Send Dizzy a Tip!

Buy Me a Coffee

Season 22, Episode 17 (Intervention Canada)

Travis
Age: 48
Location: Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Addiction: Crack

Official Synopsis:  An entrepreneur from a young age, Travis turned a modest lawn-mowing business into a multi-million-dollar landscaping company. To get it done, he worked long hours and dabbled with stimulants. When his beloved sister tragically succumbed to cancer, Travis was devastated. Rather than fulfill the promise he made to her to take care of her children, Travis escalated his cocaine use massively to help him cope with the grief. Within a few short years, everything he’d worked so hard to build–including his marriage–had crumbled amidst the chaos of his now daily use of lethal amounts of crack cocaine. With his business near bankruptcy and his family at a breaking point, can Travis turn it all around before tragedy strikes his clan a second time?

What’s Memorable:  How he left his large landscaping company to his wife to take care of on her own so that he can smoke crack with randos in his sister’s hours and then gets angry about her business decisions – honestly I was feeling really bad for Travis until I saw the way he treats her. Yikes. His anger towards her is pretty terrifying. He seems just so miserable here, really glad to see that he was still clean at the end.

Interventionist: Maureen Brine
Date Aired: July 5, 2021  (Aired as Intervention Canada Season 4 Episode 18, on July 22, 2019)

Comments
All comments.
Comments
Leave a Reply to StinkWhistle
Cancel Reply

  1. AMA

    I just finished this episode, and I am really struck by the two different sides of Travis. There’s the grief-stricken, heartbroken man consumed with guilt…and then there’s the explosively angry addict whose self-loathing is so toxic it’s basically coming out of his pores. Travis’ rage at discovering the “documentary” was actually an intervention wasn’t new; quite a few addicts have had that same reaction, but to the best of my knowledge he’s the first to be so angry he refuses the follow-up interview!

    1. Gigi

      I know…it was incredibly frustrating to not get a follow up!

      1. Stefan

        I was honestly surprised that he didn’t bail on going to treatment as he went on the plane alone.

    2. Kitty Katt

      I’ve known a lot of people who were the same way Travis. Sweet as can be when they were straight and evil as can be when drunk or high.

  2. StinkWhistle

    I would be shocked if Travis were still sober. Hope he is, but… does anyone know?

    1. Becky

      Travis passed July 7th 2021

      1. Melissity

        That’s sad to hear. Has it been published anywhere for conformation?

      2. Todd

        To Becky – did Travis really pass? That’s awful if he did but I must say – I wouldn’t be surprised.

      3. Kitty Katt

        How do you know he passed? Do you have a link to his obituary?

  3. mariamartinez

    It looks like he’s been arrested several times since this episode was made, most recently in March 2021 for drug related offenses. I think we can be sure he did not stay sober for very long. I hope Tiffany has moved on and stopped feeling so guilty.

    1. Kitty Katt

      What’s his last name? Do you have a link to the arrests?

      1. Todd

        Yep, that’s him. Too many coincidences for it not to be. I didn’t think he would stay clean. Looks like I was right. Thanks to KCB for the link.

      2. Todd

        I’m still wondering if he died. A poster here said he passed this month (July). I still haven’t seen that verified. I noticed the crime occurred in April so it is possible he did die in July. I sure would like to know what happened.

      3. Todd

        Correction – The crime Travis likely committed occurred in March, not April, of this year.

      4. Todd

        I just checked around and the poster that said Travis was arrested several times is correct. This is the most salient of his arrests…..

        https://www.chch.com/100k-in-drugs-and-105k-in-cash-seized-in-drug-trafficking-investigation/

      5. Todd

        Hey Kitty Katt – yeah I saw that one, too. The guy is a mess. What a shame.

    2. Sj

      Those arrests were definitely him. When I saw this episode, it stuck with me. I felt for his family — especially his dad, being in long term recovery but knowing exactly where his son is at mentally — and his ex, even for him. It struck me as odd he was “clean” but wanted no part in the interview. I remember finding the arrest articles and his (sister’s) house featured in the episode is referenced and the picture shown in one of the articles has a picture of the house where the drug bust occurred and it’s the same house. I haven’t found anything about him passing and since his sister was such a huge figure in the community and his mother is I don’t think they would let his death go by unannounced. Maybe they mistook the date this was edited as meaning he’s dead? They still haven’t provided any context.

      1. Tiffany

        This is Tiffany… Travis’s “wife”. Just here to confirm he did not pass.

      2. Dizzy

        Thanks Tiffany.

  4. Todd

    A couple of things bothered me about this episode. First of all, Travis himself. This guy is literally a walking advertisement to never use substances. He’s erratic, volatile, half out of his mind. I don’t think he’ll ever clean up his act. The guy is just too crazy. I do hope though that he proves me wrong. The other thing that bothered me is how could a so called mulitmillion dollar business go down the tubes so quickly? It would make sense if an untrustworthy (or just plain stupid) individual took over. This is not the case – his wife was not stupid. Even with him going bananas she had the good sense to keep money out of his hands. She was sober headed and clear thinking – not one to make the erratic mistakes I’m sure Travis did. It would seem to me that business would even improve under her watch. So, I don’t get how TNT (if in fact it really was a massively successful multimillion dollar operation) could hit the skids so quickly. Maybe it wasn’t all that successful to begin with.

    1. Chris

      Travis is a human being like all of us, with his own talents and struggles. You must not know any people who run their own small business, because a business can suffer quickly and seriously when the proprietor becomes unstable and can’t be depended on. His wife wasn’t a distant third party who could just step in and take the wheel – she was in it with him, that’s her husband. That sort of situation brings an incredible amount of stress, and I can imagine she might not have been dancing into work everyday to handle things efficiently when her entire life was crumbling behind the scenes.

      I hope Travis and his family and friends have found health and happiness, I’m certainly rooting for all of them.

      1. Todd

        Actually Chris I do (I know people who run their own small business’s). But I don’t consider what was advertised as a multimillion dollar business as a small business. I didn’t get the impression his wife was not up to the task of taking over for him. She’s clear headed and stable. I would think she made good decisions that Travis argued about because he’s on drugs and isn’t thinking right. In other words the stress you are talking about came from him and not her. I don’t think it would have mattered if Warren Buffet took over – Travis still would have yelled and screamed. The guy was a mess.

      2. Kitty Katt

        Absolutely right! It’s kind of like the saying “the wife is the last one to know” except this is about a business and not a marital affair.
        A lot can happen before the other spouse (business partner) finally realizes what’s going on. By then, it’s almost too late to recoup. It’s easier to hide shit from a business partner who’s your husband/wife then it is from someone who is not your spouse. When it’s a 3rd party, they stay on top of things and are equally aware of how the business is doing and what profit they have invested into the business.

      3. Tiffany

        You have hit the head on the nail..I was severely paralysed by this and had a hard time handling things while my whole life was falling apart. Thank you for understanding whats happened behind the scenes. I managed to salvage things without having to go bankrupt, but life is certainly very different now. I have managed to restructure and have kept a small division of TNT running that is manageable.

    2. julia

      err.. to be honest, i don’t think the business itself matters and deserves so much thinking and analysing here

    3. Kitty Katt

      A business such as theirs can fold over pretty quickly without the other party (wife or husband) knowing until it’s too late. I think that’s what happened here. She took over a little too late. He obviously owed more than what they had. It’s why she mentions about taking the machinery because she knew he would sell them for drugs and they would owe even more. It’s really not that hard to lose everything, especially if your business partner is fooled into thinking everything is coming up roses. In this case, I think she realized a little too late as to what was really going on because I think he put up a good act and probably made the books look good to when in fact he was smoking up all the profits.

      1. Todd

        That makes perfect sense Kitty Katt. By the time the wife took over, it was already too late. And I was probably right in what I said in that in fact, it wasn’t a multi-million dollar operation. What it probably really was is like that guy that drives around a 40000 car and acts like a big shot. Then you find out he owes 39500 on the car. Or the person that acts like they have a great house – yet in fact are holding a mortgage larger than what the house is worth. I’ve seen it over and over in my life. I believe Travis had some big contracts, but I also believe he owed more on the business than it was worth. Therefore it was not a multi-million dollar business. And again , what you say about the wife is probably what happened – by the time she stepped in the entire business was nothing but a debt filled mess.

    4. Tiffany

      When we had heavy equipment payments and huge maintenance costs as well as labour…it didnt take long at running costs of over 40 thousand a month. In 2 years I had to give back alot of equipment or sell to keep the creditors from coming. The business was to much for me to keep going on my own. I have since restructured and only run a small division of what used to be TNT.

      1. Todd

        Right, Tiffany you’re Travis’ wife, correct? If I’m wrong you’ll have to forgive me, its been a couple of months since I watched Travis’ episode. What I felt is the woman that took over TNT, the blonde haired woman (who I believe is you), was terrific. Very clear headed. Very stable. I thought she handled one big mess as well as it could be handled. So, Tiffany, if you are that blonde haired girl that took over TNT during Travis’ self destruction, hey, I’m on your side. Nice work. Never easy inheriting a mess. Best of luck to you.

      2. Kara Bishop

        Tiffany, you were an amazing wife and business partner and did what was needed to do because he would have sold the equipment for drugs. It broke my heart that Travis never got clean and stayed clean because I really liked him as a person and was rooting for him, and you! There’s always hope! Someday he just hast to decide to take that one step towards recovery! I hope you found your happiness and peace and love! My thoughts and prayers are with you and Travis and your families! ❤️❤️

  5. Andrea Bennett

    Has anyone been able to confirm if Travis passed?

    1. Kitty Katt

      Maybe I missed something…..what makes you think he passed away?

  6. Chrissy

    I don’t think that Maureen was the right interventionist for him.

    1. Kitty Katt

      To be honest, I don’t think Maureen is the right one for anyone. JMO
      I only recently found out that she was never an addict/alcoholic which I always thought you had to be in order to have the skills to go for an interventionist. She claims her son was an addict and has plenty of knowledge in researching it but I still don’t feel it’s the same thing as being one. You literally have to be in an addicts shoes to really understand what it’s like to be an addict. Unfortunately, she comes up short each time for me. I just don’t care for her.

      1. AMA

        I agree with you. Maureen is just hard to watch. She reminds me of a therapist I had who thought combining tough love and over sharing/projection made for an effective therapeutic approach. The emotional output of that therapist never felt warm. It came across as condescending and out of touch simultaneously. And that’s exactly how Maureen comes across to me.

  7. Kitty Katt

    How did Travis end up living in his sister’s house when she had a husband and kids? Why would anyone allow him to live in there anyway? Why was he also allowed to trash the place and have different addicts, men and women who he barely knew stay with him?

    1. Michael C

      Kitty-It is called enabling by the parents, they feel bad or that if they do not pay for his housing, food, etc. that he will become homeless, die, cut off all contact from them, etc.

      I have seen this behaviour with polydrug addicts, where they steal from their friends, family, trash homes to sell the scrap metal/wood, etc.

    2. Tiffany

      Travis and I moved into his sisters (Talia’s) after she had passed from cancer.

  8. Tori

    Just here for an update – I saw a few comments saying that he passed away and that he got arrested for drug charges, does anyone have the link receipts for either?

  9. Pang

    If people are interested, here is an article about his sister and her death: https://www.toronto.com/news-story/6382659-loving-parent-successful-entrepreneur-talia-gillan-remembered/

    I came across it when I was trying to confirm if Travis has died as one poster mentioned. Could not find an obituary for him, but found this one for his sister.

    1. Kitty Katt

      I don’t think Travis is dead. When someone tells us if an addict has died then they should back it up with solid evidence such as an obituary.

  10. Rachel

    Long time reader, first time comment.

    I CANNOT STAND MAUREEN. She’s too abrasive. Watching this episode and hearing her tell Travis’ mother she doesn’t think he’s going to even go. Where’s the positivity? Why are you even there if you don’t expect to help him? Everytime I see her face I cringe. I don’t like her episodes at all.

    1. Stefan

      Right!? When I just watched Brea’s episode this week I sighed in frustration when she was revealed to be the interventionist.

      1. Kara Bishop

        I sigh every time she’s the interventionist!

    2. S

      I swear I didn’t really mind her until I saw Caitlin’s episode. Now, I tend to pick up on all of her weird little jabs at people. Someone in the comments of another episode said they feel like she just needs to “win,” and that’s a really good way of summarizing the vibe that I get from her. So many of her interventions have ended in her chaotically chasing down the subject, while plenty of other interventionists have, you know, plans for that contingency. It feels like her empathy, when it is there, is hollow. Maybe I’m wrong and just spoiled by the likes of other interventionists. I’d like to pin it all on the fact that she was never an addict herself, but I’m not sure. Her vibes are just off lol.

  11. Chip

    So sad for him and his family.

  12. Molly

    he probably used stimulants at first to help the symptoms of his adhd and then got addicted. especially when he was saying cocaine helped him focus and to keep the million thoughts from running through his head. what a sad story and sorry to hear travis is no longer sober (unless this has changed?)

    1. Tiffany

      Sadly he is still struggling with addiction.

      1. Sarita

        Praying for you all, Tiffany. The pain in his parents’ eyes
        just broke my heart. How are they?