mention of the aftercare support.  Looks like he's made progress.  Maybe not perfect, but so much better.

[Twiz44]

The Deborah/Ron marriage never seemed quite right to me. I believe there was a whole lot more to Ron's alcoholism and suicide attempt than just his wife's hoarding. My heart breaks all over again seeing Sam. Not seeing "where they are now" makes me suspect that things are not going well. I hope all of their mental health issues are being addressed, but especially for Sam, who seemed to be carrying the weight of the family's problems.

Edited June 10, 2014 by Twiz44

[Tosia]

Jim's daughter Heather seemed like an intelligent, caring daughter. Jim gave off a vibe of having cleaned up before the revisit IMO. However, if he can limit his hoard to one room with a locked door, I owuld give him a pass.Just not the kids guest room.

[Spooneroonie]

However, if he can limit his hoard to one room with a locked door, I owuld give him a pass.Just not the kids guest room.

 

 

I initially thought the same thing, and that his daughter was being an overprotective nutcase. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized and remembered that other hoarders have said that that one locked room is the way things start to creep out of control. First it's the one locked room. Then it's the locked room and creeping down the hall. Then it's the locked room, the hallway, down the stairs....

 

Next thing you know, you're right back where you started. Sailcats and all.

[FormerMod-a1]

And I think it was more than one locked room.  It was more the opposite - just 2 rooms that were "good".  The dining room was still unusable, they said.  And then they showed the girls/guest room with stuff.  They never showed his room.  Even the card game was on table set up in the family room/den (whatever that room was).  So I think the entry way, the kitchen and that den-room are it.  But, it's still an improvement.  I don't blame the daughter not allowing overnight stays, because it is still too dangerous for kids.

[JudyObscure]

I remember Deborah well. Going on and on about how much she loves her children, how they are everything to her, how she lives in a state of constant panic at the thought of them being taken away from her, she would do anything in the world for her children -- except clean up the house. Her excuses were completely lame, too. Her mother hadn't forced her to do housework and she had wanted to spend "every minute" with her baby. Like babies don't sleep about 18 hours a day.

That poor little sad boy shouldn't have even known that his father tried to kill himself, much less been made to feel responsible for keeping him from doing it again. Those two adults really had to be two of the most self-centered, childish parents, ever.

Jim? I don't even know. So sensitive he can't talk about his uncle helping them out financially without a huge cry face coming on, but he has a house full of guns. He dearly loves his granddaughter, but fills her room with odds and ends so that she can't come over. Something weird there. What am I saying? This is Hoarders.

I feel ripped off and lied to when I only get three minutes of "Where they are now."

On the other hand, I loved seeing the classic shot of the cat with the jar of pickles. That should be the Hoarder's logo.

[Guest]

The Deborah/Ron marriage never seemed quite right to me. I believe there was a whole lot more to Ron's alcoholism and suicide attempt than just his wife's hoarding

Wild guess: Ron finally came out of the closet.