Original title
My Strange Addiction
Released
12/29/2010
Origin country
US
Genre
Documentary
Production companies
20 West Productions, Violet Media
Status
Ended
Number of seasons
7
Number of episodes
50
My Strange Addiction is an American documentary television series that premiered on TLC on December 29, 2010. The series focuses on people with unusual compulsive behaviors. These range from eating specific non-food items to ritualistic daily activities to bizarre personal fixations or beliefs.
Viewers are provided with a look into the minds of the psychologically imbalanced through the personal testimonies of three people: one who is addicted to the taste of chalk, another who is obsessed with running, and a third who shops compulsively.
A revisit to six addicts whose stories shocked the world shows that some have transformed their lives but others have become more compulsive.
Thirty-one-year old Lori has been addicted to sleeping with her blow dryer since she was eight years old. Although she finds the heat and sound comforting, Lori risks the chance of burning her skin severely or worse, starting an electrical fire. Kesha has admitted to eating half a roll of toilet paper everyday. Whether in the car, at the movies, or in a restaurant, Kesha seizes every opportunity to give into her addiction.
Lauren used to be addicted to drugs and alcohol, now she's addicted to extreme bodybuilding. She works out up to six hours a day, six days a week. 24-year-old Rhonda can't stop sucking her thumb while sniffing a scrap of her childhood blanket. The safety and comfort the thumb sucking gave her during her parents divorce, has now become an isolating social behavior she can't let go.
Crystal has been eating household cleanser everyday since she was twelve. Her shame, embarrassment and concern for her health have caused her to keep this a secret. 20-year-old Samantha tans up to three times a day in tanning beds, in addition to tanning outdoors slathered in vegetable oil.
When April's fiance gave her the ultimatum "it's me or the puppets" - April chose the puppets. Not only do the puppets go everywhere she goes, she practices with them 12 hours a day. Debbie is severely allergic to cats, but has over twenty of them. Despite the health problems they cause and the isolation that comes along with being the "crazy cat lady," Debbie continues to choose the cats over herself since her husband's death.
A teen who eats detergent up to seven times a day is profiled. Also: A man is obsessed with training for strongman competitions.
A shoe addict owns over 200 pairs and refers to them as her "babies." Also: a woman who with a hair-pulling problem is profiled.
A woman insists on wearing her fur suit everywhere she goes; another woman has been eating couch cushions for 20 years.
A man treats his life-size doll like a wife; a woman spends hours a day picking scabs on her body.
Cyntrelle spends up to eight hours everyday cleaning her home; Belinda excessively collects rocks.
Over the past four years, Josh has consumed more than 100 glasses and 250 light bulbs. As if ingesting glass wasn't dangerous enough, Josh also swallows live bullets. Candice struggles with her addiction to skin bleach to lighten her skin. Discrimination at school and teasing from friends has her convinced she is ugly.
Maureen is obsessed with her make-up; Barbara prefers the company of those who have passed on.
At fifteen, Kimberly started using laxatives to lose weight and is now addicted to them; Bianca craves pottery and ashes.
48-year-old Jazz has been growing her fingernails for the past 22 years. Even though her extreme fingernails make life tough, Jazz refuses to cut her nails. 56-year-old Theresa is addicted to her 52 hairless rats. Instead of working, she spends her day feeding, cleaning and caring for her strange obsession.
28-year-old Evan has hidden a strange addiction from almost everyone he know, pulling hair from shower drains. In social situations, he heads straight to the bathroom and compulsively pulls hair out of the homeowner’s shower drain. For the past seven years, 26-year-old Nicole has been eating the drywall. She craves the taste and will eat up to three square feet of drywall every week.
25-year-old Riley lives her life as an adult baby and refuses to grow up. She sleeps in a crib, drinks out of a bottle and even wears diapers 24 hours a day. 35-year-old Charmissa has been addicted to chewing dryer sheets for four years. She wraps them up in toilet paper and tears off a piece when she has a craving. Chewing on them helps to calm her nerves, but the chemicals in the dryer sheets can cause cancer.
For the past 30 years, 44-year-old Theresa has been sniffing gasoline out of a water bottle. Her addiction has gotten so bad that she can’t go more than ten minutes without a sniff. 26-year-old Krista is a loving and caring mother… to her 12 teddy bears. Krista tends to her troop of teddy bears as any mother would: dressing them, caring for them and putting them to bed every day.
55-year-old Tom has been addicted to cycling for more than 25 years. He peddles at least 6 hours a day, seven days a week. He rides his bike at home, outside and even in his office as he works. Divya is an attractive 28-year-old with a very unattractive addiction to taxidermy. She spends her days and nights searching for animals on the side of the road and even keeps a freezer full of dead mice – despite the risk of disease.
44-year-old Teresa has been eating rocks for more than 20 years. She drives up to an hour away from her Virginia home to gather the stones she finds most appetizing. Tamara is a 33-year-old personal trainer whose been carrying around her childhood pillow for over 25 years. Tamara takes her pillow everywhere – to work, to the mall, on long walks – and considers it her best friend.
26-year-old Casie has been so devastated by the sudden loss of her husband, Shawn, that she brings his urn with her wherever she goes. Her family is worried about her well-being, but does not know that Casie has taken her addiction to a shocking new extreme.
18-year-old Kailyn has eaten plastic every day for more eleven years – remote controls, CD cases, forks and water bottles are some of her favorites. She eats up to 15 pieces of plastic a day and even chooses plastic over food. 28-year-old Gloria has taken her addiction to bleach to the extreme – she bathes in it daily, pours it on her hand to smell while she’s out and will even tear into bottles at the store so she can get a quick fix.
Season 3 begins with a man who shows his love for his car by buying it gifts and taking it out on dates; and a 28-year-old who has been sniffing baby powder for 16 years.
A woman eats hundreds of cat treats and wet food every day; a woman who has been smelling mothballs for 15 years stores them all over her house and in her purse.
Profiling a woman who has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on breast augmentation, even though the implants have caused an infection; and a woman who can’t stop eating adhesive tape.
A woman’s family is worried about her five-year habit of drinking nail polish; a woman is obsessed with cleaning her ears.
A woman who has eaten dirt every day for 30 years; a woman who is obsessed with growing her toenails.
A man picks up dead animals on the road; a woman feels the need to smell pine-oil cleaner every 15 minutes.
A woman who drinks gasoline by the teaspoon; a woman obsessed with smelling a doll's head.
Carrie, a 53-year old woman who does a lot more with her urine than flush it down the toilet. She drinks it, bathes in it, brushes her teeth with it and even rinses out her eyes with it.
Trina and her husband Mike have done nearly 7,000 coffee enemas over the last two and a half years; Lisa has been addicted to licking her cat and eating clumps of hair for three years.
For the last six years, 20-year-old Mark has been addicted to his 15 inflatable pool toys as he eats with them, sleeps with them and even bathes them; Karmello has been getting black market butt injections for the last three years.
47-year-old Asha hasn't cut her 21-foot long hair in nearly a quarter century and spends up to six hours a day grooming her ten-pound locks. Meanwhile, 53-year old Margaret has stung herself over 50,000 times with bees.
43-year-old Riah has been addicted to baby wipes since she was 15 and goes through up to 500 every day. She's so hooked she even uses wipes in place of showering. Meanwhille, 19-year-old Brea has been addicted to eating sand for the past five years.
A man pleads with his 19-year-old girlfriend to kick her two-year habit of eating more than a dozen sticks of deodorant per month; a 27-year-old woman can't live without a stuffed animal.
Man has uncontrollable urges of eating tires and finds himself running after cars and munching on said tires. He is often found late in parking lots devouring peoples precious tires. Michellin are is favourite. He says they are scrumptious. Girl uses vapor rub as lubricant causing burning sensations and painful urination. However, on the positive side, her privates have remained cold free since 1993.
Three people take extreme physical and psychological measures to live as full time human dolls.
Meet Nicole who has been addicted to pony play, a form of role play, for the last 20 years. Plus, Heather, who is compelled to drink paint.
Meet twins who are so addicted to being identical that they weigh their meals to stay the exact same size, and a woman who eats mattresses.
44-year-old mother Lacey has had at least 30 plastic surgeries and is planning more.
22-year-old Keisha is addicted to chewing on urine-soaked diapers. Plus, meet 50-year-old Vladimir who is addicted to using leeches.
Robert consumes up to 16 plastic bags every week. Plus, 48-year-old Catherine can't part from her plastic doll. Can she ditch her addiction?
A 33-year-old man spent over $100,000 on surgery to look like Justin Bieber. Plus, meet a 22-year-old woman who can't stop eating makeup.
Some people turn to chocolate when stressed, others will indulge with a little retail therapy and maybe schedule a massage, but the individuals featured on "My Strange Addiction" resort to extreme and unusual things in an effort to emotionally regulate themselves.
A look into female maskers: men who dress in rubber suits and masks to look like female dolls as they step into public for a rubber doll rendezvous.
Linda has been married to a 70-foot carnival ride, Bruce, for three years; in 12 years Patrice has consumed approximately half a ton of bricks.
A woman in the UK who is addicted to transforming herself into actress and "Baywatch" beauty Pamela Anderson.
A man is addicted to covering his body in orthopedic plaster casts; a woman who speaks with psychics at least three times a day to avoid loneliness.
Kyle only dates women over the age of 65 and Adam is obsessed with becoming Madonna.
Counting down the ten most shocking addictions featured on the show and providing updates.
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