Next week on Home and Away in the UK, Ryder struggles in the aftermath of his trauma, whilst Alf seeks vengeance on Theo…
The idea of being buried alive would instil fear in most people, but it didn’t phase Ryder Jackson (Lukas Radovich) when he proposed it for his and Theo Poulos’s (Matt Evans) latest online challenge video.
Ryder, on the other hand, is almost certain to join the taphophobia club after what should have been a five-hour test developed into a harrowing overnight adventure that nearly killed him.
It was pure luck that Roo (Georgie Parker) and Justin (James Stewart) noticed the video and arrived at the cemetery site in time, with Theo lying helpless nearby after having his leg hooked in some barbed wire.
Ryder was unconscious and severely deprived of oxygen by the time they managed to dig him up, but after a tense waiting game in the hospital, he finally started responding to treatment.
Tensions in the Stewart household are still at an all-time high this week, with Roo refusing to speak to her mother Martha (Belinda Giblin) after she refused to take Roo’s kidney in a much-needed transplant. Roo announces that she will be moving out to a caravan when Martha returns home from the hospital.
Only the fact that Ryder will be home the next day persuades Roo to stay in the family home in order to help him compels her to do so.
Despite everyone’s efforts to persuade him otherwise, Alf remains sure that Theo is solely responsible for Ryder’s pain. After Alf yells at Theo at the diner to keep away from his family, Justin walks over to Summer Bay House to try to persuade Alf that Ryder and Theo were both in on it.
Alf kicks Justin out, but not before telling him to check the videos and see for himself.
Alf watches all of Theo and Ryder’s web videos alone, becoming increasingly unimpressed as he scrolls through them—from the chilli challenge to the firewalk challenge to Theo taking the surf club ATV.
The films, in Alf’s opinion, don’t exonerate Theo from being the driving force behind the challenges, and when Ryder returns home from the hospital, he’s confronted with one of Alf’s rants—”That Poulos kid is trouble… and you’re both naive and stupid enough to believe it!”
Roo leads Ryder outdoors for some fresh air, where he apologizes for torturing them with the challenge and explains that he was merely doing the videos to pay back the money he owes them.
Ryder becomes angry when Roo tries to reassure him that he was not under any obligation to come up with the monies.
Ryder begs for oxygen as his chest tightens and tells Roo that he can’t breathe.
When Roo calls for help from anyone in the caravan park, Jasmine (Sam Frost) is luckily nearby with Cash (Nicholas Cartwright), and they both come running over to assist.
Roo and Cash both inquire if Ryder requires medical attention, but Jasmine explains that Ryder is suffering a panic attack and walks him through a breathing exercise to help him relax.
Roo and Cash both inquire if Ryder requires medical attention, but Jasmine explains that Ryder is suffering a panic attack and walks him through a breathing exercise to help him relax.
He recognizes coercion when he sees it and informs a surprised Theo that he’ll pay for his actions!
Alf rushes up to Cash and demands that Theo be charged with attempted murder!
Cash has to explain that the tapes indicate Ryder was completely cooperative and that no criminal conduct occurred—after all, there’s no such thing as bad luck. Alf isn’t overjoyed!
When a new dispute between Alf and Ryder causes Ryder to suffer another panic episode, a terrified Alf vows to find a new way to punish Theo… He comes up with the perfect strategy while driving to the surf club.
Theo is taken aback the next day when he is contacted by Constables Murray (John-Paul Jory) and Watson, who inform him that he is being held for the theft of the surf club Polaris!*
Theo’s protests that it was just a joke fall on deaf ears as the officers prepare to take him down to the station.
Has Alf’s vendetta against Theo gone too far?
*we usually refrain from naming the surf club’s ATV as a Polaris—whilst it’s been named as such in dialogue for a few years now, it’s actually a Can-Am Defender.
Unsurprisingly, after Alf witnesses Ryder and Theo’s firewalking video, he chooses to keep quiet about the fact that he’d done the same thing himself over two decades ago!
Back in 1998, Alf and Donald Fisher (Norman Coburn) went on a warrior summit camp—in the hope it would help Alf get in touch with his emotions and open up in his marriage to Ailsa (Judy Nunn). The two were faced with a firewalk as part of a challenge to bring out their inner strength.
Unfortunately the technique they used resulted in the same consequence. Whilst Ryder and Theo were stopped in their tracks by Cash’s interference, Alf and Fisher tried to rush across, and in doing so burnt their feet.
