YouTuber admits he faked girlfriend's death in 'clickbait' attempt: 'I'm in serious trouble'

Jason Ethier — who goes by ImJayStation on YouTube — has wrapped up a particularly tumultuous saga on his YouTube channel, stunning his 5.4 million subscribers on Sunday by revealing that his girlfriend, Alexia Marano, is still alive.

The only problem is, less than a week ago, on Jan. 21, Ethier posted a since-deleted video titled "My Girlfriend Alexia Died… *Rest In Paradise*." According to Insider, in the staged, emotional video, Ethier had sobbed to the camera that his girlfriend had been hit by a drunk driver.

"She got hit, guys. She's gone," Ethier reportedly said. "Sorry for crying. I know you guys are going to make fun of me for crying. She's gone too soon."

In a bizarre and borderline heartless move for a mourning boyfriend, all subsequent video uploads following the announcement — including one where Ethier announced he was going to contact Marano's spirit via a Ouija board — were monetized and promoted Ethier and Marano's joint prank YouTube channel, Dream Team. There were also reportedly links out to their various merch items in the description box.

But then, Ethier posted another tearful video just five days later, titled: "ALEXIA MARANO *THE TRUTH ABOUT HER*." The 24-minute confessional video revealed that he had lied about his girlfriend's death — not out of a moral obligation to be honest with his audience and potentially Marano's family and friends, but because according to Ethier, Marano was now out to ruin his life.

"Alexia is trying to ruin my life because of videos that she helped me make," he says in the video.

The video shows the couple planning how to pull off the hoax together. Ethier claimed that he was only trying to help his girlfriend out with her viewership and career by collaborating on faking her death. He says that the series of videos was supposed to "gain traction" on their aforementioned joint prank channel, Dream Team.

Newsweek reported that Marano's parents became furious with the "in Memorium" videos of their very-much-alive daughter, and threatened to go to the press if the videos were not removed. Ethier refused, but then caved, he says, when Marano reported him to the police for assault with a weapon.

"I now face serious charges and can't leave my house without getting arrested, and I did not even commit the crime."

Ethier apologizes to viewers for faking Marano's death, assuming the "story" would not go farther than just one YouTube video.

"I'm in serious trouble now, and I don't know what to do," he said. "I can't make YouTube videos. I feel trapped right now."

However, the YouTube community has been suspicious of Ethier and Marano since the initial video. YouTuber Keemstar tweeted his skepticism two days after the first video had been posted.

Ethier's story gets even more unbelievable and confusing as the Toronto Police Service have denied that any such warrant for Ethier's arrest exists.