Facebook pages were being created left and right, with one group topping 200,000 members at one point. For a week in late January/early February 2021, people were coming together to watch this story, watch this man’s life fall apart, and even to turn on and attack the two original women at the center of the story.
Even as I sit here and write this, my phone is dinging with text messages of screenshots, because Jason is allegedly back on one of the dating apps. There are fake Facebook profiles claiming they are “Jason Collier,” using his picture in their profile.
I’m not here to judge anyone who finds enjoyment in mistruths they post online. I mean, come on, haven’t you heard “Online” by Brad Paisley? He spells it out in the song. People can become someone else online; they can become cooler online.
TikTok “stars” were made because of their coverage of Jason Collier’s story. Podcasts had record numbers of listeners because they were talking about this, even bringing some of the key players on their shows.
But do you know who wasn’t talking?
Jason Collier.
His life, at his own hand—let me make that clear—was falling apart at his feet. He has lost everything except maybe his children and a few family members. Let me reiterate. Does he deserve to lose his wife for cheating on her? Yes, a thousand times, yes.
Would you want this brought to your doorstep the way it was brought to his? I mean, really, who hasn’t done something they shouldn’t have?
It has been proven online, so take that for what it is worth, that Candie has done this before to other men—married men—who ended relationships with her. As a woman, I find that doesn’t sit right with me, especially for a seven-to-ten-day relationship. She could have simply shown up at his house, told his wife what had been going on, stopped at the store, grabbed some ice cream, and eaten until she was out of her feelings.
She worded her original post to make people believe she had been in a long-term relationship with Jason. What does long-term mean to you? It means more than seven-to-ten days to me. But if she would have posted how short the relationship was, I’m pretty confident she wouldn’t have gotten the “sympathy” she was seeking. My opinion, but I saw holes on night one.
I guess the good of this story is people made new friends in these groups, one TikTok creator has started a whole series “investigating” current events and went from 1,500 to 89,000 and counting followers—and last but not least, Terri Anne and I got to write our first nonfiction together.
Final Opinion from the Authors
Lonnie Doris
My alter ego jumped down this rabbit hole almost immediately upon seeing it shared by a friend of hers and Terri Anne’s. But right away, she started shooting holes into the story that was being laid out in front of her. She watched two women go back and forth, seeking attention on whom he “cared” for more. She saw other women coming out with some truths and some made-up stories to get their five minutes. As the days progressed, and more lies came out, her caring and gentle soul wanted to help keep the mean-spirited people away. So, she reached out to Jason—I assure you she told him she didn’t agree with him and what he had done, but she also didn’t agree with some of the actions by others, trying to make a mockery of him with their evil pranks and antics. Gotta love her; she has a heart, unlike me.
When my alter ego came to me (in my head, of course) to ask me about teaming up with Terri Anne to write this story, I was skeptical. But, in the end, if you know my alter ego, she is convincing, so I said yes. I didn’t say yes because I agreed with what Jason had done. Quite the contrary, and we made it clear to him we did not agree or support his actions. I said yes because, before knowing what I know now, I felt there was a story to tell. The original story I thought would be told, based on what I saw unfolding on the socials, was about weight loss and how it can change a person—sometimes not for the better.
But I soon found out, while Terri Anne and I were interviewing Jason nightly for a week, there is so much more to this story. There are so many moving parts that I, quite frankly, was beginning to feel my head spin. And at the end of it, I had to go to my secluded place just to recharge…and so did my alter ego.
Do I still believe Jason’s side of the story needed to be told? Yes. Yes, I do. Because, honestly, it’s not just about Jason. As you’ll read in Terri Anne’s statement, it’s about his children. My alter ego and I have shed many tears for these children over the course of this story.
By telling this story and with the majority of the proceeds going to them, I know their futures will be bright on the other side of this. I think it says a lot about how Jason feels that his children were hurt by his actions. And by him trying to make it up to them by giving them a better future shows me that he may be redeemable. Maybe? That’s on his shoulders, and actions speak louder than words.
I also
