Mucky House programs

[OffredsNose]

AIBU to wonder what possesses people to go on mucky house programs?
Do they exploit the vulnerable?

I was watching one this morning and it seemed to me that the woman who’s house it was had some kind of special needs

Another one I saw the bloke had mental health issues

yet these people are going around their homes freaking out about fleas, cat shit, mouldy food etc … ?!

I think for those types of shows they are likely to be nominated on behalf of someone else and then coerced into appearing on it, rather than applying themselves.

YANBU. I'm naturally a bit messy but the houses on these shows are clearly the result of quite profound issues (either SN or MH). I guess people might be so desperate for help they agree to go on or are just so vulnerable they're not really aware of being exploited.

It is very exploitative. I heard about a friend of a friend going on one of these years ago and my friend said the house was nothing like as bad IRL as it was presented on TV.

Same with dogs behaving badly, my friend went on that and the production team wound the dog up before filming it going nuts to show how “out of control” he was. In the end shots when the dog is walking nicely on the lead, the dog had actually been ran ragged for 2 hours before hand and was absolutely knackered.

I knew a couple who went on a filthy house show. They were just very lazy people. Spent their lives scamming the benefits system. After the show aired, their kids were bullied mercilessly. TV shows like this shouldn’t feature people’s children.

Scamming the benefits system is actually quite hard work but okay.

I know someone who applied for herself as she was completely overwhelmed at the task of cleaning and decluttering. She said there were crews off camera doing the majority of the work but said the presenters were nice enough and her house was completely transformed. But I think she is in the minority

I’m obsessed with watching an American hoarders program on the a and e channel. While there are vulnerable people on there, a lot of them contact the program out of desperation as there is no way they can mentally/physically/financially sort out their living situation. There is generally a common theme where they’ve finally decided to accept help as they’ve become isolated from their families who haven’t been able to visit in years, or they’ve been reported to some authority and they’re at risk of losing their home or their children due to their dangerous living situations. The teams come in with a psychologist who provides therapy for the hoarder, they help reunite their families and obviously clean their homes, all free of charge. I’ve just watched one where they removed over 30 tonnes of junk and rubbish from a woman’s house, provided her with a load of lovely furniture, and she was able to have her grandchildren stay over for the first time ever. There’s tens of thousands of pounds spent on each house in equipment, man power, waste removal and therapy etc that they wouldn’t have been able to access otherwise.