C.J.: Jason Matheson pulls off Great Vegas Proposal Plan

The fountains at the Bellagio were dancing Sunday in Las Vegas when Jason Matheson fell to one knee while proposing to his manfriend Collin Haas.

"It was beautiful. We bawled," the MyTalk107.1 morning show host told me Monday. "My mom [Dar Smeal of Louisiana] cried, his mom [Lori Haas of Minnesota] cried."

Collin, who works at the U, and Jason were enjoying a weekend in Vegas with their moms and the friends now known as the "Three Musketeers of Love": Hayley Herst, exec producer of Fox's "Good Day LA," Jennifer Lueck, an owner of St. Paul's Buttered Tin, and Matt Hawkins, a W marketing staffer.

"Hayley was in on the operation," said Matheson, who met Herst when she was exec producing morning shows at Fox 9. "Hayley and my friend Jen were co-captains of 'The Great Marriage Proposal Plan.' We waited until the fountains were going off, the music was playing. I got down on one knee and proposed in front of my mom and the besties. He said 'Yes' and we cried. It was perfect. Everyone cried."

A couple of hours before the proposal, Herst, a Vegas native, escorted Matheson to pick up Haas' ring. "We ordered it and picked it up at the Tiffany here about two hours before the proposal," said Matheson. "The way we're going to do it is, I'm going to get mine at the wedding."

When I interviewed Matheson in March about his departure from Fox 9, he told me that he was sure he and his then-boyfriend of seven months would marry.

This came up so fast, I thought I'd nail down one detail just hanging in the air: You don't have to get married, do you?

"What do you mean?" said Matheson, unusually slow on the uptake. "Oh, put that in there. That's funny. Girrrrrrrrl, I am NOT pregnant!"

The guys expect to marry within the next 18 months.

Congrats!

Don't you just love hard-charging TV types who avoid phone calls like government officials when they don't want to talk to media?

I don't, Joy Lim Nakrin.

The KSTP-TV reporter and anchor has left the station for a job in Boston, her hometown, where she will be a reporter, anchor and legal analyst for WFXT-TV.

Two months ago, maybe longer, when I first heard Nakrin had not signed a new contract offer from KSTP, where she worked for three years, I tried to reach her. That information was confirmed to me Monday, when KSTP news director Lindsay Radford said, "We offered Joy a new contract and we really had hoped we'd be able to keep her, but we realize sometimes the ties to home are hard to break."

I never worried that Nakrin wouldn't talk to me because she sent over a card, with a romance update, and a box of candy (which is not normal in my dealings with TV types) in a gesture I interpreted as unusually friendly. Nakrin, who lucked out when I forgot to get back to her at the Lindsey Vonn appearance, always promised to keep me updated on the progress of her relationship with on-air colleague, meteorologist Jon Yuhas.

In the early stages of their relationship, I wrote blind items about them being seen holding hands. But it wasn't until Feb. 14, 2012, that I first wrote on the record about Nakrin and Yuhas finding love working weekends at the TV station.

"Seriously, we're like best friends. The thing that's so crazy is that we come from completely different backgrounds," said Yuhas.

Nakrin told me (in words that still ring in my ear) that she never set out "to be with a guy who is 12 years older than me, divorced and has two kids. I don't think typical 31-year-old women say this is what I am looking for. [But] we had a real connection."

I don't imagine her moving to Boston bodes well for that connection, but I don't know. My best information is that Nakrin's parents have always had high aspirations for their only child's career and are glad she is returning to Boston.

Former KARE 11 reporter Joe Fryer has been promoted to NBC News correspondent.

When we talked in August, the Minnesota kid who left here for a TV job in Washington state said his summer fill-in work wasn't a tryout and I thought: Whatever.

Raise your hand if you're surprised the award-winning Fryer's now a network correspondent? Take your hand down!

C.J. can be reached at cj@startribune.com and seen on Fox 9's "Buzz." E-mailers, please state a subject; "Hello" does not count. Attachments are not opened.