Only dupe I found was a 2 minute clip of the 'can o' roaches' scene, but I thought the whole blessed affair was worth seeing in its entirety.

black widow spider is on here as well, but I agree it all makes more sense when you watch the entire episode.

Also lets get those tags linked.

it's because everyone in this household is equally broken.

The daughter said, "I don't want to clean without her because I don't know what to throw out," as the camera pans past an empty Doritos bag.

My guess here is that they've had too many fights about what to throw out and what not to throw out and the daughter has kind of given up doing things that will provoke her mom into a rage, even if that means living in a garbage dump. It's a weird boundary to set, but families do all sorts of odd things to keep the peace.

From someone who knows a child of a hoarder (okay, more than one)...

A) they get used to it, even if they acknowledge it, since otherwise it means going batshit or running away. Their threshold for it is way off from regular folk due to some degree of denial from having dealt with this every day

B) at a certain point they realize cleaning will just set off the hoarder, and in a few days they'll have replaced the stuff and taken the whole freak out out on them in the meantime

C) the above two generally enshrines a degree of general hopelessness, so they work to keep the hoarder stable and the house at best habitable until the mindset generally takes them too. I see it in my friends from time to time and I can only hope the cycle doesn't repeat.

I hate to sound like I'm defending TLC here, but they have definitely called CPS (and APS) in the past.

As bad as my life gets, at least I'm not lying in bed while dudes in HAZMAT suits clean up around me. This gives me comfort.

God yes, how does the Dad justify not taking over custody? Welp, wish I could not have you not constantly surrounded by roaches and your Mom's used kotex, kids, but she sure needs that sweet, sweet money you bring her!

Notice that they don't actually mention anything concretely that the Mom is doing differently now, and Mom says that the kids are finally "helping out." What, was the daughter cooking all of your meals not enough? This happened because the kids started calling their Mom's bluff on not being able to do shit. They didn't think that their Mom was dirty enough to live in used kotex and needles castle and they lost that game of chicken. Now they keep the place up because they know she she'd rather live in filth than help and they count the days until they can get the fuck out. I don't know what the hell she thinks will happen once they're gone, but I'm sure she'll guilt at least one of them into staying and picking up after her forever.

I think she has legitimate health problems and I'm not really certain she could even be called a hoarder. My idea of a hoarder is someone who doesn't keep food or trash, but keeps, say, every piece of paper, tool, article of clothing - whatever that they think has or may have some useful sentimental or practical use in the future and keep it very loosely organized. This woman is just a stubborn, sick, miserable human being.

Her mother dying is when the family says the trash really started heaping and I'm not totally convinced, but judging by the tactics the kids and dad seem to have failed at applying (I agree with the "lost that game of chicken" statement) I think they didn't expect the results. I also agree that she'll probably have some poor family member, who out of sheer love, or guilt, will take care of her and put up with her until she finally croaks.

This show features two very distinct varieties of hoarders: those that that are addicted to collecting or shopping and then those that just live in mountains of shit and rotten food. The latter rarely put up a fight when the cleaning crew comes in.

Yeah, that part killed any sympathy I had left for her.