Barely Habitable: My Home Is Buried Under My Clutter | The Hoarder Next Door S1 Ep4 | Only Human

[Music] all across britain ordinary people are keeping a shocking secret and their numbers are growing look at this room nigel over a million people now live in mountains of clutter it's quite good actually it keeps the whiff down that's our rat and when a horde takes over how would you feel if you had more space like i could breathe it can turn the lives of ordinary families upside down mum why are you not listening [Music] you can't live like this i know but help is at hand this is the bathroom yes i would have never guessed psychotherapist stelios keosis has been treating hoarders for the last 15 years and he believes he can help anyone in just six weeks they're not freaks it isn't a choice i just want to get out of this room before this room kills me there's a little hoarder in all of us when it's out of hand and that's what makes it different [Music] this week extreme hoarder nigel this was once the dining room can he declutter as his alter ego [Music] in birkenhead care worker nigel spends as much time away from his house as possible but i'm in the open air it's nice it's peaceful it's relaxing i'm not looking at things and thinking are they going to fall down or they're going to fall on top of me on his quiet street behind the front door of his two up two down nigel hides a secret it's not a life as normal people would have a life inside 55 year old nigel faces an exhausting daily struggle stumbling and squeezing his way through nearly a decade's worth of clutter nigel's home is now barely habitable cooking was one of my favorite hobbies but now it's basically toast and a copper no it's not really a home anymore it's just a base that i exist in so this room is what was the second bedroom at the moment not accessible until i can find my way in the last time i used the bath was probably seven or eight months ago the bath is actually behind all this lot buried under bags and boxes place havoc when the life i can't really move in here properly it's difficult to get dressed difficult to do the normal things you would do in a bathroom there's just one tiny space left in the house where nigel can sit down this is the bedroom then it's the only place i've really got a little bit of space the only space i have to use we still have to go and have a shower add some stuff to make some scums i'll go and put some washing on nap and then i'll go and have a shower okay unable to use his own home nigel spends a lot of time with best friend jackie and her daughters sammy and danielle he's part of the family he just lets himself in he can treat this house as his own and he does maybe he'll just open herself to whatever's in the cupboard he'll cook he'll bake go and do his wash and bring his knit in sit and knit and he's just one of the family so i was things at home then still a mess still getting on my nerves what has changed at the moment i do worry about him the situation that he's in now with the house and that's it does get him down and also safety because he's fallen down the stairs a few times we could be lying there for two days without anybody knowing and that's not good nigel realizes that things have got to change it's just existing basically that's how i feel i am at the moment just existing and need to get a proper life back nigel's vast horde grew out of a passion for collecting buried in the clutter are sewing machines knitting machines and over four thousand pieces of willow pattern pottery many hoarders like nigel started out as collectors [Music] but where does collecting end and compulsive hoarding begin well it started off going to be a dozen then it went to 20 plus 100 and i thought oh no just carry on see how many i can get 17 125 there's about 14 ton of glass in here um which comprises 17 and a half thousand mil bottles as far as we know it's when a tidy collection turns into an out of control hoard and starts to interfere with normal life that's when the problems begin i'm afraid i'm going to have to buy something i'm going to buy that not all start as collections for the last 10 years personal assistant jenny has relished the bargain she finds in charity shops i just buy things because i like them i still can't stop looking even when i bought something but divorcee jenny's ever expanding horde is ruining family life oh hello daisy has mother gone off and dropped you on my doorstep yeah come on lin twelve-year-old daisy finds visiting grandma a struggle i find when i come in i seem to get a headache i know you've said that the smell of the animals yes you know that can't really be helped i have got five cats three dogs a rabbit and a chicken i think also the clutter it just hurts my eyes because there's so much to concentrate on yes it could be i mean brick-a-brack everywhere yeah boarding is now on the increase and jenny and nigel are part of an estimated 1.2 million hoarders in the uk [Music] hoarding disorder as it is called is difficult to treat but one man believes he has the answer leading psychotherapist stelios keosis has been treating hoarders for the past 15 years using a mixture of conventional and alternative therapies he believes he can declutter the minds and homes of extreme hoarders in just six weeks it can happen to anybody it's not because they want to live in a dirty environment or surround themselves with clutter and filth it isn't a choice it is an outcome of the mental health problem [Music] stelios has agreed to help nigel in just six weeks time he'll be sending in an expert team to clear away his horde the first step is to see if nigel is ready to change the most important thing for me as a therapist is to see the level of motivation and hoarders are quite resistant so the fact i'll be going to nigel's house and the fact that he's allowing me to to go and observe him and understand his thought is quite a remarkable achievement really nobody's actually been in the house for two years people would probably be horrified if they saw the state of it but they're probably people who wouldn't understand or didn't know the circumstances [Music] hello pleased to meet you nice to meet you to meet you am i coming you certainly can thank you just be careful as you come through i think you step over a couple of [Music] things [Music] which room is this this was once the dining room oh look at all that wow and then through the arch yeah it was what i used to use as my lounge so once this was a proper room yeah that used to be set out as a proper formal dining room stelios may have years of experience in treating hoarders but that doesn't stop him being overwhelmed by the stench in the kitchen why is this smell here more punches yes do you mind if i put my hands no no that's fine are you used to it i'm not well i have no sense of smell so it's very bad it's the cat litter trays that i need to empty okay yeah nigel's two cats have free reign of the house and the sheer amount of clutter makes it impossible for him to clean up after them have you always lived on your own here um no i had a partner who lived here yeah we were together quite a number of years before he died when did he die um again that's about nine years ago roughly from what um cancer what was your partner's name said do you mind talking about it no is that all right it's fine tell me about it what was it like we collected all this together also he was a collector yeah he was we were both collectors before we met yeah of course when we met all the collections got him out getting mated together so what did he used to call it his main collection was the willow pattern yeah which i sort of added to as well and then after his death i just carried on collecting okay i always promised him that i would carry on with the wallop never get rid of it just everything else just got out of hand are all the rooms like this yeah are they everyone everyone yeah which room is this this is what was the bathroom the bathroom the bathroom this is the bathroom yes i would have never guessed wow the feeling i get so far is that you know things were really organized and interesting and then suddenly there's a there's a cut-off point where it's just everything's just gone down downhill yeah somehow your brain has stopped isn't it it's just given up on the rest it's given up it sounds to me like since sid has died you've just suppressed this huge amount of emotions yeah i think that was probably the big start that's where it mainly started what all this serves in my experience is who to numb yourself it's what we call emotional insulation you know it insulates you from the pain the emotional pain but it never really works because it's inside not outside that's it i've scanned your house what i can say but i can't see one picture of sid why is it maybe because you don't want to accept that he's dead maybe maybe yeah because you know when yeah we accept if somebody's there we have a picture of them and always say this is fine so this was you haven't said i think the only one that there is is somewhere in that room buried yeah and possibly in that pile of photographs there there is one there it is you found him yeah there's sid that's lovely because you're both smiling yeah and that's very significant isn't it [Music] one of the things i would like you to do is to have this picture i want you to look at it every single day don't hide sid away yeah i know it's going to be difficult but it's a first step forward to to accepting that sid is there but not here okay and i'm really surprised that nigel is still alive wow really i think every day that goes by every minute that goes by nigel lives in that house he's putting his life at risk it's a death trap in there for the past nine years 55 year old nigel has been filling his house with junk now nigel has accepted help and has six weeks to turn his life around [Music] his first challenge is to start inviting friends back into his home i didn't want anybody in before i think i've accepted now that things have got to change so to make that change people have got to come in to help me best friend jackie is coming over for the first time in two years [Music] nigel last time i was a niger i could at least see your table oh this is just 100 worse than when i came and saw it last time i just don't know where he's got all the stuff from oh nige that's is this just all clothes and material i don't know what's in there anymore this is just yeah i just don't know what to say oh i mean down there somewhere is the bath what is it's bad right so what's your bedroom like then just like it was before so you don't really need to go in there anyway from what i can see up to now it's not just like it was before all night nice that is disgusting what is it how can you live like it well i just have to donate you haven't even got this floor space there's enough space to get in jump on the bed and go to bed so that's it i knew it was bad nice but i didn't realize it was that bad i'm surprised that you haven't been buried in it well maybe i have occasionally um i understand now why you don't want to be here i'll know you perhaps see you now more why you do get in the state to get in i never realized it was as bad as it was because he never let anybody this is his last chance otherwise he's going to be like that for the rest of his life and it'll just get worse and worse and worse letting jackie back into his home was a big step for nigel now on stelios's suggestion he's hung up a picture of his dead partner sid to help him come to terms with his loss and to begin to deal with the reality of his situation life in the house is difficult i do realize sometimes that the things around me not only are the things that i like to have around but eventually could be the things that end up causing me to die i'll have boxers and the knitting machine fall on top of me in the hole and actually pin me to the floor spurred on by jackie's visit nigel has decided to tackle the hallway i just don't know which end to start at because bits and pieces that i can see kicking around but i just want to get him bin bags ready to put in the bin but hoarders are terrible procrastinators and nigel finds it virtually impossible to decide what to keep and what to throw away and all he can really do is move things around [Music] the new set of scales are bought for the kitchen uh but as yet they've not gone as far as the kitchen so i can head that way quite dramatic when it's got the candles on and lit after four hours nigel has managed to move a lot of clutter a few cosmetics and creams and potions to other rooms and some bits and pieces have made it outside [Music] but in spite of all his efforts nigel's hard work has made little impact if the horde had a voice you know what do you think he would say to you he would say to me get rid of us yeah personal assistant jenny is also being helped with her hoarding disorder by psychotherapist stelios [Music] but she's finding it hard to face up to her problem in her berkshire semi i'd call it an aladdin's cave but other people might call it steptoe's scrap yard jenny's hoarding began 10 years ago after a near fatal car accident in which she lost the use of her right arm it's like being in a womb i feel cozy i feel really hidden away inside like a hibernating animal and it makes me feel safe jenny's 12 year old granddaughter daisy lives 53 miles away so a few years ago jenny spent 20 000 pounds converting her loft into a spare bedroom so that she could stay over but it hasn't quite worked out as planned oh my god i didn't expect it to be like this at all we used to be able to walk down there gosh i want it to be like that i've forgotten what that was like when i walk into the house i feel sad that my nan has to live like this i would actually love to stay over but it's just too cluttery and the smell and just all the junk just makes me get a headache i want to get rid of a lot of you know my excess clutter if i don't do it soon she won't you know she'd be too grown up to want to come nigel is now three weeks into his treatment after his attempts to clear out his hall failed stelios has called him into his clinic to suggest a radical new strategy well i came to your house i noticed a lot of wigs um that's my alter ego um it's i suppose i use it as an escape it changes my personality i become a whole different person okay so you dress up yeah really what's her name um well she has two names um if she's been good she's miranda if she's being bad she's miss begull tart you know i better tell you off oh yeah yeah yeah what do they what do they say oh it's all sorts of things you know they say oh no you don't need that you know it's interesting because what i'm thinking is we can get miranda miss todd to help you as well how about miranda here's the entrance hall [Music] we all have our alter egos and he has them but they're more pronounced because he obviously cross dresses and so forth and now that's fine in some ways the alter egos are perhaps that rational part of his voice because miranda who says to him no you don't need that so it's the logical side of him that has taken the form of a woman and a little chicken phillips just to make her boobs bigger [Music] i suppose it's like having a twin sister but the twin sister is all inside me possibly miss miranda will be able to sort of get rid of quite a lot more stuff than i'm able to and to see what happens [Music] extreme hoarder nigel has experienced a range of therapies created by psychotherapist stelios kiosis to help him turn his life around but it's not nigel it's his alter-ego miss miranda who's now about to try to conquer the horde do we really want anonymous curry and julie andrews in the sound of music [Music] rubbish feathery eyelashes i suppose miranda's better with some of the stuff in the hallway because she doesn't get as attached to it some of it doesn't really mean much to her so she's more able to get rid of it i think this is probably something that nigel would have kept it's um a candlestick with just like a big glass bead in the middle but there's only one of them so really i think it's got to go rubbish rubbish [Music] i think that's been quite a good day next day nigel's got surprise visitors jackie's daughters sammy and danielle i was ben's full hello inspection hello what'd you mean inspection how far have you done quite a bit more yesterday's help was quite good she did a good job yeah he's done quite well i think he was with yesterday who came yesterday miss miranda came yesterday to help us miss her um well we sometimes refer to her as the [ __ ] i didn't dress up said chad you did miranda came out to play so you've done it dressed up i think it is weird the way he's dressed up but do it yeah cause he said that miranda hasn't got a connection with them things well it's still him under a wig now you've done the whole and you know how much there is to be thrown away are you gonna start thinking about skip no i'm not paying for skip to have people on the street dump their rubbish in it it's just as easy to put it in the car so i'm quite happy to go to the tip with it it would be full of the people's rubbish before i got married well not really if we just say there will be no skip outside the house it gets very moozy yeah and like defensive about it doesn't he's like no that's the end of the subject conversation no so or getting me montague away to him yeah three days later jackie and her daughters have invited nigel around for dinner what he doesn't know is that jackie has an ulterior motive be a hell of a lot quicker with a skip yeah but in a day i'm just going to manage to fill the car so that's the car though gone to the tip yeah but it's not mum it's gotta be my way in the car or else no well what about no oh all right then what about miranda's way well she's not too keen on this dippy she's not zucchini no no no no no that's nigel that's not keen on the skin well i thought miranda was getting she's yes she did she got stuck in and cleared a lot of stuff and got it ready for me to take to the tip of the charity shop so she can get the stuff ready to go this tip the skip then can't she i don't know yet [Music] one week later and miranda has said yes to the skip and nigel is facing every holder's worst nightmare get away right i can start just the only tea light yes what color are they i don't know you haven't used them it's one thing to have a skip but it's going to be a battle to get nigel to put things in it it's coat hangers chucking i'm gonna put it there to chuck out because it won't go in the bag you can only keep five more things and the rest is going so choose wisely just leave them in i'm just looking at who they are the first one [Music] we can see the floor we've got a bit of the floor showing i know we've got a bit before shopping i bet you never thought you'd see that no probably not at least now he's getting really stuck in and we've got some of that down room sorted i'm just going with quite a bit in it yeah with sammy and danielle helping the clear out really gets going [Music] i don't really know what has changed but something's changed to make me do this and feel like this so it can only be for the good i've got some middle cutters no ben [Music] in one afternoon they've managed to fill an extra large skin [Music] though well let's face it we can stand there where we couldn't see anything apart from the mountain you see the telly and i can watch the telly i'm proud of what you've done nige it's done in it that night nigel can sit down in his dining room for the first time in four years the treatments i've been having with daddy oscar talks with stelios has helped me to come to terms with it so it's only for the good really time to move on [Music] with the six weeks nearly up it's coming to the end of nigel's therapy hello jenny hi this is nigel stelios has arranged a joint session of art therapy in the hope that nigel's newfound confidence will inspire jenny to start decluttering do you want to show jenny um your pictures your recent pictures this is how far i've got that was buried so that is now the corner in the dining room where the television is that's not been seen for two years have you been doing this on your own have you ever had one of my friends around with the two daughters was just one day we filled that skate from one room so it is going mommy it must make you feel a lot better oh it makes an awful lot of difference if you've got the space there yeah it is so much different jenny do you think you can do that i hope so skips i'm not too sure about what i'm hoping to do with this exercise just to help you understand in terms of physically saying something for you to draw your emotional clutter [Music] it's very important to bring the inside world to the outside and one way of bringing your inside world into the outside world is by putting it on a piece of paper so what's the emotional clutter on that piece of paper for you i suppose it's just all the things that are mixed up in my head that i've not been able to come to terms with or been able to sort through people dying and all sorts of things like that and sort of the little bits coming out feeling for trying to sort of i suppose feel for some kind of help there's like a little face in there trying to peer out whose face is it could be me trying to get out of the chaos turmoil yeah jenny is really just starting the path of recovery but it was lovely to see nigel helping jenny and giving her some really thorough advice and helpful advice and more hope really inspired by her session with stelios and nigel jenny's ready to tackle her spare bedroom i love you jane but this is ridiculous this is the first time that close friend angela has ventured upstairs i love organizing stuff but this i just wouldn't know where to i think it probably looks worse than it actually is because it's all tossed around it is overwhelming because there's so much stuff and the thing is it's not just here it's the rest of the house as well so can't we just throw these hangers they're horrible well i need some hangers downstairs because i can't hang my clothes up the old suede jacket that it was my cousin since she died of lung cancer you see so you get attached to things i keep coming to get rid of it and then i think it was barbara's yeah it was barbara's but barbara's and then i wore it and now it needs cleaning and tackling such an enormous horde is a daunting prospect and angela's getting frustrated by jenny's reluctance to throw anything away it's difficult you try and understand it but it's difficult to understand when you're not a hoarder yourself and you try and understand and you try and tell yourself it's an illness i don't know [Music] now look this can go in the tip you don't want this surely do you i want to hear the word no no not really although it might be useful to put stuff on at the car boot have we thrown anything away yet yes i've put two coats there that are going down stairs well i haven't got that much in the way of rubbish i mean there is some stuff but most of it is [Music] saleable or giver awayable or something after a frustrating afternoon angela finally leaves we did what we could but then you come down round the corner down the stairs and it's just horrendous i don't think people realize how petrified i've been i found it extremely exhausting emotionally exhausting and draining but it's a start it's just over a week before nigel finishes his therapy stelios believes that yeah the treatment is working for me and that he believes yes i'm ready for the next step actually letting the cleaning team come in to have a go to give nigel a final push stelios has sent in a team of professional declutterers [Music] but letting strangers in to clean his home is a big step for nigel hello zoe steele is an expert in decluttering hoarders homes hello nigel what a horde look at this room nigel that yeah well exactly that was my work room i don't know how you haven't been lost amongst all the hold see it does feel as though i'm lost in it oh my nigel how have you lived like this well oh this couldn't have gone on much longer it is huge i've never seen a horde this big and more importantly this depressing it's full of sadness yeah and that's what's got to go extreme hoarder nigel is in the final stages of a six-week therapy course to kick his hoarding habit psychotherapist stelios keosis has been working on his mind this is one of the most extreme cases we've had here if he hadn't come for any treatment the probability is that he would have sooner or later kill himself in the house he sent in expert declutterer zoe steele to deal with the mammoth task of clearing his horde look at this room nigel over 200 miles away in berkshire hoarder jenny has also been making changes after struggling to clear her hoard she's begun taking items to one of the charity shops where she used to buy things there's probably mainly rubbish in there i hope there's something useful anyway wanting her granddaughter to stay has motivated jenny to start sorting out her home [Music] it spurred me on to try and get rid of things and i've started doing that it's a slow process doing that though i mean it's one thing to tidy the mess up it's another thing for me to actually get rid of things and that's my biggest problem i've got a big job ahead of me granddaughter daisy is coming to see how she's getting on i'm sure you'll see a difference it doesn't look so different oh my god it's a major achievement for jenny but she still has an awfully long way to go at least some of it is a start i'm so proud of you nani for being able to do this it just has made me feel lifted i feel spurred on to carry on with it all don't feel so sort of down in the dumps about it back in birkenhead nigel is starting his major clear out with zoe and her professional declutterers right here we go what about this usb air freshener um put it outside for now her technique is to work fast so nigel can't get hung up on individual items quick decisions gotta go keep going come on what's in this one that's me hair clippers right so keep keep keep what about these dishes here those i can use again because the rest of the set is actually in the bottom of that thingamajig in there what where do i put it all nigel right we've got two mixers here lovely i need to keep both you haven't got the space for two nigel we haven't got the chance for two all the other nigel you haven't got the space for it you've got all of it no listen listen listen listen you haven't got room to have two quick decisions i'm going to give you 20. okay that one then which one the older one well done we'll put it in this out the side yeah to be kept fine to go what does that belong to the burger maker do you use the burger maker uh and i haven't been because i've not been able to so you're not gonna use it are you well really all right come on you aren't are you honest come on darling no fine yeah so he doesn't feel pushed he is allowed to hang on to some possessions egg cooker is this the only one you've got yeah are you going to use an egg cooker eventually when i've got the kitchen sorted so it's a keeper that's coming back in but when we start to sort the kitchen out if there isn't a street space i've got then yeah fair enough does that agree yeah that's fine keep that's giving me reasons on the things that he's keeping but we will go back to them later right now would it really hurt you to see a whole bag of rag go you don't need it do you well nigel that's good come on brilliant stellius have been so pleased with you come on moving on i suppose it is strange with strange people in the house but we'll get used to it it's just another challenge yeah that's the keep yeah no one's been into nigel's front room for four years it's where he's been storing his most precious items oh gosh all right look at this that's willow pattern that needs to get to the sink no you can't take it to this thing oh it's a box but unfortunately the cats haven't used the problem but it's really bad there's maggots in here there's toilet pee cat's poo um it's absolutely awful it is soaking wet the box is falling apart and it's full of maggots it's really nasty and i'm sure there's going to be a lot more we're going to find this one it's also been is that one completely different yeah is it like yeah been used as a toilet as well it's a shame because it is something he values but how can if it's something you value why wouldn't you look after it um and let it get to this but hopefully you know nigel starts to will start to turn the corner but this is pretty pretty rank [Music] upstairs nigel's finally in reach of his 36 strong collection of sewing machines must be maybe three years since i last was able to get through the door how are we doing nigel we are getting there sewing machine got another sewing machine yes hello made the decision and it's got to go absolutely i can't believe how good you're doing oh i could kiss you oh please don't why not he's managed to chuck out 14 of his prized collection [Music] what's that one that can go clearing the clutter has uncovered the destruction underneath the cats have had to run on the house and it's just horrendous i need a breather for a minute it's making me feel quite sick but the house is finally starting to emerge from the debris i can start to see as we're unravelling it how it was before and i think it was quite an organized set out presented display probably i'd liken it to a little museum of all the things he liked this is how it was it was always arranged in order it's just that everything else has just hidden it for all these years to be actually sat here looking at it it is quite strange [Music] it's the end of nigel's six weeks of treatment and time for stelios to see if the therapy has been a success how can one man accumulate so much stuff and i bet this is not the only one i can't wait to get in there and see what he's done so [Music] well hello hello thank you i'm i'm shocked you will be you really will wow that's just amazing well done oh my goodness [Music] you know just feeling quite overwhelmed really what a beautiful home uh it's just a shock really wow [Music] well it's been done you've done it yeah well done yeah it's done roger i'm so happy for you i really am this is just amazing and there city's sitting proudly there you've done the bathroom as well wow this is amazing it's like a different house it is a different home now it's just amazing i remember we couldn't move no you just we were standing here you were standing i think i was standing here you were standing there oh he just couldn't move it's just a miracle six weeks ago nigel's hoard was so extreme it had become a health hazard there hasn't been time to tackle his main bedroom yet and some precious items have been kept but he has filled five extra large skips [Music] and the transformation is incredible rooms that were totally blocked are now completely clear [Music] he's got a bathroom he can use [Music] and a kitchen he can cook in [Music] with stelios's help nigel's life has been transformed well done [Music] oh just i just can't believe that it's done you've done it yeah i'm really happy for you well i just can't believe it but i've done it that's it it's start again now yeah that's it yes yeah never lose hope oh no never again never believing yourself you know that's it just made all the difference [Music] bye nigel thank you very much take care you're welcome take care okay [Music] absolutely amazing i'm just overwhelmed really you know this was one of the most extreme holds i've come across just really happy to see somebody finding themselves again i'm just ecstatic really am [Music] for the first time in six years nigel is able to have his friends over for a dinner party right come on man cheers everybody all the good things that you've done all the good things that are to come i didn't think deep down that he thought he'd be able to get as far as he did so i think he's pleased with himself proud of himself like i'm proud of him for doing it coming in it's just like into a different house it's brilliant we've gone a long way in a short time but couldn't have done it without the good friends that i've got so all i can say is just thanks again to everybody happy again i've got my house back got my life back you just can't say how much it means it's just absolutely amazing [Music] so [Music] foreign

Channel: Only Human

Views: 347,986

Keywords: Only Human, Only Human channel, the hoarder next door episode 4, nigel jennings, The Hoarder Next Door, hoarder, hoarder next door, britain's biggest hoarders, hoarders (tv program), cartoons, stelios kiosses, day in my life, hoarders buried alive, collection, purchase, collectibles, only human documentary, shopping addiction documentary, hoarders full episodes, the hoarder next door, the hoarder next door youtube, documentary 2021, mental health awareness

Id: cnSs_VHKbsw

Length: 46min 43sec (2803 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 17 2021