Season 12, Episode 9
Ryan
Age: 25
Location: Saugerties, New York
Addiction: Alcohol (beer)
What’s memorable: Damn. Now THAT’S an Intervention. Memorable stuff in Ryan’s story – being disabled, his good deeds, his terribly low sense of self-worth, his pregnant fiance getting arrested during his fight – but that Intervention, that he found out about and STILL went to, willingly (although fully prepared to say no thanks), was just awesome. You could just see him slowly realizing that they were right and he desperately needed help. The stuff his parents said obviously had a huge impact, and the fact that the fiancee who was pissed about the whole thing actually came around and ultimately convinced him to go – it was all just incredibly powerful and amazing. And that followup, sheesh. Glad I had tissues.
Official Synopsis: Ryan, 25, is a sweet, sensitive man whose alcohol addiction is spiraling out of control as he and his fiance are expecting their first child in a matter of months.
Original Air Date: October 2012
Interventionist: Candy
Ryan and his friends partying at his house and then getting into a fist fight is perhaps the single most disturbing Intervention scene ever. The very end part where his pregnant fiance gets cuffed and then they cut to Ryan staring belligerently out the window … wow. Something about that shot sent shivers up and down my spine. The utter insanity of the situation is something I could unfortunately identify with, as my friends and I had many a similar night before I got sober more than 15 years ago.
The stupid cop that put the pregnant fiance and handcuffs was an asshole and he was just trying to make himself look big or whatever but there was no need to put a five month pregnant woman in cuffs and take her to jail just because she got upset at Ryan and pushed him in the chest. The more people they take the jail equals more money in those idiots pockets when they try to get bail money to get out!
She committed an act of domestic violence right in front of the cops.. It’s literally their jobs to intervene and enforce the DV laws…
I’d like to reach out to Ryan to let him know about the American Nystagmus Network. believe Ryan has Nystagmus and we’d love to hear from him and for him to share his story with our membership. We can be reached at Nystagmus.org or on Facebook.
I just posted on their Facebook page of the Intervention TV show, and I said that the episode did not mention the name of his medical diagnosis. And then I added that it seems to appear to be congenital nystagmus.
I wonder if he has undiagnosed Albinism. My daughter has Albinism – she is legally blind with photophobia, nystagmus and no depth perception.
I’m so glad I found this post! I just watched Ryan’s story. Immediately I could tell that he was a wonderful person. I’m disabled and I could certainly understand some of his pain. I thought as I watched the episode, ‘he needs to discover disability rights and learn that he is not a bad person.’ He certainly reminded me of some of the kind hearted and wonderful young legally blind men I know. I was so happy to see that he began to teach disabled children at the end of the episode, once he’d recovered. It certainly made me cry when he got sober. What an amazing transformation.
I have to say im so proud of a person whom can overcome addiction despite all the struggles he has endored. I come from a family where addiction runs through and my uncle died from his addiction, dont let it ruin your family stay strong especially for your child and wife, you have people who love you.
That fight though. ryans friend obviously wasnt about to look dumb on camera, but it kinda wasnt fair because ryan is legally blind.. i cant imagine how his vision was drunk. and im definitely not anti-police but those cops were ridiculous for arresting a pregnant girl.
I just watched an episode of Iyanla, Fix My Life which featured his family. However, Ryan refused to participate on the show. No word on how he is doing.
Just curious, what was Iyanla helping the family with? (I don’t watch the show)
the father has had anger issues for years, the mother has taken off her wedding ring and moved out of the marital bed, two of the daughters were sexually abused when they were younger and the father refused to deal with it.
Wow. Watching the laughably incompetent cops on scene drag away the pregnant woman pissed me off super bad.
I’ve had a number of buddies like Ryan – fun, post-Jackass, good ole boys… Also mostly drunk. I liked this dude, although I was stunned when his fiancee was dragged away by the cops instead of him. What a giant miscarriage of justice.
I hope he’s found some humility and responsibility. I truly feel that those were the essential components missing that precluded his recovery. Some of that comes with maturity, but maturity stops when the addict starts using and doesn’t begin again until they get clean soooo…
Good Luck, Ryan!
She hit him in the presence of cops… that really is on her.
Totally agree. She pushed him -right in front of a cop. Being female doesn’t get you a pass to be violent. Being pregnant doesn’t get you a pass. Arresting her was not incompetence it was the proper response by law enforcement and she’s lucky she wasn’t charged with domestic violence.
…when you live in a police state and not a free country.
Really?? She gave her fiance a ‘I can’t believe u tap’ NOT a punch in thé face. She called for help tô be arrested – that’s some bull. UNBELIEVABLE!! Those Officers were foolish at the very least.
Any further updates on Ryan? Just watched his episode, gosh what a tear jerker. I hope he and his family are well!
Major props to Ryan’s dad, who stepped up in a big way during the intervention. He knew exactly what Ryan needed to hear from him, and he delivered above and beyond it. I was gutted.
Sadly, Ryan is not currently sober. He is living in Asheville. He went out on a date with a friend, and she said he’s in bad shape. Drunk when he arrived, and continued to drink through the evening. He needs help!
That’s makes me so sad to hear.
Damn. I hate to hear that. I cried and cried at the end, and was really hoping he’d stay sober. One day at a time.
I just saw this episode. They shouldn’t have arrested his fiancee, but she shouldn’t have pushed him in the chest like that in front of the police officer. (The correct response would have been to say, “Hey, I get you’re upset, but that’s technically assault. Don’t do that again.” Putting her in cuffs when she was the one trying to deflect the situation wasn’t the best response.)
He was dealt such a hard lot in life and I am so glad it turned out so well for him.
I just watched the episode of Ryan. Everyone seems to be pissed about the police officer arresting the friend and the girlfriend, but I believe they should have arrested Ryan as well. He started the damn fight in the first place! He is definitely an instigator!
I just watched Ryans story (i know im late) wow I cried like crazy. His family loves him so much, hes a great guy. I see one of the previous post Say hes drinking again which breaks my heart. I’m assuming him and Shannon arent together since he was going out on a date. Treatment for this disease is really one day at a time. Ive seen people with 10, 15 and 20 years pick up a drink.Ryan when you’re ready for help reach out to me
I’ve been watching so many episodes lately- I’m a recovering addict- 8 years sober with a relapse- and back at it, 6 mos now. This episode resonated with me, and if he relapsed, I am gutted but understand. I’m trying to understand relapsing and this show is really helpful. Would love more follow up- esp. on Ryan, even if it’s just a link- this site is amazing
I found his fiance(ex now) on Facebook and they’re not longer together. She has since moved on and is engaged with another daughter. From what I can tell, he doesnt have a Facebook and he hasn’t stopped drinking according to some of the posts from his mom and sisters. I saw the Fix My Life episode and it was so sad to see there was much more going on with his family than Ryan’s alcohol issue.
Can you post a link to their FB pages?
also here to snoop that link because these two are very interesting individuals
Yeah, but like you told me in an earlier post…..you can’t go by what’s on facebook. Why bother getting the link then?
A few notes about Ryan’s episode that haven’t been addressed in the comment section, that I’d just like to note
1. Ryan looks just like Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy
2. This is maybe bizarre, but out of all background family members I’ve seen on Intervention (and I’ve seen every episode except for that one lost one) I really liked Ryan’s brother in law and his sister. They both had strong, calming presences in the face of such high anxiety. I know it’s weird because they’re barely on screen, but you could tell they loved Ryan and wanted the best life for him.
i really hope ryan is still sober! by the end of the episode, i really liked him. i found shannon’s facebook. there’s not much to go on but here’s what i see. it appears ryan and shannon aren’t together anymore but they seem to get along well enough. there was a comment from april of 2019 about their daughter, ellie, who’s about six, going to her dad’s house. that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s sober, but i hope so for both of their sakes. you can find ryan’s mother and sisters on shannon’s friends list. it looks like the one sister is no longer with jarel and has a new man. i can’t find ryan anywhere; no fb it seems. someone above thought shannon had another daughter, but i think that’s her boyfriend’s daughter, who’s around eight. the two girls almost have an identical shade of super red hair so i can see how anyone would think that. it’s worth noting that shannon’s bf has super red hair too. there are lots of pics of shannon’s daughter on her fb page but there’s only one pic with this older red-headed girl in it. in the comment section, there’s a crazy lady ranting and raving, “Get my child’s picture off your g*ddamn Facebook,” along with lots of other very obscene comments. it’s safe to say the older girl is hers and based on some other comments i saw, she and shannon’s boyfriend have a kid together. so crazy lady is baby mama and the shannon’s boyfriend is baby daddy to the older red-headed child. interestingly, but unrelated, baby mama mentions something about shannon’s daughter allegedly having been taken by dss at one point in the comments. VERY bizarrely, all the obscene comments were gone when i went to look at the pic again. i mean what are the odds? i seriously doubted my sanity for a minute. maybe i AM crazy?
oops. https://www.facebook.com/shannon.obrien.73932
Man, does she look like her daddy. Too bad he’s missing it.
Bless your heart ryan…yeah, screw what people think. They idealize people from reality tv in their head. The addiction i see more and more of everyday is PEOPLE ADDICTED TO SOCIAL MEDIA AND PUBLIC PLATFORMS WERE THEY CAN SPEW HATE, BELITTLE, JUDGE AND GIVE THEIR OPINIONS ABOUT SHIT THEY NO NOTHING ABOUT!! Constant bickering back and forth between a geek in Minnesota and a hooker in Oklahoma…40 plus comments of complete strangers arguing about a post of a video of black kids fighting in Detroit…SHUT THE FUCK UP & PUT DOWN YOUR PHONE AND LIVE YOUR OWN FUCKING LIFE. Once again Ryan, I’m sorry that this show caused more unnecessary bullshit for you. Take care brother – aloha
Here’s a clip of the family’s appearance on “Iyanla: Fix My Life”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3uwcvMzy0M
Here’s another clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED8mJBjMsCA
The first clip is showing the screen from youtube. Here’s the link if it doesn’t work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3uwcvMzy0M
I’ve been legally blind since I started 6th grade. But ever since I found out I’ve had 20/20 vision. Why? because I’ve either worn glasses since then or contact lenses. Legally blind is a designation for a high level of nearsightedness. It doesn’t mean you can’t see with glasses and contact lenses like everyone else. It’s not glaucoma. Ryan could have worn glasses and if his current glasses weren’t working well, have gotten a better prescription. I see the fact that he didn’t do that when he add access to money, as a personal decision. Maybe he thought glasses made him look bad.
I’m pretty sure that’s not how being legally blind works. No matter how bad your vision is, as long as you can achieve 20/20 vision with the help of glasses, contacts, etc. then you are not designated legally blind. I suspect that in Ryan’s case the fact that he wore glasses and still only had a depth perception of three feet in conjunction with the constant shaking of his iris/pupils means that a stronger prescription isn’t going to solve his impaired vision.
Exactly right…if it can be resolved with glasses it’s not a disability
Not how this works.
Any update? The pictures from Shannon’s profile look like their not together, I could be wrong.
Ryan reminds me so much of another Intervention episode – Sturgill J. They both seem like really kind, good kids with vision issues (I think Sturgill was also diagnosed as legally blind) that just ended up getting sucked into addiction. I was hoping to hear Ryan has been maintaining his sobriety too.
This was another one that was hard to watch. He seemed like such a lost soul, self medicating his pain to his detriment and that of his friends and family. I hope he’s doing well today. I teared up watching him with his baby girl.
This was a rough one to watch as someone who is disabled and struggles with substance abuse. His sister’s (?) words of “he can’t drive a car like everyone else, he can’t just go out and do things for himself — yeesh, felt that. I wish that there was so much more knowledge and value placed on interdependance (not co-dependence, different concept) in this society. I think it would help a lot of traumatized disabled people. (I know that’s not the only reason Ryan is traumatized, but still).
heyy..so, i havent seen anyone post here about it but…it looks like Ryan passed away. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/05/ryan-rogers-rehab-alcoholic-drugged/
really makes me sad…related to him in so many ways and was really rooting for him…RIP
Not the Ryan who was on Intervention, but that is a really interesting article.
This is not the same Ryan. What makes you think it is?
I saw that episode about Ryan on the show called Drugged.
i totally related to Ryan and it was really tragic to watch. it really had an impact on me. i would suggest people watch Ryans episode on Drugged.
I just watched this one. I am late to the party as they say. many people in the comments had issues with Ryan’s pregnant fiance being arrested. She did physically strike in front of Leo. They already knew there were cameras there. They are going to be as ‘by the book’ as they can in that situation. sometimes it takes a smack in the face like that to wake up to the situation. 5 months pregnant & this is what is happening in her house. Was that not a catalyst to realize he needed treatment? an ends to the mean so they say