"Hoarding: Buried Alive" returns Wednesday, and while the piles of boxes, laundry, food and trash featured in the premiere may look familiar, the story behind them is all new.
In a clip TLC is sharing exclusively with TODAY, a son sees the mess his mother and sister are living in, and just can't contain his reaction.
"I probably haven't been inside my mom's house in six to eight years," Roy explains in the clip. "Usually, I'm a little too blunt with my feedback."
It's obvious as Roy navigates the crowded and cluttered space that he'll feel the need to be blunt again — especially after he suddenly stumbles upon a surprise among the mess.
"Aside from the shock of everything, I get to the bedroom and there's my mom and Jessica just sleeping until the middle of the afternoon, knowing that things have to get done, otherwise she's going to be out of the house," he says.
Yes, the stakes are high for the pair. If mom Dale and her daughter don't clean up the towering mess — which poses an extra danger to Jessica, who's a little person — they're likely to be evicted. But when Dale comes face-to-face with her son, she just tries to laugh it all off.
"Want me to cook you dinner?" she says with a big and obviously fake smile. "It was a joke, Roy."
But Roy doesn't find any part of it funny, and he certainly didn't laugh when she referred to the house as simply messy.
"No! My car is messy because I have a candy-bar wrapper and three bottles of water on the floor," he shoots back. "This is (expletive) ridiculous. ... Your daughter isn't going to have a life of her own if you keep this (expletive) up. I'm sorry. I don't have a polite way to put this."
Roy's words hurt Dale, but she understands where he's coming from.
"He was extremely angry and couldn't help but voice it," she said of her son. "I can understand why he would be. He really resents me for the way I live."
Find out if the family is able to make any progress with physical mess or the emotional one when "Hoarding: Buried Alive" returns to TLC on Oct. 30 at 10 p.m.