With reality TV becoming more popular over the years, more people have questioned just how real unscripted television actually is.
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The A&E show Hoarders allows viewers to see the real-life struggles people go through and how getting help, in the case of hoarders, often isn't as easy as just cleaning up a home. On many of the episodes, we see people attempting to sell different items and help with moving costs, but does it actually cost money to be on the show? Here's what we know.
Does it cost money to be on ‘Hoarders?'
A&E does not charge anyone to be on Hoarders and the show actually pays for all the services involved with helping people while they are on the show. In an interview with Xfinity, via The Things, Jodi Fynn, a producer on the show, said that Hoarders pays for a lot of what we see on screen. It pays for the cleaning services, therapists, and other experts who appear on the show.
"These are enormously expensive cleanouts," Jodi said. "If people were to call 1-800-GOT-JUNK or Matt Paxton’s company, Clutter Cleaner, these cleanouts can cost tens of thousands of dollars. There are no costs to the people who appear on our show."
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No cost to the subjects or their families may be a large part of the reason why people choose to get help on Hoarders. According to Jodi, tons of people want to be on the show, and the production crew does its best to find people who have extreme cases and need more help than they may have available to them.
Do hoarders ever recover?
Hoarders can recover and there have been cases on Hoarders: Where Are They Now? where fans see people who are able to keep their homes clean a year after the cleanup. But it often depends on how the hoarding is dealt with. On Hoarders, we know that there is aftercare provided that participants can choose to take. But all the experts on the show advise against just throwing things away without dealing with the emotional or psychological issues behind hoarding.
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Christiana Bratiotis, the former director of the Hoarding Research Project at the Boston University School of Social Work, told NPR that she did a study with the Elder Services of Merrimack Valley in Massachusetts where they typically did a full cleanup of someone's property, but it never worked because they didn't address the emotional and psychological issues behind the person's hoarding.
Eventually, people would fill their homes right back up. And on top of that, they became angry and didn't trust others to help them with the problem in the future. But thanks to the methods seen on Hoarders, like letting the person with the issue be in charge of decision-making, many were able to ultimately avoid eviction.
You can watch Hoarders on A&E, Discovery Plus, and Netflix.
On the syndicated tv show, “Hoarders”, the network of A&E pay for the professional cleanup service. They also pay for the experts and counselors who help the homeowners going through the process.
He explained that participants aren't paid anything, but they each get a fund that pays for therapy for several months after filming is over. He added that in some extreme past cases, participants were permitted to use that fund for other things, like plumbing or other needs related to day-to-day life.
Is 'Hoarders' real or fake? Though the series is produced and edited like any reality show, the people featured have very real, and very severe, hoarding problems. One reddit user, whose dad once assisted in a cleanup, confirmed the legitimacy of the show. "Surprisingly it's all very real," the source shared.
Cleaning out a hoarder house typically costs between $150 for a 1/8 truckload and $599 for a full truckload, but it can be higher if you have more items to junk. You may also incur additional fees if the space requires cleaning and sanitation due to the presence of hazardous waste.
In an interview with Xfinity, via The Things, Jodi Fynn, a producer on the show, said that Hoarders pays for a lot of what we see on screen. It pays for the cleaning services, therapists, and other experts who appear on the show. "These are enormously expensive cleanouts," Jodi said.
When hoarding continues for a while, it can eventually reach a stage where it meets the legal definition of a public nuisance according to state laws and local regulations. Failure to address and resolve a public nuisance can lead to criminal charges under the laws of California.
S11 E5: A woman who suffers from a condition called "hoarding" becomes a murder suspect when a dead body is found buried under piles of trash and debris inside her home.
Television will go to great lengths to ensure viewers, but faking hoarding isn't one of them. Hoarders is probably one of the most accurate reality television shows out there.
Also referred to as an information hoarder or a knowledge hoarder, this category of hoarding typically involves individuals with an extremely high intelligence.
Dr. Robin Zasio, Psy. D., LCSWis a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has been specializing in treating OCD and anxiety disorders for the past 20 years.
On average, you will have to pay around $25 to $80 per hour per cleaner to clean a hoarder's house. Hoarding cleaning services also charge between $0.75 and $2.5 to clean each square foot of space overrun by hoarded stuff.
Level 5: Fire Hazards, No Electricity or Running Water and Accumulated Human Feces. This is the most severe type of hoarding, and individuals at this level may not be able to live in their own home, nor can their home be salvaged for future habitation.
At this level, the hoarder is openly fixated on accumulating more objects. A collection of receipts may be piled on a table, clothing could be swamping a bed, and book boxes may block pathways. Property owners that enter the space may become distressed, and a level 2 hoarder begins becoming at risk of eviction.
Medicare covers things that keep you healthy, such as doctor visits or therapy for hoarding disorder under Medicare Part B. However, it usually doesn't pay for hoarding cleanup because it's about creating a safe living space rather than direct healthcare treatment.
If you are looking for help cleaning up a hoarded home, please fill out our help form. If you want to submit your family for the HOARDERS television show, please visit www.HoardersTV.com.
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.
Introduction: My name is Gregorio Kreiger, I am a tender, brainy, enthusiastic, combative, agreeable, gentle, gentle person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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