Well wow. I had no idea Hoarders had come back in the spring of 2019 for a tenth (!) season. Since I missed the entire thing when it first aired, I added the hilariously clunky and dated A&E app to my Roku and dove right into the five new episodes. It’s been awhile since I visited with these folks, and this season did not disappoint.
The Therapists
This season brings back three veteran therapists: Dr. Michael Thompkins, Dr. Melva Green, and Dr. Robin Zasio. Drs. Tompkins and Green each get a single episode, Zasio gets three. Zasio is not my favorite, so I wish the others (who do happen to be favorites) had each gotten an extra episode. But it’s all okay! I’ll take what I can get. You can learn more about these and other Hoarders therapists over at Everything Hoarders.
The Organizers
We get three veterans here as well – Cory Chalmers, Dorothy Breininger, and Matt Paxton. But in the first episode we meet someone new – Erica DiMiele. I like her and I think her very human reaction to verbal abuse in her episode had a significant impact on the outcome of the clean-up. The three vets are as good as ever, tackling some absolutely incredible hoards. You can also learn more about Hoarders organizers over at Everything Hoarders.
The Participants
Two of these five episodes are easily in the top five best Hoarders episodes of all time. I don’t say that lightly – there have been some amazing people featured on this show, some extraordinary hoards, and a lot of struggle and triumph. But episodes one and five of season 10 are fantastic.
Episode one features a couple who feel it is their constitutional right to live as they choose, in this case in a giant hoard that’s encroaching on their neighbors and which their city has put them on notice that they must clean up. Their son and his wife and their daughter are among those who assist with the clean-up.
Dr. Tompkins is the therapist for this episode, and Erica DiMiele is the organizer. The couple is remarkably stubborn and they have adopted some current cultural language and attitudes into their hoarding disorder. It is fascinating to watch the doctor and organizer help this floundering family through a very emotional few days.
The fifth episode features three separate participants, two brothers and a friend, each one with an unsustainable hoard. The men have very different life circumstances, and different reasons for hoarding, but they’ve formed a bond over this shared disorder. The therapist is Dr. Zasio and she comments that she’s never seen anything quite like it. The organizer for this gigantic clean-up attempt is Cory Chalmers and he is really put to the test with these three – they are characters and can be very charming until challenged.
Should You Watch It?
Duh, absolutely. It’s been quite some time since there was a new season and the show runners found people who really needed their help. Truly, I think this is the best season yet. The therapists are really stressing the necessity of aftercare services and the organizers are making sure that the participants are as involved as possible in the process. The show has evolved over the years to be less about creating a perfect makeover and more about addressing the underlying causes of the hoarding disorder (and how to combat it successfully in the long run). Season 10 is absolutely recommended for Hoarders watchers.
You can stream all of season 10 on the A&E website or app, or you can buy the episodes on Amazon.
*There is an update episode that also aired in the spring of 2019 floating around somewhere about Sandra from Season 9 – an interior designer who had hoarded an entire mansion. But I cannot find it streaming anywhere. I’ll let you know if it surfaces.
Sue reads a lot, writes a lot, edits a lot, and loves a good craft. She was deemed “too picky” to proofread her children’s school papers and wears this as a badge of honor. She is also proud of her aggressively average knitting skills She is the Editorial Director at Silver Beacon Marketing and an aspiring Crazy Cat Lady.
