A&E's Hoarders: Where Are They Now?

Feb. 25, 2022, 7:30 p.m.

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A&E's Hoarders: Where Are They Now?

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Summary Hoarders showcased extreme cases of hoarding, shining a light on tragic situations, but the show faced criticisms of shock value and exploitation.

Some featured on Hoarders made positive changes after cleanup, while others struggled to maintain progress, facing personal and legal challenges.

While Hoarders aimed to address hoarding psychology, some criticized the show for potentially exacerbating mental health issues and exploiting subjects.

A&E's Hoarders focused on the idea of extreme hoarding, and when looking at some of where the people featured in Hoarders are now, the spotlight didn't always help. Those featured in Hoarders lived in houses loaded floor-to-ceiling with clutter, personal effects, and, most often, actual garbage. The show offered a look into the lives of those living with the results of hoarding, and it shined a light on the tragedies inherent in many of these situations. "Experts" would be dispatched to clean their homes before they faced legal action.

However, the A&E show isn't without its controversies and criticisms. The show is, in a word, shocking. Some of the subjects of Hoarders could've received jail time for things like animal abuse as many keep animals in some of the most unlivable conditions ever seen. As well, the series can be seen as exploitative. Five years after Hoarders first aired, A&E produced a series of follow-up episodes that detailed ex-hoarders' lives, leaving many fans wondering what happened to some of the show's most infamous figures.

Related 10 Worst Homes On Hoarders Ranked Hoarders features some extreme cases of compulsive hoarding leading to dangerous and toxic environments, and these are the worst homes on the show.

15 Augustine Still Struggles With Family

Season 2, Episode 1 - "Augustine"

Augustine was part of the second season of Hoarders. Her hoarding tendencies were so bad that the authorities came and removed her son when he was a child. Even when she lost her child, it still wasn't enough to make her want to make a change, and she continued on without her son under her roof. The cleanup crew even found a dead cat in her clutter that no one knew was there, or where it might have come from.

Her son had chosen never to return to see his mother and remained estranged from her.

Things did not improve for Augustine. While her house didn't look as bad as it did when the crew first arrived, in a follow-up episode, Augustine was still not taking responsibility for her actions. The psychologist gave her small tasks to complete, but she didn't do any of them. There was fecal matter on the floor in her bathroom and her son had chosen never to return to see his mother and remained estranged from her. Also, in the follow-up, Augustine's daughter Susan was there and said her mom was ungrateful and would never change.

14 Bob Turned Things Around

Season 2, Episode 4 - "Bob/Richard"

Sometimes, the Hoarders team finds someone who accepts their help, which was the case with Bob from season 2. Bob and his wife lived with four kids in their house, which was full of trash. When they ended up with bed bugs, they left to sleep in a tent in the yard, hoping to starve the bed bugs out, rationalizing that they wouldn't have people to feed on.

When the professional organizer and exterminators arrived from Hoarders, he learned he was a hoarder and turned his life around. Bob chose not to see a counselor, but he took all the advice and education to heart after his episode and was putting effort into maintaining the house.

He also kept working with organizers after the fact. He and his wife seemed much happier in the follow-up episodes and their children were able to play in their bedrooms, showing that their improvements helped not only Bob, but his wife and kids lead happier and healthier lives.

13 Dennis & Nadine Improved Their Lives

Season 2, Episode 12 - "Dennis & Nadine/Erin & Malinda"

Nadine and Dennis had it tough when the Hoarders team showed up to help them. When they arrived, Dennis (a former police officer) was in bed and could barely move. There were boxes and trash all over the house, and it was hard for anyone to move around. The clean-up crew arrived and did a full clean of the house, which was important since Dennis had been bedridden due to health issues. However, they also did something that made things worse. Denis had a gun collection, which they had to remove.

He felt that losing his gun collection was hard to take...

This made Dennis suicidal. He felt that losing his gun collection was hard to take, and he said he didn't want to live anymore. Two years later, the follow-up episodes showed that the house was cleaner than it was before, but Nadine still had boxes and bags everywhere, as she still didn't feel comfortable with storage solutions or eliminating things. Dennis was still in bed, although he had lost a lot of weight and looked better. He said he still thought about dying, but he was doing better every day.

12 Judi Improved After Appearance

Season 2, Episode 2 - "Judi/Gail"

Judi lived in her own filth for years before the Hoarders team showed up. She had no running water for years and finally gave in to just wearing adult diapers and relieving herself in those. When the clean-up crew arrived, it took two days to clean out the entire house. They then found someone who was able to buy the house and that is when Judi moved into an assisted living facility.

That made all the difference in the world for Judi.

Thanks to living around other people, she wasn't allowed to hoard things anymore. When the crew visited in the follow-up episode, Judi had clean floors and things looked much better. One professional admitted that she never could have made it if she stayed living on her own. However, thanks to the smaller apartment and the people surrounding her, she made a lot of progress, and her health also improved as a result. She replaced her bad habits with hobbies and was moving on.

11 Sandra Lost Her Home To Foreclosure

Season 9, Episode 6 - "Sandra"

Sandra was on in later seasons of Hoarders. She appeared in the ninth season of the show, and Sandra was one of the biggest projects in the history of the series. She lived in a mansion that had 31 rooms in North Carolina. Called the Jullian Price House, it was full of random items and trash. When the team showed up to help her, she was angry, tried to cut deals with the team, and was belligerent at times. Things did not go well for her.

They then turned the mansion into an ultra-clean and luxurious bed and breakfast.

Sandra lost the house to foreclosure. The new owners who bought the house and came helped her clean out all her clutter and took over the residence. They then turned the mansion into an ultra-clean and luxurious bed and breakfast. It was an amazing transformation that never could have happened with Sandra living there. The bed and breakfast is also popular thanks to the mansion's appearance on Hoarders and people stay there because they know it from the reality TV series.

10 Betty Wanted To Charge Gawkers

Season 1, Episode 3 - "Tara/Betty"

In the third episode of the inaugural season of Hoarders, Ohio native Betty's hoarding habits were putting her sickly husband at risk. He was removed from the property, and a cleanup crew was sent in to take care of the mess. In terms of where Betty is after her Hoarders experience, Betty remained steadfast in her habits.

She fought tooth and nail to keep as much of her collection as she could, and, according to Entertainment Weekly, she went back to hoarding just a month after filming concluded.

In the follow-up episode, Betty's family said that she chose her clutter over her own family, and she still proudly calls herself the "town's junk collector." Hoarder's organizer Dorothy Breninger said in the follow-up episode that it devastated Betty's children that she chose her junk over having them in her life. She also semi-sarcastically stated that she planned on charging passers-by for gawking at her property.

9 Lisa Returned To Hoarding

Season 4, Episode 10 - "Lisa/Bertha"

A season 4 episode of Hoarders featured Lisa, a Virginia resident harboring a dangerous stash of rotting food. Without a working refrigerator, much of her food became maggot-infested, and she resorted to hanging her shopping bags from the ceiling, so rats couldn't get into them.

The episode featured a terrible moment where her daughter admitted that her mom hid gross things in her food, which honestly counted as abuse at the time, and there were hints that Lisa was not well. There have been some Hoarders updates on Lisa, but they're not too great.

Unfortunately, she passed away a few years after her episode, and her family once again called on ex-reality star Matt Paxton to get rid of the extreme clutter she had managed to accumulate following his original cleaning. Matt mentioned this in a follow-up on YouTube and admitted that he had no problem going in to help out since it was her kids who called him.

8 Jill Kept A Rotting Pumpkin In Her Living Room

Season 1, Episode 1 - "Jennifer & Ron/Jill"

During the first season of Hoarders, fans were introduced to Jill, a woman with an extreme food-hoarding habit. Unable to determine for herself that her food was rotten and spoiled, she'd keep long-since-perished food out in the open, most memorably displaying a decaying pumpkin in her living room.

The entire house was a mess, with rotten fruits and vegetables lying all over the place. She faced eviction if she didn't get things cleaned up, but the clean-up team from the show saved her for a short time.

Unfortunately, in terms of Hoarders, as represented in a follow-up episode and as corroborated by Entertainment Weekly, Jill went back to her hoarding ways soon after her time on the reality show. She even kept another rotting pumpkin in her house, indicating that she hadn't made any meaningful personal progress. One good point is that she finally agreed to see a therapist to try to help her overcome her need to hoard food until it's rotten.

Related 7 Fakest A&E Reality Shows (And 8 That Are Totally Real) If you're wondering which of your favorite A&E reality shows is more fiction than fact, we've got all the scoops right here.

7 Fredd & Fuzzie Love Their Mess

Season 6, Episode 13: "Fuzzie & Fredd/Nancy"

An episode of the show's sixth season explored the lives of Fredd and Fuzzie, two eccentric artists who harbored a love for all things odd. Collecting things like mannequins, musical instruments, and broken sex toys, theirs was one of the strangest hoards ever showcased in A&E's reality TV series.

When it comes to Hoarders updates, in a follow-up YouTube video released in February 2021, Matt Paxton revealed that he still kept in regular contact with the couple. He theorized that their hoarding was a byproduct of their atypical lifestyle, though he states that they have cleaned up somewhat since they were featured on the show.

In a "Memory Lane" clip from the show, extreme hoarder expert Matt Paxton mentioned his thoughts on Fredd and Fuzzie, calling them two of his favorites on the show. He said that he still talks to them weekly and considers them friends, talented artists, and two people who don't care what others think.

6 Glen Brittner Was Murdered

Season 3, Episode 20 - "Glen/Lisa"

Season three of Hoarders featured Glen Brittner, a California man with a troubling affinity for rats. After his wife passed away, he began keeping them as pets, but they quickly multiplied and took over his house. His home was dangerously disheveled, and his situation made for one of the most shocking episodes of the season.

In one of the most shocking and sad Hoarders updates, Glen was tragically murdered in 2015 during a suspected home invasion, and, with little to go on, the case remains unsolved.

According to the police reports, he invited some men over to his home for food and they brutally beat him and stole some things from him. They tied his hands and feet in zip ties and left him bleeding. He died 10 days later while in a coma. It's perhaps the most unfortunate ending to a hoarding case in the A&E series' history and is as much a true-crime story as it is a sad reality TV story.

5 The Stank House Was Demolished

Season 9, Episode 2 - "Stanks/Anne"

Milwaukee resident Roger Stank was made to clean his property lest it be demolished. The family called in the Hoarders crew for help, and while they helped clear a lot out of the home, they couldn't do enough to help out. Gerri had a hard time throwing anything away and when they didn't pass the inspection, the Code Enforcement locked them out of the house.

In terms of Hoarders updates, even after appearing in an episode of Hoarders, the Stank property never attained an adequate level of cleanliness, and the city issued a raze order. Roger Stank stated in an interview with a local news station that he hadn't inhabited the home in several years and that vagrants had made the problem worse than it already was. However, despite his wishes to preserve the house, it was demolished in 2019. It's one of the more depressing stories about people on Hoarders after the show.

Related 6 Reality Home Shows That Aren't Real (& 6 We Think Are) Reality TV shows about home improvement are incredibly popular, but are they real or fake? It turns out some are more genuine than others.

4 Claire And Vance Have A Library-Sized Book Collection

Season 5, Episode 10 - "Anna/Claire & Vance"

Claire and Vance were a Chicago couple featured in season 5 of Hoarders. Notorious for their massive book collection, thousands upon thousands of books were flooding their living space. After the city moved to obtain an inspection order and potentially condemn the property, the two had to make drastic changes.

However, as seen in a follow-up episode, Claire and Vance ultimately made very few lifestyle changes and still lived in a massive mound of books. The two were shown to be very defensive of their collection, and it didn't appear as if they were interested in changing their tune.

In the follow-up episode, it was shown that they were doing better at keeping certain spaces clear. However, there were books everywhere still, including in the kitchen. The bedroom is just a bed that is surrounded by books, where there is no room for anything but the bed. As they said, it is like a cave where their books are.

3 Verna Was Too Far Gone

Season 5, Episode 9 - "Verna/Joanne"

Santa Cruz resident Verna was forced to sleep in her attic after her home became too cluttered to inhabit. Verna even ended up in the hospital and they wouldn't release her until her house was cleaned out of all the junk that attributed to her illness.

She was featured in a season eight episode of Hoarders, but, by her admission, the house was too far gone, and the clean-up crew may not have been prepared to tackle the challenge of returning her home to a livable state.

According to The List, Verna eventually confided in her neighbor that she was dissatisfied with the cleanup process and that it was never adequately finished, causing some to believe that Hoarders isn't as real as it appears to be. "Truthfully, they did not realize how much stuff there was at my house," Verna said. "I feel that if they had gone in beforehand and seen how it was, they would have said 'no.'" She said they couldn't finish because they "ran out of trucks."

2 Deborah And Jim Were Forced To Move Out

Season 2, Episode 6 - "Deborah/Jim"

Deborah and Jim, featured in the second season of the series, were caught in a vicious cycle; Jim struggled with alcohol abuse, a problem which he claimed was exacerbated by Deborah's hoarding. Meanwhile, Deborah claimed the inverse. When the series producers caught up with the family after their experience on Hoarders, they seemed to be in a somewhat better position. Their house was marginally cleaner, and Jim had been sober for a year at that point.

They were able to get into a different place and their sons said in the follow-up episode that they were proud of what their mom was able to accomplish since the episode aired.

However, he had unfortunately lost his job, and the family ultimately had to move in with relatives. With that said, things seemed to be looking up for them as a family. They were able to get into a different place and their sons said in the follow-up episode that they were proud of what their mom was able to accomplish since the episode aired. It also showed that, despite their setback, they tried to stay positive and move forward with their lives.

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1 Terry's Love For Cats Ended In Disaster

Season 6, Episode 8 - "Terry/Adelle"

In season 6, Hoarders tackled one of the most extreme hoarding situations in the series' history. Illinois native Terry lived with roughly fifty cats, many of whom were in ill health, but vastly more troubling was her predilection for preserving her deceased pets in her refrigerators. As many as one hundred dead cats were discovered on her property during the Hoarders cleanup.

According to The List, only 18 animals survived, as many had to be put down due to respiratory conditions contracted from the hazardous environment in which they lived. However, Terry never faced criminal charges for animal abuse, as she felt that she was trying to "save" things. There was even a spinoff series all about animal hoarding called Confessions: Animal Hoarding. Many of the people who hoard cats are charged with animal cruelty, then were allowed to move on and hopefully stop hoarding dead cats.

Hoarders Was And Still Is An Incredibly Problematic Show

While there were many standout cases on Hoarders, the biggest thing to remember about the television show is how problematic it truly is. The fact stands that the subjects of Hoarders' cases are deeply mentally ill and have their mental illness exploited on television for the sake of shock value. Yes, the conditions that some live in are terrifying and make for an interesting viewing experience. However, these are people with a serious problem that may not be taken all that seriously.

Hoarders does a borderline job of introducing the psychology of hoarding into the mix, as a big part of the process is coercing the subjects to assist in cleanup and make their own decisions about what to throw away. However, a psychological pathology can't be solved and magically disappears in the span of a one-hour episode. Forcing a cleanup of epic magnitude in 48 hours on someone who has a serious mental illness and little to no treatment can be considered,

in a word, cruel. Subjects are forced to make hundreds of decisions while the camera rolls and captures their every expression. The series sometimes oscillates between explaining that they have a mental illness, and blaming the subjects for giving up on their lives. Hoarders has definitively decided to take on cases of extreme hoarding, in which people are living in conditions that are certifiably dangerous to their health, talking to their subjects for two days, expecting them to turn their entire psychology around in hours.

The show then broadcasts their lives on television as failures to be gawked at by the public. Then, when all is said and done, the cleanup crew leaves, and since most haven't gotten adequate treatment, the Hoarders subjects' lives are right back where they started.