Hoarders Season 5 and 6: Where Are They Today?

‘Hoarders’ is a documentary reality series that gives viewers an inside peek into the everyday struggles of those individuals suffering from severe compulsive hoarding disorder. The A&E show also looks into the lives of their families and those around them, with emphasis on how difficult it becomes to live with compulsive hoarding, even as a team of competent experts, exterminators, cleaners, and psychologists all get together to help them out of the rut.

Even though it often works, sometimes, people refuse to give up on their hoarding habits. It has been quite some time since the fifth and sixth seasons of this hit series ended; naturally, fans must be wondering about the whereabouts of their favorite individuals. Since a few individuals chose to go low-key after the show wrapped up, despite our best efforts, we were unable to find information on them and could gather updates only up till 2012 and 2013.

Norman Seemed Intent on Turning His Life Around

Season five’s Norman from Philadelphia had a heartbreaking story. His girlfriend had died in the very home he had been hoarding, seven weeks before the series’ shooting. Sadly, the paramedics had not managed to enter his house to provide any form of assistance due to the surrounding junk all around. This had gotten his house reported, and he was given a deadline to either clear out the place or leave. When the cleaners entered, they realized that unlike most of the cases they’d seen before, Norman wasn’t reluctant to accept that he had a problem.

He admitted to his struggles, even as he attempted to grapple with his hoarding and with the death of his girlfriend, which might have been a consequence of his hoarding. The therapists did their best to address the situation and ensure that Norman took the help to let go of his hoarding so he could continue to reside in the home he had built with his now-deceased partner. Upon recognizing his illness, Norman willingly helped the cleaners to clear out his house. As per the ending shown, it is believed that Norman continues to work on getting therapy while also reconnecting with his family, intent on giving his life another shot.

Richard Embarked on a Healing Journey After Coming Out to His Family

For Richard from Minnesota, hoarding wasn’t something he’d picked up to hide some emotional trauma or abuse. Instead, he hoarded because of a secret he’d kept hidden inside him for years. After getting condemned from his house for hoarding, Richard moved into a homeless shelter from where too, he gets evicted after he starts to hoard there. While it wasn’t quite clear whether he’d told anyone outside his immediate family about his secret, it was visible that his feeling like an outsider had aggravated his compulsive hoarding. However, despite the conviction, the clean-up drive had been quite cathartic to him and his family.

After his sister requested him to open up to them, Richard finally came out as gay to his family. It was this very secret that had combined with his mental illness and manifested itself into a condition of severe hoarding, leaving everyone around him disturbed. Having finally let his family in, Richard found much-needed love and support to begin his journey towards healing, with the possibility of a healthy future seeming likely.

Fred and Mary Joined Hands to Make their House Liveable Again

One of the most alarming houses of ‘Hoarders,’ riddled with dust and cobwebs, belonged to the couple Fred and Mary from Missouri. They lived in the house with their 14-year-old son. When therapists and cleaners walked into the house, they realized that the outside was just a glimpse of how messed up things were on the inside. However, Frank, who was in constant denial, could not understand the reason behind all the fuss and believed their son was quite happy about sleeping on a mattress atop a massive pile of junk.

Things looked so precarious that the county had to get the family removed from the house. While the clean-up drive was a welcome move for the teenager who couldn’t wait to have his room back, the clean-up team soon realized that the house was in a much more dangerous situation than they had first imagined. The good thing, however, is that follow-up episodes indicated that the family had continued to go to therapy and were intent on working together to make the house safe and liveable once again.

Barbara Agreed to Take Therapy For the Sake of Her Two Sons

California’s Barbara seemed like an unlikely hoarder due to the plush neighborhood she resided in. However, unbeknownst to the world outside, her son’s loss had pushed her into a world of hoarding that was too far gone. It was her two other sons who had eventually decided to help her break away from old habits after an unexpected inspection led to the realization of how bad things had spiraled. To make matters worse, Barbara wasn’t ready to face her demons and instead wanted to focus on more minute details.

After an inspector arrived at her door, there was a mad rush in the house to keep the family’s maggot-infested freezer away from his sight. While the clean-up team did do their bit, Barbara and her sons seemed willing to continue with the progress they’d made. Follow-up episodes indicated that things were going in the right direction, and with the help of her two sons, Barbara was actively seeking therapy and continuing with the house’s clean-up.

Kathleen Set Up a Miniature Museum Inside Her House

It was the death of her husband 25 years ago that had pushed New Jersey’s Kathleen into a world of hoarding. What made things even more odd was her fondness to store strange things, such as the corpses of two dead owls in her freezer. The good thing, however, was that despite the long-time hoarding she had done, her house seemed to be in excellent shape. With a little help, she was able to clear out the clutter, enough for everything around to seem quite beautiful in her four-bedroom home.

While Kathleen was willing to let go of her cluttered items, the therapists and cleaners allowed her to continue keeping some of her prized hoarded items. But, instead of keeping the strewn all over the house, they had helped her set up a miniature museum inside a room to help showcase her fondness for the beauty of nature.

Scott Resolved to Part Ways With His Massive Collection

Cedar, Michigan’s Scott, a self-proclaimed “collector,” had a fondness for acquiring unique pieces in auctions. However, he hadn’t recognized how this fondness had turned into an obsession. He would buy things intending to sell them for profits, but upon realizing that he wasn’t willing to part ways with them, he’d end up storing them all across the 500 properties he had owned.

Scott’s clean-up drive was more about his acceptance of the extremity of his problem and accepting that his obsession had landed in debt worth hundreds of thousands. By the end of the clearing out, Scott agreed to give the reigns of everything to his son so he could sort things out, and he also made peace with the truth that old items lost their worth after a point of time.

Verna Agreed to Take Help to Maintain a Good Bond With Her Daughter

Santa Cruz’s Verna Carter was compelled to climb into her attic and sleep there as her house had become too filled with clutter for her to stay. She believed that the house was too hoarded for the crew to make it livable once again. She wasn’t wrong in her admission as the house was littered with rotten food items, abandoned broken furniture, and heaps of dead rodents. While the crew did manage to clear out the place quite a bit, Verna complained that she wasn’t satisfied with the work done.

The real problem began when Verna refused to consider herself a hoarder and instead preferred to be called a ‘craftsperson.’ However, despite her reluctance, she eventually agreed to accept the help and acknowledge the problem she had for her daughter’s sake. Follow-ups suggested that Carter had taken residence in a Santa Cruz recovery home and had taken therapy sessions from a psychologist while looking forward to returning home.

Claire and Vance Started to Part Ways With Their Hoarded Books

Married couple Claire and Vance from Chicago had an innate fascination for books, which they tried to fulfill by hoarding them in large numbers. The pair had amassed around 500,000 books in their home! When the clean-up team arrived, Claire seemed willing to accept that a change was needed and came on board the process, although she was quite clear about how comfortable she felt being surrounded by the books. Her husband, however, tried to use sarcasm to overlook that they had a problem in the first place.

Eventually, he, too, agreed that their book hoarding had fairly gotten out of hand, and they needed to put a stop to it for their own safety. This eventually helped them let go of around 2,500 books during the initial clean-up drive. As per follow-up episodes, the pair had managed to get rid of around 4000 books more and were in the process of parting ways with around 200,000 more.

Ruth Welcomed the Clean-Up Drive and Agreed to Work For Herself

Ruth’s was a tragic story that left many viewers shaken. Having lost her husband in their house in St. Louis, she had had a hard time parting ways with his belongings. What added to the suffering was the sudden death of her older son due to a heart attack, which was followed by her younger son’s suicide. Her home was a testament to Ruth’s abject pain and suffering. It was her daughters who had decided to get her out of the rut and give her a new lease on life.

While the clean-up was nothing less than heartbreaking for her as she had to part ways with the things that reminded her of the three most important people in her life, she still agreed to do it. The efforts bore fruit. As per an update episode, Ruth was in recovery for five years and was continuing on her part to heal, happy to have finally managed to walk into a clean house and feel good about herself.

Manuel Chose to Clean Up His House and Bring Back His Grandchildren

Manuel and his wife Liz were the babysitters of their four grandchildren in their home in San Antonio, Texas. However, the filth in the house, along with the roach and fecal matter that was strewed all around, saw the Child Protective Services come and take the children away from them. As the family agreed to let the clean-up drive begin, the crew found out that things had gotten a bit too much for Liz, who had consumed sleeping pills and tried to commit suicide on television.

With Liz being hospitalized, Manuel, who wasn’t as willing to let go of his junk, initially decided to sit up and clean out his mess. He agreed to allow the crew to give his house a complete makeover. Follow-up episodes suggested that not only had Liz survived, but she had also taken therapy, and the family had been fighting to get their children back home.

Carla Decided to Take Life in Her Own Hands and Stand Up For Herself

Oklahoma’s Carla had been in a string of abusive relationships, and that was the primary reason why she had started to hoard. While she felt unworthy, she didn’t have it in her to fight for herself, which is why she chose to continue to stay in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend Rick. And, to feel better about herself, she hoarded junk in her house. Despite the willingness and consistent urges of her family, Carla hadn’t been able to walk out of her house, which barely had enough space to stand.

After her sister and niece showed up with the clean-up team, a nervous Carla agreed to get her house cleaned and bring her life back on track. As the house got an unexpected makeover, she slowly began gaining confidence in herself and broke up with Rick. The drive was a huge success as she eventually ended up walking into a house that seemed brand new, thanks to all the renovation the team had done. After the fresh start, updates suggest Carla had begun to let family and friends back into her life and was working towards improving her mental health.

Fuzzie and Freddie Were Making Slow Progress

The two eccentric artists from Ohio, Fuzzie and Freddie, had a fascination for all things that could be categorized as ‘odd.’ They enjoyed collecting mannequins, instruments, magazines, utensils, dolls, and almost everything they could lay their hands on, making them one of the most interesting hoarders ever. However, what made their situation worse was that they didn’t seem to care about the threats their families gave them, nor did they care about the dangers their actions posed. Despite their reluctance, a follow-up episode with hoarder expert Matt Paxton claimed that the couple had worked on getting their mess sorted somewhat and were actively working to better their situation as well.

Marlene Has Improved Her Fractured Relationship With Her Daughter

Marlene was a renowned supermodel during her heyday. She had gotten married to the heir of Lear Jet, and life seemed to be going well till she caught him cheating, leading her to go on a downward spiral. Things went so bad that she’d even thrown her daughter out and spent her time scurrying through dumpsters and hoarding junk in her house in Topanga, California, much to the shock of those around her. However, despite her anxiety and meltdown, Marlene knew she had a problem, so she agreed to allow the clean-up process to happen when the team arrived at her house.

The outcome of getting her house cleaned was not just the superb restoration that was done but also the fact that Marlene and her daughter were able to mend their long-standing broken relationship. Follow-ups suggested that improving relations with her daughter had eventually helped to ensure Marlene was able to go on the right path of recovery.

Hoarders Season 5 and 6: Where Are They Now?