A&E's Hoarders focused on the idea of extreme hoarding, and when looking at some of where the people featured in Hoarders are now, the spotlight didn't always help. Those featured in Hoarders lived in houses loaded floor-to-ceiling with clutter, personal effects, and, most often, actual garbage. The show offered a look into the lives of those living with the results of hoarding, and it shined a light on the tragedies inherent in many of these situations. "Experts" would be dispatched to clean their homes before they faced legal action.

However, the A&E show isn't without its controversies and criticisms. The show is, in a word, shocking. Some of the subjects of Hoarders could've received jail time for things like animal abuse as many keep animals in some of the most unlivable conditions ever seen. As well, the series can be seen as exploitative. Five years after Hoarders first aired, A&E produced a series of follow-up episodes that detailed ex-hoarders' lives, leaving many fans wondering what happened to some of the show's most infamous figures.

16 Peggy Was Arrested Two Weeks After The Show Aired

Season 8, Episode 8 - “Peggy/Ed & Connie”

According to city officials, “Peggy” was only brought to their attention because of the show...

When “Peggy” appeared on the show in season 8, the explanation in the Hoarders official press release was that city officials were not going to allow her to live in her home, considering it “uninhabitable.” Not only was the home filled with detritus but there were also 25 dead animals found on the property. While those watching the show might have speculated that it was neglect as the Hoarders team attempted to help her clean house, that wasn’t found to be the case.

Two weeks after her episode of Hoarders aired, she was arrested under her real name, Cora Belk, on charges of animal cruelty, using the remains of turtles, birds, and dogs seen in the show. According to city officials, “Peggy” was only brought to their attention because of the show, and they felt that those associated with the series should have notified them of the animal remains in her home.

Those who lived near her didn’t know the extent of the hoarding because her yard was always kept neat. The code enforcement officer who actually appears in the Hoarders episode ended up losing his job for not reporting his findings. Belk died in 2017.

15 Augustine Still Struggles With Family

Season 2, Episode 1 - "Augustine"

Augustine was part of the second season of Hoarders. Her hoarding tendencies were so bad that the authorities came and removed her son when he was a child. Even when she lost her child, it still wasn't enough to make her want to make a change, and she continued on without her son under her roof. The cleanup crew even found a dead cat in her clutter that no one knew was there, or where it might have come from.

Her son had chosen never to return to see his mother and remained estranged from her.

Things did not improve for Augustine. While her house didn't look as bad as it did when the crew first arrived, in a follow-up episode, Augustine was still not taking responsibility for her actions. The psychologist gave her small tasks to complete, but she didn't do any of them. There was fecal matter on the floor in her bathroom and her son had chosen never to return to see his mother and remained estranged from her. Also, in the follow-up, Augustine's daughter Susan was there and said her mom was ungrateful and would never change.

14 Bob Turned Things Around

Season 2, Episode 4 - "Bob/Richard"

Sometimes, the Hoarders team finds someone who accepts their help, which was the case with Bob from season 2. Bob and his wife lived with four kids in their house, which was full of trash. When they ended up with bed bugs, they left to sleep in a tent in the yard, hoping to starve the bed bugs out, rationalizing that they wouldn't have people to feed on.

When the professional organizer and exterminators arrived from Hoarders, he learned he was a hoarder and turned his life around. Bob chose not to see a counselor, but he took all the advice and education to heart after his episode and was putting effort into maintaining the house.

He also kept working with organizers after the fact. He and his wife seemed much happier in the follow-up episodes and their children were able to play in their bedrooms, showing that their improvements helped not only Bob, but his wife and kids lead happier and healthier lives.

13 Dennis & Nadine Improved Their Lives

Season 2, Episode 12 - "Dennis & Nadine/Erin & Malinda"

Nadine and Dennis had it tough when the Hoarders team showed up to help them. When they arrived, Dennis (a former police officer) was in bed and could barely move. There were boxes and trash all over the house, and it was hard for anyone to move around. The clean-up crew arrived and did a full clean of the house, which was important since Dennis had been bedridden due to health issues. However, they also did something that made things worse. Denis had a gun collection, which they had to remove.

He felt that losing his gun collection was hard to take...

This made Dennis suicidal. He felt that losing his gun collection was hard to take, and he said he didn't want to live anymore. Two years later, the follow-up episodes showed that the house was cleaner than it was before, but Nadine still had boxes and bags everywhere, as she still didn't feel comfortable with storage solutions or eliminating things. Dennis was still in bed, although he had lost a lot of weight and looked better. He said he still thought about dying, but he was doing better every day.

12 Judi Improved After Appearance

Season 2, Episode 2 - "Judi/Gail"

Judi lived in her own filth for years before the Hoarders team showed up. She had no running water for years and finally gave in to just wearing adult diapers and relieving herself in those. When the clean-up crew arrived, it took two days to clean out the entire house. They then found someone who was able to buy the house and that is when Judi moved into an assisted living facility.

That made all the difference in the world for Judi.

Thanks to living around other people, she wasn't allowed to hoard things anymore. When the crew visited in the follow-up episode, Judi had clean floors and things looked much better. One professional itted that she never could have made it if she stayed living on her own. However, thanks to the smaller apartment and the people surrounding her, she made a lot of progress, and her health also improved as a result. She replaced her bad habits with hobbies and was moving on.

11 Sandra Lost Her Home To Foreclosure

Season 9, Episode 6 - "Sandra"

Sandra was on in later seasons of Hoarders. She appeared in the ninth season of the show, and Sandra was one of the biggest projects in the history of the series. She lived in a mansion that had 31 rooms in North Carolina. Called the Jullian Price House, it was full of random items and trash. When the team showed up to help her, she was angry, tried to cut deals with the team, and was belligerent at times. Things did not go well for her.

They then turned the mansion into an ultra-clean and luxurious bed and breakfast.

Sandra lost the house to foreclosure. The new owners who bought the house and came helped her clean out all her clutter and took over the residence. They then turned the mansion into an ultra-clean and luxurious bed and breakfast. It was an amazing transformation that never could have happened with Sandra living there. The bed and breakfast also became popular thanks to the mansion's appearance on Hoarders and people stay there because they know it from the reality TV series.

As of 2024, the home is again up for sale.

10 Betty Wanted To Charge Gawkers

Season 1, Episode 3 - "Tara/Betty"

In the third episode of the inaugural season of Hoarders, Ohio native Betty's hoarding habits were putting her sickly husband at risk. He was removed from the property, and a cleanup crew was sent in to take care of the mess. In of where Betty is after her Hoarders experience, Betty remained steadfast in her habits.

She fought tooth and nail to keep as much of her collection as she could, and, according to Entertainment Weekly, she went back to hoarding just a month after filming concluded.

In the follow-up episode, Betty's family said that she chose her clutter over her own family, and she still proudly calls herself the "town's junk collector." Hoarder's organizer Dorothy Breninger said in the follow-up episode that it devastated Betty's children that she chose her junk over having them in her life. She also semi-sarcastically stated that she planned on charging ers-by for gawking at her property.

9 Lisa Returned To Hoarding

Season 4, Episode 10 - "Lisa/Bertha"

A season 4 episode of Hoarders featured Lisa, a Virginia resident harboring a dangerous stash of rotting food. Without a working refrigerator, much of her food became maggot-infested, and she resorted to hanging her shopping bags from the ceiling, so rats couldn't get into them.

The episode featured a terrible moment where her daughter itted that her mom hid gross things in her food, which honestly counted as abuse at the time, and there were hints that Lisa was not well. There have been some Hoarders updates on Lisa, but they're not too great.

Unfortunately, she ed away a few years after her episode, and her family once again called on ex-reality star Matt Paxton to get rid of the extreme clutter she had managed to accumulate following his original cleaning. Matt mentioned this in a follow-up on YouTube and itted that he had no problem going in to help out since it was her kids who called him.

8 Jill Kept A Rotting Pumpkin In Her Living Room

Season 1, Episode 1 - "Jennifer & Ron/Jill"

During the first season of Hoarders, fans were introduced to Jill, a woman with an extreme food-hoarding habit. Unable to determine for herself that her food was rotten and spoiled, she'd keep long-since-perished food out in the open, most memorably displaying a decaying pumpkin in her living room.

The entire house was a mess, with rotten fruits and vegetables lying all over the place. She faced eviction if she didn't get things cleaned up, but the clean-up team from the show saved her for a short time.

Unfortunately, in of Hoarders, as represented in a follow-up episode and as corroborated by Entertainment Weekly, Jill went back to her hoarding ways soon after her time on the reality show. She even kept another rotting pumpkin in her house, indicating that she hadn't made any meaningful personal progress. One good point is that she finally agreed to see a therapist to try to help her overcome her need to hoard food until it's rotten.

7 Fredd & Fuzzie Love Their Mess

Season 6, Episode 13: "Fuzzie & Fredd/Nancy"

An episode of the show's sixth season explored the lives of Fredd and Fuzzie, two eccentric artists who harbored a love for all things odd. Collecting things like mannequins, musical instruments, and broken sex toys, theirs was one of the strangest hoards ever showcased in A&E's reality TV series.

When it comes to Hoarders updates, in a follow-up YouTube video released in February 2021, Matt Paxton revealed that he still kept in regular with the couple. He theorized that their hoarding was a byproduct of their atypical lifestyle, though he states that they have cleaned up somewhat since they were featured on the show.

In a "Memory Lane" clip from the show, extreme hoarder expert Matt Paxton mentioned his thoughts on Fredd and Fuzzie, calling them two of his favorites on the show. He said that he still talks to them weekly and considers them friends, talented artists, and two people who don't care what others think.