Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners

Narrator:
In Oxfordshire, germophobe Cheyza has taken four days away from her obsessively clean life to help wildlife-lover Amanda.

[Amanda and Cheyza are sorting through piles of clutter. Cheyza is wearing a dust mask and pulling items out of a corner while Amanda watches. Cheyza holds up a shoe lacking its sole]

Cheyza Burch:
These?

Amanda Clark:
Keep.

Narrator:
It's Day 2 of the clean, and progress is slow.

[Cheyza keeps holding up clothes, and Amanda repeatedly says, "Keep." Cheyza holds up an aquamarine shoe]

Amanda Clark:
Keep.

[Cut to Amanda throwing a small bag of items into the dumpster. Amanda explains to the cameraman why she is unhappy with Cheyza being there to clean the house]

Amanda Clark:
It's sort of the asking for more, and, Oh, can't we get rid of more, and more and more and more, and I'm like, but, yeah, be gentle with me. Why can't I keep these things? And it's almost, the more people want me to get rid of them, clear out, the more I want to keep them.

[Back inside, Cheyza holds up a slim shirt]

Cheyza Burch:
Does that fit you?

Amanda Clark:
No, but I plan to.

[In the kitchen, the counters are cluttered and the sink is full of dirty plates]

Cheyza Burch:
Amanda, can I have a quick word? I feel that I'm not making any progress, because I feel every little item, I've gotta be like, 'Amanda, can you keep this half empty bottle of water?' Do you know what I mean? Just give me some sort of instructions, so that I can get on with things. It's up to you.

Amanda Clark:
Look, I know exactly what you're saying. Just give me a moment to think.

[the camera shows a dead plant on a trellis]

Cheyza Burch:
Do you want to keep all the plants?

Amanda Clark:
I know it looks dead, but the ends are alive. So, I mean, if you can de-tangle it?

Cheyza Burch:
Mm-hm.

[Cheyza turns to a broken chair lacking its upholstering]

Cheyza Burch:
I know you said you wanted to keep this chair, but we've just discovered...

Amanda Clark:
It doesn't have a seat.

Cheyza Burch:
Yeah.

Amanda Clark:
Yes.

Cheyza Burch:
You still want to keep it?

Amanda Clark:
Yes.

Cheyza Burch:
Okay. And you said this plant can go.

Amanda Clark:
No, not that one.

Cheyza Burch:
Oh.

Amanda Clark:
Okay, these things are not going anywhere. Okay? I want to keep these things, and I've already been through this room.

Cheyza Burch:
[very upset] Okay. I don't think I'm doing anything. I can't do anything.

[She walks out of the house]

Amanda Clark:
I thought you were going to clean the window-sill for me to put things on.

[to the camera-man]

Cheyza Burch:
I'm just getting really upset now. I'm really frustrated, because what is the point? I don't know. To clean someone - to voluntarily help clean someone's house, and then they won't let me. At the end of the day, I've got a life, I've got children, I could be at home doing things, but I'm just standing here in a house that is not very clean and I don't feel comfortable in. And I'm not enjoying it. To help someone clean their life, but they won't let me.

[Cheyza has returned to the living room to confront Amanda. We can now see parts of a rug and a carpet, but there is still clutter on every horizontal surface]

Cheyza Burch:
I feel very, very bad, because I just feel that I haven't come in here, made as much of a difference that I wanted to. I thought I was actually going to go into a house and clean it, do what I do best, and I do think, like, I've been compromised.

Amanda Clark:
You haven't been able to do what you would feel instinctive to do.

Cheyza Burch:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Amanda Clark:
But you've done as much as you can. We're two instinctively different people and we can't be the same person. We're too extreme...

Cheyza Burch:
Yeah.

Amanda Clark:
...to flip over. If anything, we're going to find a middle ground. I'm not going to be on the more clean side.

Narrator:
It's almost the end of the cleaning for germophobe Cheyza. So far, she's had a hard time persuading 'eco' Amanda to part with any of her belongings.

Amanda Clark:
[shyly] Do you want to put that in the skip for me?

Cheyza Burch:
This whole box?

Amanda Clark:
[smiling] It'll make a nice sound when you chuck it in.

Amanda Clark:
It's all been a bit mad and intense, but I like it.

Cheyza Burch:
At times, I didn't think we were gonna make it. I felt like I was hitting a brick wall. But we did it. She can use every single room of the house.

[the camera shows several dying plants]

Cheyza Burch:
Do you want to keep all the plants?

Amanda Clark:
I know it looks dead, but the ends are alive. So, I mean, if you can de-tangle it?

Cheyza Burch:
Mm-hm.

[Cheyza turns to a broken chair lacking its upholstering]

Cheyza Burch:
I know you said you wanted to keep this chair, but we've just discovered...

Amanda Clark:
It doesn't have a seat.

Cheyza Burch:
Yeah.

Amanda Clark:
Yes.

Cheyza Burch:
You still want to keep it?

Amanda Clark:
Yes.

Cheyza Burch:
Okay. And you said this plant can go.

Amanda Clark:
No, not that one.

Cheyza Burch:
Oh.

Amanda Clark:
Okay, these things are not going anywhere. Okay? I want to keep these things, and I've already been through this room.

Cheyza Burch:
[very upset] Okay. I don't think I'm doing anything. I can't do anything.

[She walks out of the house]

Amanda Clark:
[outraged] I thought you were going to clean the window-sill for me to put things on!