On Wednesday’s episode of My Strange Addiction, viewers will meet Ron, a man who has been addicted to noshing on furniture sponges and furniture foam since childhood.
In a clip from Ron’s episode posted by TLC this week, Ron attempts to provide some insight on his furniture-sponge fixation while scoping out some quality cushion snacks at a furniture store.
“My name is Ron and I’m addicted to eating furniture sponge,” he tells viewers. “Sponge is like this friend that is there for you when no one else is there for you. It gives me a feeling, almost like I’m doing a drug.”
As the clip from continues, viewers watch as an elated Ron inspects a sponge-filled cushion before revealing what he looks for in the perfect sponge to chow down on.
“I’m very particular about the sponge I eat,” Ron explains. “The sponge I eat needs to smell a certain way, it needs to have a certain texture and it can’t be in a cushion that’s been sat on for a long time, because you can taste that.”
Before long, Ron’s sponge sampling catches the eye of a salesman at the store, who is frozen in his tracks after seeing what Ron is doing in the showroom.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time, we have a lot of different kind of customers in the store, but I’ve never experienced anything like this before,” the salesman says.
As the clip continues, Ron attempts to make a deal with the salesman on purchasing a “display” cushion, though the salesman admits he’s hesitant to sell the sponge-filled piece to Ron as he fears it’s “hurting [his] health.”
“You’re helping me more than you’re hurting me, trust me, man,” a pleading Ron assures the salesman. “Sometimes I have to go somewhere and they kick me out [of] the store because of what I’m going through.”
While the salesman ultimately tells Ron he’s unable to sell him the display cushion because it’s the only one he has in the store, he continues to express his concern for Ron’s health to viewers.
“There are definitely a lot of chemicals used in mattresses that will harm him a lot,” he says. “Me helping him hurting himself, I don’t think that I can do that.”
In another clip from this week’s episode, viewers get to see some of the ways Ron prefers to ingest sponges while in the comfort of his own home as he presents a container of what he calls “popcorn.”
“This though, this is my favorite right here,” he says while showing off his version of the popular movie theater snack. “Mmm, it’s a certain smell this one has. It’s almost like a good wine, right?”
According to Ron, when you chew sponges in the manner that he chews sponges– i.e. at all– you have to “grind the sponge in your mouth for a while,” which often causes pain. Fortunately for Ron, he’s found a work around.
“To avoid all that, I will blend [the sponge] and get it to a fine texture to where now I can just spoon it,” he explains. “I don’t even have to chew anymore.”
In addition to cushion-loving Ron, Wednesday’s episode will follow Janet, whose “toenail habit hits a crisis as her supply runs out,” as well as tanning-addict Tarah.
New episodes of ‘My Strange Addiction’ air Wednesdays on TLC. Watch a clip from this week’s episode below.
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(Photos: TLC; Instagram)
