Hoarders - General Discussion

[enoughcats]

A new book : a mystery:  Title: The Clutter Corpse

Author: Simon Brett

A review

I haven't read it yet, but I chuckled when I saw the title because this very prolific writer has been inspired by certain series of TV shows, if only the Brit ones.

[zillabreeze]

On 9/25/2020 at 11:18 AM, enoughcats said:

A new book : a mystery:  Title: The Clutter Corpse

Author: Simon Brett

A review

I haven't read it yet, but I chuckled when I saw the title because this very prolific writer has been inspired by certain series of TV shows, if only the Brit ones.

Goog finger tired, but wasn't some Brit show with a couple of women cleaning up houses ahead of the "hoarder" genre?

One big loud lady with a painfully tight ponytail...

[AZChristian]

1 hour ago, zillabreeze said:

Goog finger tired, but wasn't some Brit show with a couple of women cleaning up houses ahead of the "hoarder" genre?

One big loud lady with a painfully tight ponytail...

How Clean is Your House with Aggie Woodburn and Kim Mackenzie???  LOVED that show!

[zillabreeze]

12 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

How Clean is Your House with Aggie Woodburn and Kim Mackenzie???  LOVED that show!

Yeppers!!!  That's it!  Aggie would NEVER do all of that handholding and mollycoddling.  I vote for an Aggie guest appearance to show the current Hoarder Doctors how it's done!

[AZChristian]

6 minutes ago, zillabreeze said:

Yeppers!!!  That's it!  Aggie would NEVER do all of that handholding and mollycoddling.  I vote for an Aggie guest appearance to show the current Hoarder Doctors how it's done!

They were both "just do it" people.  That's part of the reason this mollycoddling on the hoarder shows makes me crazy.

[zillabreeze]

12 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

They were both "just do it" people.  That's part of the reason this mollycoddling on the hoarder shows makes me crazy.

I seem to recall Aggie using the term "filthy bastard".  Yes please.

[RobustRutabaga]

17 hours ago, zillabreeze said:

One big loud lady with a painfully tight ponytail...

I had never heard of this show, but based on that description alone and AZChristian providing the name I just HAD to check it out via any Youtube scraps. 😄  Sure enough the watch did not disappoint!

 

[AZChristian]

I always liked that they gave the folks on the show actual cleaning advice, as they made THE HOMEOWNER clean things.  But these folks are - IMO - better defined as disorganized or messy - not necessarily hoarders . . . although that would have been the logical next step.  If you can't find something, go buy another one.

[Minivanessa]

1 hour ago, AZChristian said:

I always liked that they gave the folks on the show actual cleaning advice, as they made THE HOMEOWNER clean things.  But these folks are - IMO - better defined as disorganized or messy - not necessarily hoarders . . . although that would have been the logical next step.  If you can't find something, go buy another one.

I agree with all of that. Kim and Aggie had some awesomely messy and dirty and cluttered houses to deal with, but no tottering piles of hoarder lasagna or pee bottles. I don't think they had any hard-core, very sick hoarders to deal with. 

I remember one woman whose house was really cluttered; she was probably on her way to actual hoarding because she couldn't seem to follow through on her plans for stuff. There was a lot of trash lying around and when confronted about it she said rather condescendingly that those were things to be recycled or reused and she was quite proudly into saving the environment. Well, fine, lady, but those things ain't being recycled or helping the environment when they are lying on the floor and swept into the corners. I believe that one type of hoarding behavior is to mentally earmark an item for something like recycling or to give to a specific person but then you just toss it onto the nearest pile and never get around to actually doing what you planned. I can't remember exactly how Aggie and Kim dealt with the wannabe environmentalist, but I'm sure they got the recyclables out the door and into the damn recycling bins or recycling center, lol.

I've posted this before, but one thing I always admired about Kim and Aggie's show, is that when confronted with a nasty fridge or freezer full of toxic horrors, they called in a hazmat team. The gross appliance was sealed up and hauled off for proper disposal. In clear contrast to the way this and the TLC hoarding show dealt with those things: they showed people cleaning them out with their fricking bare hands. I remember one episode where the guys were literally barfing as they did it - and they weren't even wearing gloves, much less protective clothes or even a simple face mask. I'm surprised that nobody got sick. I suppose that drama prevails over the health and safety of the crew on US reality TV, and perhaps not so much on Brit TV shows.

[zillabreeze]

3 hours ago, Jeeves said:

TLC hoarding show dealt with those things: they showed people cleaning them out with their fricking bare hands. I remember one episode where the guys were literally barfing as they did it - and they weren't even wearing gloves,

The other cleaning beef I have with Hoarders is the people wiping those counters & kitchens with something like Clorox wipes.  Or spritzing and dry wiping.

Oh hell no!  Clorox wipes are for quick little cleanups in an ALREADY clean room.  These kitchens/baths need buckets of scalding hot water, bleach, comet, scrub brushes...

It always kills me to see those little weenie wipes!

 

[Scarlett45]

3 hours ago, zillabreeze said:

The other cleaning beef I have with Hoarders is the people wiping those counters & kitchens with something like Clorox wipes.  Or spritzing and dry wiping.

Oh hell no!  Clorox wipes are for quick little cleanups in an ALREADY clean room.  These kitchens/baths need buckets of scalding hot water, bleach, comet, scrub brushes...

It always kills me to see those little weenie wipes!

 

I do love a Clorox wipe, but you’re right- that’s for a “wipe down” or a spill. 

[AZChristian]

13 hours ago, zillabreeze said:

The other cleaning beef I have with Hoarders is the people wiping those counters & kitchens with something like Clorox wipes.  Or spritzing and dry wiping.

Oh hell no!  Clorox wipes are for quick little cleanups in an ALREADY clean room.  These kitchens/baths need buckets of scalding hot water, bleach, comet, scrub brushes...

It always kills me to see those little weenie wipes!

 

But bear in mind . . . those finishing touches are AFTER the dirt and dishes with food caked on them have been shoveled off.  We don't see how many buckets of scalding hot water, bleach, Comet and scrub brushes have already been used.  I almost think that they're demonstrating that once the counter IS clean, it doesn't take much to keep it that way.

[enoughcats]

On 9/25/2020 at 12:18 PM, enoughcats said:

A new book : a mystery:  Title: The Clutter Corpse

Author: Simon Brett

My book review: read it last night, fast forwarded through part of the second half.  Too many characters, too many coincidences.  No insights into hoarding. I liked the de-clutterer who is the lead character.  Her personal relationships not so much.

But.

If I were dealing with a friend or family with serious hoarding tendencies and who is addicted to reading mystery books, this might be a way to get him or her to open up to the possibility that they hoard.  And that hoarding has consequences.  

[JudyObscure]

18 hours ago, zillabreeze said:

those little weenie wipes!

LOL 

I agree. I like them for a quick trip through the house getting phones, keyboards, doorknobs and light switches.  Most other jobs require that  bleach, dish detergent and hot water solution. This darn virus thing has pretty much ruined all my home clothes with bleach splatters.

[Minivanessa]

6 hours ago, AZChristian said:

But bear in mind . . . those finishing touches are AFTER the dirt and dishes with food caked on them have been shoveled off.  We don't see how many buckets of scalding hot water, bleach, Comet and scrub brushes have already been used.  I almost think that they're demonstrating that once the counter IS clean, it doesn't take much to keep it that way.

That's a good point. I can't remember if it was this show, or the TLC one, or both, but we have seen scenes in some episodes of a cleaning crew working on cleared-out rooms, and as noted, those wipes would barely make a dent on years of accumulated crud on a countertop.

1 hour ago, JudyObscure said:

LOL 

I agree. I like them for a quick trip through the house getting phones, keyboards, doorknobs and light switches.  Most other jobs require that  bleach, dish detergent and hot water solution. This darn virus thing has pretty much ruined all my home clothes with bleach splatters.

No kidding. The first months of COVID stay-at-home days were cool weather here, and I wore my rotation of fairly new nice sweatshirts. They all have bleach splatters on them as a result. I've researched it, and intend to do a bleach reverse tie dye job on those shirts, to give them a new look for fall and winter. It was either that - or burn them, lol.

[CrazyInAlabama]

It makes me cringe to see people 'cleaning' years of filth, animal feces, and everything else without protection, and exposing themselves to all kinds of diseases.  

There have been a few scares for the cleaners over the years, but fortunately no one turned out to have hantavirus.

If anyone has been around a place that could have exposed them to hantavirus, or other rodent diseases, make sure you tell the doctors about that if you get sick.    

Edited September 30, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[enoughcats]

From Marie Kondo's book, she talked about her husband cleaning the kitchen surfaces and leaving them immaculate. (Got my attention.)  He just uses nearly boiling water. 

So I've started using boiling water, especially on my cook top after I've made my instant coffee and made sure to have steaming water left over. 

Boiling water will leave surfaces spotless. (What about metal vertical surfaces?) Get some of the supermagnets (Lee Valley has them) and use them to put the steaming cloth against the grotty surfaces.  Steaming hot water will take kitchen surfaces to clean.  

And a dirty oven...get ammonia, some rags, put the rag on the surface, pour diluted ammonia on it, and close the door and wait a while.  Then with a rubber glove on your working hand, wipe the burned on stuff off.

Two other low tech non-bleach cleaning things: single edged razor blades, to reduce gunk volumns.  Baking soda and water to remove burnt on stuff in pots and pans

Not that I have ever had a kitchen that is anything other than immaculate 23 1/2  / 7.

[AZChristian]

We had DVR'd the latest series of shows about Joe Exotic, and opted to watch them last night.  Imagine my surprise when one of the experts interviewed about Joe was our own Dr. Robin Zasio (aka "Dr. Tonya Harding").  

They also interviewed Dr. Kirk Honda; many of us became familiar with his podcasts (Psychology in Seattle) wherein he does in-depth comments on the losers participants on 90-Day Fiance.

[zillabreeze]

1 hour ago, AZChristian said:

We had DVR'd the latest series of shows about Joe Exotic, and opted to watch them last night.  Imagine my surprise when one of the experts interviewed about Joe was our own Dr. Robin Zasio (aka "Dr. Tonya Harding").  

They also interviewed Dr. Kirk Honda; many of us became familiar with his podcasts (Psychology in Seattle) wherein he does in-depth comments on the losers participants on 90-Day Fiance.

I knew I wouldn't be alone in my Dr. Z sighting!  I was only vaguely familiar with the Joe Ex soap opera, and found Z pretty insightful.

 

19 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

It makes me cringe to see people 'cleaning' years of filth, animal feces, and everything else without protection, and exposing themselves to all kinds of diseases.  

IKR????  I recently tackled an old storage shed that had rodent droppings.  Even though I masked & gloved up, for the next few days everytime I cleared my throat I was convinced I had the hauntavirus 😬

[enoughcats]

Picture show/before and after from Great Britain.

They don't show the two skiffs of junk that were removed first.  Nor do they show the 80 year old man who stopped cleaning after his wife died.  But they show how much cleaning it takes to get the place looking spotless.  They even kept the old blue green bathroom fixtures and the very pretty bathroom tiles. 

The cleaners were appropriately dressed.  The end product is a heck of an ad for the company that does this and its owner says this is to show that a house that appears to have been given up can be saved, or something like that.  I was glad the owner wasn't humiliated. The job was done, and maybe a once a week cleaner can keep him at home and out of a retirement village hell.

[FormerMod-a1]

FYI - Cory's looking for input on the show.

Quote

Honest question and looking for your honest answers. What would you change about the Hoarders show if you were on the production team?

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=205466571149319&id=100050579315535

 

 

 

[Taeolas]

Big thing I'd probably change is to go back to 2 Hoarders in 1 show. The variety helps break up the drama and weight of each individual hoarder, so it's not as fatiguing to the watchers. I don't care if it is 2 hoarders in 1 hour or 2 hours, but I just want them to be weaved together so you get a bit of a break from one to the other. 

[JudyObscure]

1.  I'd like to see more of the Hoarders called on their silly remarks.  Let them have that garage sale and see how much they actually get for their moldy junk.  If something can't be thrown away because it "just needs a little soap and water," set them to it.  Gather up all the things that are "gifts" for others and have the targets come and collect.  

2.  I love a cleaned up final reveal and would like to see more paint, new but inexpensive flooring, and some Big Lots furniture for the ones who try hard.  It doesn't need to cost much, just give them a clean start.  It's depressing when all the clutter has been removed and they're left with dirty walls, scarred floors and stained furniture..

3.   I think the show pushes "so the family can visit" as a motivation too often.  Some hoarders clearly don't like their family that much. or family visits are too infrequent to provide daily cleaning inspiration.  I'd like to see the hoarders learn to do it for themselves because they deserve to live in a clean, pleasant environment and remind them that serenity can be found in order.

[CrazyInAlabama]

My guess has always been that even the hoarders that claim they'll never hoard again, they're lying in 99% of the cases.    Some of them really don't clean anything out at all.    I'm wondering how many of the 'cleaned up' hoards actually stay that way, and my guess is they don't, unless someone is monitoring them, and keeping after them constantly.   

[enoughcats]

Hannibal got his problem elephants over the Alps, but Hoarders can't get their 'elephants in the rooms' to go away.  IMO the cardboard storage boxes where the crap that the hoarder refused to part with, the cardboard boxes stored several deep and from floor to ceiling are the elephants in the room.  Tossing a piece of fabric over them is condescending to the audience. 

I wonder how many times the hoarder simply refuses any help at all?

I recall one ep. where the hoarder told the cleaner to leave because she didn't like her.  

Heck, I'd like to see the episode played in front of an audience and hear the audience responses with or without the hoarder there.

[ItsHelloPattiagain]

On 9/20/2020 at 11:55 AM, CrazyInAlabama said:

They showed the Patricia rerun this morning (the retired nurse who trashed three houses in Florida), and I found a short update on a bunch of hoarders.    If you follow the link on Patricia's entry, and look through the FB postings, she's still alive, but hoarding just a much as ever.

Today on the news, there was a man who died because he had a hoarded house and apparently couldn't be rescued. (he was a retired photographer). He happened to live in Plantation, FL, which is also the location of at least one of Patricia's houses (we discussed this before in this thread).  The fire chief was saying how they have multiple people in the city of Plantation who are hoarders and are in danger because of their hoards. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

I read something interesting on reddit, about Becky (the house and motel hoard, not Andy and Becky from Oregon or Washington), the flooded basement they showed wasn't her house basement, it was at the motel.       The update BSOJ at the end of the rerun was so sad.  She's rebuying junk, is estranged from her two daughters again, and she's doing nothing useful with aftercare/therapy, and she's never cleaned more of the motel and it's where she's dumping more of her 'treasures'.   

[enoughcats]

A survey asked questions to a large group of people of different ages.  Surprise. Surprise. They found that different age groups accumulate different things And they did it without being judgemental although they did ask how people felt about their accumulations.  (We are so very not alone.)

And where the things are stored. 

Lots of numbers. I'm glad this is available for electronic storage as I don't know where I'd file it, if I had printed it out.  😇

 

 

 

[Tubtoes]

As a person that studies human behavior, Carol appears to be somewhat of a psychopath. I would not be shocked to find out if Be was murdered. They need to exhume her body and make sure that they did not miss anything. It really seems like Carol was preying on the family. Why would Be take her life after her kids were raised. It makes no sense.  She would have had a history of suicide attempts as well. Not just the one time. 

[Heathen]

You know you've been watching too many episodes of Hoarders when your to-do list includes "take pop bottles to car" to return for the ten cent deposit -- and every time you look over your list, you think it says "poop bottles." I am so disgusted. 

I have been watching, or listening to while I work, all the episodes on Amazon Prime. Some of them are burned into my brain. I'll have to reread this forum to see if there are any updates on them. Shanna in Washington is the first one who comes to mind. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

I must have missed the older episode of Roxann (only 32 years old, a former model), and Barbara (youngest son burned the house down, and she still mourns that house and the contents, but doesn't say anything about the many kids she had at the time).    I guess I missed it when it ran a few years ago.  

Roxann and her mother, moved in with the grandfather when Roxann was a little kid, and they never left.    Roxann needs to keep the house clean so her baby son doesn't get hurt.      I can see a lot of stuff that could go (old encyclopedias, possessions from other relatives that died, but they probably didn't use either), and I'm guessing when the grandfather died, the mother never cleaned any of his stuff out, and the mother was a bit of a hoarder too.   I'm glad Roxann split up with the boyfriend, he was a total jerk.   If he disliked the house Roxann lived in, then he could get another place for them to live in, but he didn't.     

I also couldn't stand her older sister.   I bet she had always been jealous of her younger sister, and her modeling career.   Roxann finally agrees for a lot of stuff to leave, and she has real room now.    I hope she kept up with the clean and safe home for her son.    After her mother died, she was stuck, and hopefully now is back to living.   I'm hopeful because the home looks like it's in very good shape, and really needs paint (and the book cases, and other furniture attached to the wall), but she let go of a lot of unneeded stuff.   

The Terry and Adelle episode was bizarre, even for this show.    One had a refrigerator/freezer and a closet full of dead cats, her favorite cat had multiple mouth abcesses and could barely eat, out of almost 50 live cats and kittens, less than 20 could be brought back to health and adopted out.   At the end they claim she's using after care, and animal control is monitoring her closely.   My guess the second they stopped monitoring her, that she was hoarding cats again.    The other woman on the episode was even more separated from reality.     The endless whining of the cat hoarder was infuriating, she just let them breed endlessly, when they died of neglect and disease, she put them in the freezer and fridge, and some in closets in zip lock bags.   They should have charged her, just so she could be banned from owning animals.  

Edited February 8, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[Jinx24]

I recently adopted a cat that was from a cat hoard. Poor baby is so frightened at her shadow and isn’t used to touch—she’ll let us pet her a few times and runs away, then turn around and run back to us for more pets. It’s almost like she loves the attention but he scared of it. It’s a lot of work getting her used to humans but so worth it. She’ll even let us pick her up for a little bit! Every time I see a cat hoard episode I think about my little baby living in those conditions and it makes me so sad.

Speaking of, there are full episodes of Hoarders on YouTube and i just got done watching Lisa, the woman with 40 cats that refused help. Anyone have an update on her? Her dad should evict her!

[Ligeia]

From episode 4.04

The funniest thing is that this particular hoarder very obvious mythomania is never adressed in the episode !

Edited February 24, 2021 by Ligeia

[Cherpumple]

Yeah, I had no idea what to make of that guy. They've had some fairly accomplished people on this show who were clearly very intelligent and competent at one point in their lives, so I didn't dismiss his claims entirely. And I think he had purchased a huge amount of land, indicating an above-average level of wealth, too. His alleged past was definitely a head scratcher for me.

[CrazyInAlabama]

The articles I read did say he had accomplished some of the things he was talking about.    Which doesn't mean he's not a delusional, passive-aggressive hoarder.    The county was still going after him to clean up, and the local fire officials did say that he still had a major fire hazard with all of the junked vehicles, and it would be almost impossible to fight a wildfire that came on his property.     Apparently, he financed the land purchase, and all of the junk, and legal fees from his earnings on patents, and inventions, and his scientific work. 

Edited February 28, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[FormerMod-a1]

Season Premiere is March 22.

https://www.facebook.com/Hoarders/videos/247362003599333/

 

[BooksRule]

I just watched one from 2010, 'Billy Bob and Jean'.  Billy Bob is the one who collected toys and games. Many hoarders are stubborn, but Billy Bob takes the cake. He didn't yell or scream (although he did raise his voice a couple of times), but he would set his jaw and order people around and you could just see the meanness waiting to come through. He alternated sitting like a big blob on that little chair in the yard (question: are hoarders really that large or are the chairs they give them to sit on really that small?), mouth set in a hard line and leaning on his cane to walking around the yard waving his cane and telling people 'You're dismissed! Go!' (he reminded me of the game show host who would say 'You are the weakest link! Goodbye!'). He made it clear from the beginning that he had no plans to do what he had promised to do (get rid of 90% of his hoard) and that it was 'not their show' but was the 'Billy Bob show' and if they didn't do what he wanted they could leave (and they showed him with that tiny little satisfied smile). He was scary, because his wife was so reluctant to stand up to him at any point.  You know that he was a bully to her. I felt bad for her son (Billy Bob's step-son) because I know that he hated that his mother was in that situation, but I got the impression that he had no room or financial means for her to come live with him. I don't know about the daughter. She talked to her father a lot, but I don't remember her interacting much with her mother (but I may have missed it). They got rid of a bunch of stuff and the house looked better, but the wife was still living there, the step-son and big BB were still on strained terms, and even though the last screen indicated that he was going to use the aftercare funds for counseling, you know that he started hoarding again as soon as the crew left (he even stated at the beginning that even when they got rid of '90%' of the hoard he planned on continuing to 'collect'.  Ugh!

Jean's story was kind of sad, because her granddaughter was already picking up her bad habits ('I don't like to clean. Cleaning is boring!'). I hope that counseling can help the little girl.  I did think it was interesting that the outside of the Beverly Hills house was nice and neat but the inside was so hoarded and filthy.  I wonder if the neighbors knew about the inside (if not, what did they think when the 'Got junk?' guys showed up and piles of stuff was brought out to the front lawn.  I didn't see any gawkers hanging around, but I asume that the neighbors would have been told about plans to film on the block.

[SuzySmith]

On 9/28/2020 at 7:16 PM, zillabreeze said:

The other cleaning beef I have with Hoarders is the people wiping those counters & kitchens with something like Clorox wipes.  Or spritzing and dry wiping.

Oh hell no!  Clorox wipes are for quick little cleanups in an ALREADY clean room.  These kitchens/baths need buckets of scalding hot water, bleach, comet, scrub brushes...

It always kills me to see those little weenie wipes!

 

I would guess that the Lysol folks have paid for that product placement.  And that the counters are already properly cleaned & those are used at the end for show (& $$).  

[FormerMod-a1]

Hoarders is new tonight!

[ams1001]

2 hours ago, aquarian1 said:

Hoarders is new tonight!

I happened to look at the listings this afternoon to see if there really wasn't anything on I wanted to watch (since I hadn't noted anything over the weekend when I looked to see what was on this week). I almost missed it!

[CrazyInAlabama]

I don't think I can watch the new one, about Eric.   He's actually bragging that if they clean out the kitchen, he can rehoard it in five days.    That's not illness, it's a career.  

[ams1001]

$150,000 in credit card debt! I have Discover tell me when my balance hits $500! (Which often happens just before the statement closes and then I pay it off.)

(Who else wondered when, in relation to covid, this was filmed when he said he couldn't smell the bad-smelling stuff in the attic?)

The ending group scene seemed hopeful. The post-show comments on the screen a bit less so, but at least he kept going to therapy. Hopefully it'll help in the long run.

[ButterQueen]

He’s a fairly new widower; I am a new widow.  This was not the time to purge.  He’s not ready.  Sad and boring.

[Ligeia]

Is it still 2 hours for one hoarder ?

[JudyObscure]

3 hours ago, Ligeia said:

Is it still 2 hours for one hoarder ?

Yes, which is why I fell asleep at the one hour point. What made them go from two hoarders in one hour to one hoarder for two hours? I liked the two hoarder shows because there was usually one who interested me much more than the other.

As @Butter Queen (((hugs))) said, he was still grieving too hard for his Szilvie to be able to bear an empty, echoing house.

Men are the worst!  They seem more inclined than the women to take the approach that it's their house and they'll do what they want, by golly!  At least it wasn't one of those huge outdoor hoards full of trucks and school buses.  I was surprised at all the clothes he had.

Dorothy is getting more manic all the time.  I would like to have seen what she did to make him tell her off and almost stop the whole thing.  It seemed like it was something else after the sofa-on-the-truck "mistake."  

[Ligeia]

33 minutes ago, JudyObscure said:

Yes, which is why I fell asleep at the one hour point. What made them go from two hoarders in one hour to one hoarder for two hours? I liked the two hoarder shows because there was usually one who interested me much more than the other.

Men are the worst!  They seem more inclined than the women to take the approach that it's their house and they'll do what they want, by golly!  At least it wasn't one of those huge outdoor hoards full of trucks and school buses.  I was surprised at all the clothes he had.

I liked the 2-hoarders shows much more as well, the new format just makes things drag on and the show has become boring. They obviously changed the format to make the show cheaper.

Why the sexist comment ? This show has legions of selfish women as well, who also do just as they please no matter the consequences for their "loved" ones, including children, sick husbands etc...

Edited March 23, 2021 by Ligeia

[suzeecat]

I was a bit relieved to see no poop-filled non-working toilets and dead animals with maggots crawling all over them, holes in the roof and rat feces.  It was a halfway doable operation, except dude seemed more interested in witty banter than letting go of anything. 

[AZChristian]

At the very end, the sister-in-law said something about they had not been able to eat in the beautiful dining room since her kids were 10 and 14.  They are now 28 and 32.

Szilvie's life began to be hell long before she developed cancer and died in that horrible mess.  What a self-absorbed know-it-all manipulator this guy was.  He even made Dr. Fazio cry because of his well-practiced victim act.

I'm getting a little tired of Dorothy, too.  She is NOT the therapist.  When Dr. Fazio wanted to talk to the jerk privately, Dorothy said, "I want to talk to him, too."  It just seems to me that her job is to talk to him about ways to sort out the junk that's there and how to make suggestions as to how to simplify his processes so it stays tidy.  She should not be talking to him about his relatives and his dead wife and his feelings.

Wasn't fond of this episode at all.  Can you tell?

[ams1001]

2 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

Yes, which is why I fell asleep at the one hour point. 

I didn't fall asleep but I was definitely only half paying attention through most of it.

1 hour ago, suzeecat said:

I was a bit relieved to see no poop-filled non-working toilets and dead animals with maggots crawling all over them, holes in the roof and rat feces.  It was a halfway doable operation, except dude seemed more interested in witty banter than letting go of anything. 

It's rare that they point out that they're dealing with a "clean" hoard (not actual wording from the show, I don't think, but one of them mentioned there were no bugs or droppings). Though there were some things starting to mold in the attic, apparently (sounds like it was contained in bags and hadn't spread to the house structure itself, which is good at least). I can only think of one other house off the top of my head where that wasn't an issue to some degree (woman had a nice house and a good job and bedroom piled high with clothes but they were at least clean and likely donatable and not rotting rags). Though I did notice they seemed to be discarding the contents of the fridge before bringing in a new one so maybe not as clean as they implied.

32 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

I'm getting a little tired of Dorothy, too.  She is NOT the therapist.  When Dr. Fazio wanted to talk to the jerk privately, Dorothy said, "I want to talk to him, too."  It just seems to me that her job is to talk to him about ways to sort out the junk that's there and how to make suggestions as to how to simplify his processes so it stays tidy.  She should not be talking to him about his relatives and his dead wife and his feelings.

At one point she was psychologizing in front of the group and the camera went to Dr. Z and I thought she looked annoyed, like, "Hello, that's my job." Also I had originally started writing a list of comments as I watched but I ended up deleting most of it because toward the end I realized I hadn't been paying that much attention and my last note was probably from an hour earlier (and none of them particularly insightful or entertaining), but one of them was "Ugh, Dorothy." 🙄

[dsteele]

54 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

Szilvie's life began to be hell long before she developed cancer and died in that horrible mess.

Exactly. They kept focusing on Eric's loss as if that were the ultimate reason behind his hoarding. But based on comments from his family (and even his own) he was doing it before she became ill. That's not to say that Szylvie's illness had no effect on him or didn't make it worse, but it wasn't the primary cause.