Hoarders - the horror series

There's a compelling fascination in watching an episode of Hoarders (Bravo TV) because we're told these people are mostly sad, mental health cases and need your sympathy.

But it doesn't prepare you for what you're about to see inside the four walls of the hoarder's home.

It's weirdly compulsive viewing.

How the utter unadulterated filth evolved is beyond comprehension.

It's mountains of disease-ridden rubbish, from rodent droppings and carcasses to pet dogs and cats left to survive among the steadily rising muck.

The stench is obviously horrific and the helpers are intrepid, plucky souls moving fast clad in overalls which I would hope are asbestos, with hefty face masks and tight protective headwear.

Each hour long programme deals two hoarder interventions.

The hoarder worked with and was taken under wing of either a psychiatrist/psychologist, a professional organiser, or an "extreme cleaning specialist,".

They're specialised in the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorders, anxiety disorders,or hoarding.

It's extraordinary how they manage to speak to their client with a sage understanding, unbelievable empathy and huge encouragement.

No easy task because they're usually standing centre stage in a filthy, putrid, stinking house speaking calmly as though it's just a part of life.

Well ok it maybe for a few but for the rest of us just trying to understand how it happened can easily leave you at a loss.

When you see the house owner plodding through mountains of rotten, festering food, pet faeces and all manner of junk piled so high they've usually done themselves out of a bedroom, a kitchen, a bathroom in fact they're hoarded themselves out of every living space.

It was sickening to watch the clean up crew hauling in pet cages and carrying huge nets as they lunged about trying to catch 20 or so emaciated, ill cats as well.

The woman who totally lost my vote was the one who wept over her cat which had crawled out of the house and lay down and died.

The woman blamed everyone for her cat's death from the authorities to the neighbours.

The reality was that the poor animal had died from after being gassed by ammonia over months.

Seems the woman had had her water turned off but had continued peeing in the dry toilet and flooding the floors.

The cat had been holed up behind the toilet for months.

This is a horror series that happens more that you'd realise.

It is yet another American reality show that some people are becoming increasingly addicted to and I can see why.

Instead an overload of superficial gloss and wealth, Hoarders delves deep into gross, unstable lives.

Whatever is your preference you're sorted.