"I Survived a Nightmare Boarding School at 13: Starvation, Restraints, and Strip Searches—Until TikTok Exposed My Abusers"

WAKING to a man and woman towering over her bed, 13-year-old Chanel Maré cowered in fear as they pulled her from her bed.

The British teen was swiftly bundled into a car and driven 1,400 miles away from the home she shared with her father in Las Vegas.

Chanel Maré was sent to Circle of Hope Girls’ Ranch- a boarding school for troubled teens in the USCredit: Lorna Roach Chanel recounts how she was then ordered to have a cold shower and was strip-searched by Stephanie HouseholderCredit: Supplied

Chanel had not long moved from Farnham, , where she was in foster care to live with her dad in the United States.

“My behaviour had been naughty,” says the now 32-year-old mum of two.

“I’d fallen in with a bad crowd and would smoke cannabis and skip classes.”

Her father, despairing of what to do, heard the Circle of Hope Girls’ Ranch in Humansville, – a for troubled teens – might be the answer.

“He believed I was going to a ‘Godly’ ranch with animal therapy,”

Chanel says. “It might sound odd to a British person, but these were common in the States. Dad paid for it, he liked the sound of it because it mentioned animal therapy and I loved animals.”

In the US the is a multi-billion dollar industry.

The facilities are largely privately run and include boot camps and so-called therapeutic boarding schools such as this one. It is well documented that the socialite as a teen.

She has attributed her and to some of the treatment she faced.

Many of the methods used on these programs have been criticised as constituting child abuse such as restricting contact with family and using physical restraint.

This was unknown to Chanel, but of course she was heartbroken to leave her home.

And when she saw her father with “tears dripping down his face” at their door as she was bundled into a car, she realised he was struggling with his decision too.

As she was driven away, Chanel was handcuffed and her shoelaces removed.

“They told me I was a ‘flight risk’,” she says. “All the while I was saying: ‘I don’t want to leave’, but they wouldn’t listen.

“I was so scared as I was put on a plane and taken to a place like I’d never been before, having grown up in the UK.”

Boyd Householder died in June 2024, aged 75, of natural causes while awaiting trial but Stephanie Householder pled guilty to accusations of neglect and abuseCredit: Supplied Circle of Hope Girls’ Ranch in Humansville, MissouriCredit: NBC News

Describing the school, she says: “It was like a creepy ranch you’d see in a horror film with huge fields and outbuildings in the middle of a forest. There, I met a couple, Boyd and Stephanie Householder, who I knew as Brother House and Miss Steph.”

Initially, Boyd Householder was warm, settling frazzled Chanel’s nerves.
“He said: ‘You’re the first British girl we’ve had’,” she recalls.

“He was wearing a checkered shirt, cowboy hat, had a gun in his pocket and cowboy boots. There were American flags everywhere.

“He issued me with strict orders that included Bible reading and chores such as weeding, cleaning, picking up sticks, and laundry.

“He banned jeans, saying ‘it wasn’t Biblical for girls to wear them’. There was a uniform – sort of like a pinafore. We had church clothes too. Everything was donated by .

“He told me: ‘You’re here at Circle of Hope because your parents sent you. We run a tight ship and you must abide by the rules of the colour shirt system.’”

This was a colour-based hierarchical system. Black shirts were at the bottom of the pecking order, with no privileges. Red shirts were at the top and enjoyed small luxuries such as coffee, along with extra responsibilities.

They could also punish the lower shirt colours, such as forcing them to do push ups.

Chanel recounts how she was then ordered to have a cold shower and was strip-searched by Stephanie Householder before being led to her “prison cell-like” room – where the door remained open.

“At this point I met one of the girls, my guide who showed me around, and a few others,” she reflects. “But they were all expressionless. They seemed like robots.”

It was physically agonising. I was elbowed from the back of my neck and thrown to the floor and then four other girls jumped on me, hitting my pressure points.

That first night she cried herself to sleep.

After being woken at dawn, she was told to make her bed in a “military fashion” by Boyd Householder and marched to breakfast.

She was given 10 minutes to eat plain porridge before the plate was pulled away, and if they had not finished they were served it cold for the next meal.

Chanel says Boyd issued her with strict orders including Bible reading and choresCredit: Supplied Young Chanel and her dadCredit: Supplied

“I was then weighed – as I would be every day afterwards,” says Chanel.

“If I was deemed too fat, which was the case, I got half-portions. I joined the Ranch weighing 12st 8lb and left weighing just 6st 9lb, at 5ft 8in tall.”

Initially, Chanel tried to speak out against the treatment but she would be punished.

“I refused to read the Bible and was restrained for 45 minutes,” she says.

“It was physically agonising. I was elbowed from the back of my neck and thrown to the floor and then four other girls jumped on me, hitting my pressure points. Boyd would say, as I was facedown, ‘do you hear someone screaming?’

“I watched one girl being bundled into a faeces-infested chicken coop. Another girl who needed the toilet was made to jog on the spot while drinking litres of water until she wet herself.

“On one occasion I was forced to move rocks from one pile to another for no reason.”

‘Dog-eat-dog system’

Several months in, Chanel realised that in order to survive she had to play by Boyd Householder’s rules.

So she developed a “robotic” personality, becoming detached from the trauma.

“It was dog-eat-dog. The shirt system ensured that. I realised that rising up the shirts, which was necessary to avoid punishment, came from snitching on other girls,” she says. “I didn’t want to, but you had no choice.”

Chanel says you weren’t allowed to talk unless it was “completely essential”.

She adds: “So you would tell Boyd if a girl said something that was unnecessary, or if she spent longer than five minutes in the shower.”

She was allowed to write to her father, who visited her once, but the letters were monitored – so she lied.

“He believed I was enjoying myself and flourishing,” she says.

“When he came to visit I was told to scrapbook – putting photos in and decorating around them – and play with the animals.

“He didn’t know the truth that I was in the boarding school of horrors.”
During the school holidays she remained there, even for .

`“My dad thought I really enjoyed it,” she says. “All the phone calls were listened to and he thought I was doing well.”`“My dad thought I really enjoyed it,” she says. “All the phone calls were listened to and he thought I was doing well.”

Chanel now with her daughterCredit: Supplied

A year after arriving, Chanel was granted a red shirt. It ensured relative calm.

But four years later, having made a minor mistake, which she now can’t recall, Boyd Householder became angry.

“He told me: ‘You’re going to be a black shirt by the end of the week,’” she says.

“It broke me. Being put into a black shirt was like being a piece of dirt. I knew I had to get out.”

So, almost immediately, she plotted her escape. She opted to do it when the girls were distracted getting ready for the mass they attended every Sunday in a nearby town. She would create an excuse to leave the group and then make a run for it through the trees.

“It was terrifying – my heart was pounding,” says Chanel. “But it was also my only chance…I couldn’t outrun Boyd, so I hid in a ditch for hours.”

Eventually she emerged, dirty and exhausted, and made her way to the main road. Over the next five days, she hitchhiked the 1,400 miles back to her dad’s.

She says: “I had nothing with me, had no change of clothes. I looked so filthy. I think I got as far as I did because of my accent – Americans love a British accent. I know of other girls who tried to escape and didn’t manage it. They always got brought back.”

Her father was “horrified” when he heard the truth.

Chanel says: “I wonder how anyone could send their children to a place like that – I couldn’t as a mum – but it’s such an American thing.”

It was decided that Chanel, then nearly 18, would fly home to the UK.

I had nothing with me, had no change of clothes. I looked so filthy. I think I got as far as I did because of my accent – Americans love a British accent. I know of other girls who tried to escape and didn’t manage it. They always got brought back.

“I wanted to press charges, but also leave America,” she says.

Once back in the UK Chanel moved into supported lodgings, and she says she spiralled – turning to cocaine, mephedrone and acid in a bid to block out the trauma.

But in 2013 she started a relationship which led to her quitting and also falling pregnant. This was when she turned her life around. Diagnosed with PTSD, she worked through her feelings with a therapist.

She managed to get a job as a security guard and embraced her role as a mum.

“Still it haunted me,” she says. “I know that ‘reform schools’ are a business in America, but where I went felt more extreme.”

Her unease was validated when, in 2020, she saw that the Householders’ daughter Amanda, who Chanel knew from her time at the school, had made a dramatic video which has since amassed 33m views.

Called ‘My parents own an abusive boarding school for girls – this is my page exposing it’, Amanda told of her horror.

‘Stole my childhood’

The video led to Missouri’s Attorney Office opening an and about two dozen girls were removed by state authorities.

The school, which had been running since 2006, closed down.

In 2021 Boyd Householder, then 71, was charged with 79 felony charges and one misdemeanour charge. They included accusations of repeated statutory sodomy, statutory rape and sexual contact with a student under the age of 17.

He also faced 56 charges of abuse or neglect of a child and one count of child molestation. Chanel was not sexually abused and didn’t know it was happening.

It was alleged that Householder slapped, hit and struck girls with objects.

He was also accused of pushing a victim’s face into manure and pouring hot sauce down a victim’s throat, among other things.

Stephanie Householder, now 60, was not charged with sexual offences, but accused of neglect, abuse and the use of restraints.

Both pleaded not guilty, but Boyd Householder died in June 2024, aged 75, of natural causes while awaiting trial.

Chanel says you weren’t allowed to talk unless it was ‘completely essential’Credit: Supplied Chanel feels Boyd escaped justice entirely by dying before trial, while his wife’s sentence was too lenientCredit: Lorna Roach

In September last year, Stephanie Householder changed her plea to guilty to six counts of abuse or neglect of a child and seven counts of endangering the welfare of a child. She was sentenced to five years’ probation and jailed for 120 days, which she’d already served.

Chanel feels Boyd escaped justice entirely, while his wife’s sentence was too lenient.

“They ran that school for 15 years,” says Chanel.

“I hate what they did to me – what they did to all of us.

“Boyd was a monster and I hope he rots in hell. I’m furious he died before he saw the inside of a courtroom.

“He stole my childhood from me. I was a troubled teen when I entered that ranch and what he did was just awful.

“I’m now moving forward with my head held high. I fought back and am a stronger person for it.”