14 DAY TRIAL // TLC does love to shock its viewers and, by the looks of things, viewers too love to be shocked. On a new episode of “Hoarders: Buried Alive,” they got to meet Michelle, a former law student who practically lives buried in trash and useless items she can’t stop hoarding.
Michelle was once a law student but, as she explains in the video below, she never got to pass her exams. She lives in a three-bedroom bungalow near Tacoma, Washington and she does, however, have a genuine passion for cooking and baking and is now saving up money to buy herself a “gourmet” kitchen.
Meanwhile, hers looks like it’s been buried in trash after a tornado: as you can see in the video, Michelle actually has to bend while walking in through the door because trash is piled up so high on the floor. She’s been living in this house for almost 3 decades, so some of that trash is perhaps dating from then.
She explains that she no longer has running water in the kitchen because authorities cut it “for safety reasons.” She seems slightly amused when saying this, as if she doesn’t understand what these reasons might be.
That isn’t stopping her from making treats for whoever dares to cross her threshold, she shares for the camera. “I love to bake and cook and have friends and family come over for dinner. I can bake a real nice cake,” she says, while picking up pots to explain what she uses them for.
One day, she will have a “gourmet” kitchen, one that will allow her to entertain people with her best recipes. “I’m saving up money to remodel it,” she reveals in the preview.
As for how her house came to look like this, Michelle says it’s all down to her love of a good bargain. “When I find a good bargain, even if I don't need it, I buy it. [I like] multiples like ten or twenty. I get excited [like] I thought I got a good deal,” she explains.
She loves a good bargain so much that trash is practically pushing her out of her home for lack of space.
Editor’s Note:
Though hoarding is real, I just have to mention one thing: for all the mess in Michelle’s kitchen, the wallpaper looks almost squeaky clean. You’d expect a room in a house that hasn’t been cleaned in 30 years to have horrid-looking wallpaper but, somehow, this isn’t the case here. Dare I suggest a setup on behalf of TLC?