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The show that defined bizarre reality television has returned, and it’s weirder than ever.
After an 11-year hiatus, My Strange Addiction premiered its new season on TLC on Jan. 7, bringing fresh stories of unusual compulsions to a streaming-era audience.
The season premiere featured individuals eating two pounds of raw meat daily and snorting food instead of eating it — proof that the show hasn’t lost its appetite for the unconventional.
But before diving into what’s new, there’s a rich archive worth revisiting.
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The TLC documentary series, which focuses on individuals with unusual compulsive behaviors and fixations that interfere with their daily lives, originally premiered on Dec. 29, 2010.
It ran for six seasons and 50 episodes before concluding its initial run with “Top 10 Most Shocking” on Feb. 4, 2015.
For those tracking cultural phenomena before they resurface in mainstream conversation, the show’s return offers a fascinating lens into how reality television has evolved — and how our collective fascination with the unusual hasn’t changed at all.
What made the original run so compelling
The original My Strange Addiction occupied a unique space in reality television.
Unlike competition shows or celebrity-driven content, it offered unfiltered glimpses into behaviors most viewers had never encountered. Each episode presented individuals whose compulsions ranged from the mildly unusual to the genuinely dangerous, often exploring the psychological roots of these behaviors alongside their physical consequences.
The show’s format remained consistent: introduce the individual, document their addiction in detail, show concerned family members or friends, and often conclude with some form of professional intervention or personal reckoning.
This structure created a predictable framework that somehow made the unpredictable content feel accessible.
What set the series apart was its refusal to simply mock its subjects.
While the behaviors featured were undeniably shocking, episodes typically included moments of genuine vulnerability and attempts to understand the underlying causes of each addiction.
The 10 wildest moments from the original series
The show produced dozens of memorable episodes across its original run.
These ten stand out as the most talked-about, shared, and genuinely jaw-dropping moments in the series’ history.
10. The tire-eating teenager
Season 4, Episode 6 (March 6, 2013)
Allison was 19 years old when cameras captured her addiction to eating tires. She had been chewing on small shreds of tires for the previous six years and estimated she had consumed nearly 50 whole tires during that span.
The numbers were staggering: more than two feet of tire shavings daily, totaling up to 14 pounds per month. In a detail that seemed almost too coincidental, her then-fiancé worked at a tire plant — providing convenient access to her unusual craving.
9. The glass eater
Season 1, Episode 10 (Feb. 9, 2011)
Josh’s addiction to eating glass appeared in the show’s first season, establishing early on that My Strange Addiction wouldn’t shy away from genuinely dangerous behaviors. He preferred thinner glass, such as wine glasses and light bulbs, describing the texture as similar to eating sharp rock candy.
The addiction wasn’t about flavor — it was purely textural. Making his situation more alarming, he was also addicted to swallowing bullets, attributing both compulsions to his lack of impulse control. He finally decided to see a doctor after his friends expressed their concern about his safety.
8. The nail polish drinker
Season 3, Episode 4 (Feb. 19, 2012)
Bertha’s addiction began innocently enough at a nail salon, where she found herself drawn to the smell of nail polish. Curiosity led her to lick some off her nail, and that initial taste evolved into a five-year addiction to drinking the product.
The addiction intensified after she suffered a miscarriage, with some friends and family theorizing that her consumption of nail polish may have contributed to her loss. She described the texture as slimy and acknowledged its strong chemical smell — details that made her continued consumption all the more difficult to comprehend.
7. The paint marker addict
Season 5, Episode 2 (Jan. 1, 2014)
Heather’s addiction to drinking paint began around the time of her mother’s death, suggesting a connection between grief and her unusual coping mechanism. The behavior continued for roughly two years before she decided to confess to her best friend in hopes of finding help.
During filming, Heather admitted to consuming nearly one paint marker every day. In one of the episode’s more poignant moments, she acknowledged that she would be heartbroken if her children followed in her footsteps. That realization ultimately motivated her decision to stop.
6. The dirty diaper addiction
Season 5, Episode 5 (Jan. 15, 2014)
Keyshia was 22 years old and pregnant when the episode was taped. Her addiction involved sniffing and chewing dirty diapers, with a stated preference for “heavier ones.”
She estimated that over nearly two years, she had sniffed or chewed more than 25,000 diapers. The behavior wasn’t a strange pregnancy phenomenon — it had started much earlier, making her current pregnancy a source of additional concern for her health and her baby’s wellbeing.
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5. The urine therapy believer
Season 3, Episode 8 (March 18, 2012)
Carrie was a 53-year-old cancer patient who believed that drinking and bathing in her own urine would help treat her illness. Her practices extended to washing her eyes and brushing her teeth with urine as well.
“I like warm pee. It’s comforting,” Carrie explained during the episode, according to TODAY.com. “The first time I drank my urine, I didn’t throw up and it wasn’t horrible. So I thought, ‘You know what? I can do this.’”
Her case highlighted how desperation in the face of serious illness can lead people toward unconventional and unproven treatments.
4. The drain hair collector
Season 2, Episode 2 (July 17, 2011)
Evan’s compulsion involved pulling hair from shower drains. In social situations, he would head straight to the bathroom and compulsively pull hair from the homeowner’s shower drain, describing the ritual as a way to relieve his anxiety.
His preferences were specific: “long brown hair” that was both “slimy” and “wet.” He admitted to feeling ashamed of his addiction and expressed worry that his compulsions would eventually take over his life — a moment of self-awareness that made his behavior feel less like spectacle and more like genuine struggle.
3. The man in love with his car
Season 3, Episode 1 (Feb. 12, 2012)
Nathaniel’s episode explored a different type of addiction — one centered on emotional and romantic attachment rather than consumption. He was at a resale lot when he fell in love with a car. Not the typical appreciation a car enthusiast might feel, but genuine romantic love — the kind that involves dating, intimacy, and pet names like “baby.”
He described feeling an “instant connection” with the vehicle and had been in a committed relationship with the 1998 Chevy Monte Carlo, which he named Chase, for five years at the time of filming. The episode raised questions about the nature of attachment and what constitutes a meaningful relationship.
2. The drywall eater
Season 2, Episode 2 (July 17, 2011)
Nicole appeared in the same episode as Evan the hair collector, creating a particularly memorable hour of television. Her addiction involved eating drywall — a behavior she had maintained for seven years.
She described craving the taste of drywall and estimated she consumed up to three square feet of it every week. The walls of her home were covered in holes from her snacking, serving as constant visual reminders of her addiction. She acknowledged that she could be causing permanent damage to her body but expressed uncertainty about whether she could quit.
1. The couch cushion consumer
Season 1, Episode 7 (Jan. 18, 2011)
Adele was 30 years old when she admitted to being addicted to eating cushion foam for more than 20 years. Her addiction worsened when she felt anxious or nervous, though she said she could eat it all day regardless of her emotional state.
Her preferences were detailed and specific: she favored “the darker cushion, the yellow cushion mat” because of its “stronger flavor.” The scale of her consumption was remarkable — she had eaten roughly seven couches and two chairs in her lifetime, per TIME.
Why the show’s return matters now
The timing of My Strange Addiction’s return feels significant. Streaming platforms have created an appetite for niche content, and social media has made sharing unusual discoveries a form of cultural currency.
The show’s original clips have circulated on TikTok and YouTube for years, introducing new audiences to episodes that aired over a decade ago.
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For viewers who track emerging (or re-emerging) cultural phenomena, the show’s return represents an interesting case study in how content finds new life. What was once appointment television has become viral clip fodder, and TLC appears to be capitalizing on that sustained interest.
The new My Strange Addiction season promises the same format that made the original compelling: real people with real compulsions, documented without excessive judgment but with genuine curiosity about the human capacity for unusual behavior.
How to watch 'My Strange Addiction' new season
New episodes of My Strange Addiction air Wednesdays at 9/8c on TLC.
The series can also be watched on HBO Max, discovery+, and Hulu. Those with cable providers can access episodes through the TLC GO app.
For viewers who prefer to own their content, the series is available for purchase on platforms including Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, and Fandango at Home.
Whether you’re revisiting a show you remember from its original run or discovering it for the first time, My Strange Addiction offers something increasingly rare in entertainment: genuine surprise.
In an era of predictable content and algorithmic recommendations, there’s value in programming that can still make you say, “I genuinely did not know that was a thing.”
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The new season appears ready to deliver exactly that.
