Bridget Simmons
Bridget Simmons (2008-2009)
Joy Smithers
Episodes: 4707–4782
Bridget arrived unexpectedly at Tony’s door just as he was beginning to rebuild his relationship with Rachel. Tony was devastated when Rachel failed to appear for their wedding and had apparently turned to Bridget for company while away from the Bay.
Bridget appeared to see him as an opportunity for a new start in a new town and was upset when she found him once again drawn close to Rachel.
She confided in Alf that she had nothing and desperately needed a job. Alf offered her some shifts at the club until Tony objected that this will make it difficult for him with Rachel. A friendship (and romance!) developed between Bridget and Alf and he offered her the opportunity to work at the Bait Shop.
When she told Martha that she was a cancer survivor, a bond formed between them. Martha valued her friendship and came to rely on her for emotional support.
We began to wonder when an old friend appeared in the Bay and hinted that he and Bridget had been partners in scams to con people for money. He blackmailed Bridget for money and she borrowed the money from Alf.
Rachel also became suspicious when Bridget made a mistake when talking about her supposed cancer experience.
When Leah’s insurance money arrived Bridget seemed unusually interested and “borrowed” Leah’s license. However when she tried to use the stolen I.D at the bank, she ran into unexpected difficulties with security questions and the teller became suspicious. Bridget left and decided to abandon the plan.
However, Brian, her partner, wasn’t going to let go that easily and blackmailed Bridget into continuing the scam.
The tables started to turn on Bridget when local business people started to complain to Alf about the billboards. Bridget had taken the money off them, but failed to go through with placing the advertisements on the boards. Alf questioned her she she said that the main guy complaining sent her a dodgy cheque. But Alf confronts her again and she admits to using the money for health reasons. When Alf nudges her on the issue, she says that her cancer has come back and that she needs the money to pay for the medical fees.
She returns the money to Alf, along with a letter. He reads the letter to find out that Brigdet was about to leave the Bay because she didn’t want to hurt him. Bridget confronts Alf the next day at Noah’s and tells him she’s leaving for good. But Alf tells her to stay and he gives her another chance.
Bridget refuses go back on treatment for her Cancer. Alf wants her to tell Rachel, but she doesn’t want Rachel to know anything about it. Alf finds it difficult to deal with this, so he confides in Rachel. She comes over to Alf’s place to talk to Bridget, but Bridget seems reluctant to go back on treatment.
Bridget rings Brian to ask him for help with situation. Bridget tells Alf that she wants to do the treatment, but only with her “old” doctor in the city. Rachel seems suspicious and takes a look in her bag, but she finds a box of cancer medication. Bridget is pleased that Rachel may be off her case soon enough.
Brian turns up at Noah’s and goes along with the illness. He apologizes to her for being an idiot in the past.
A few days later, Bridget runs into Rachel in the Diner. Rachel keeps on asking questions about her treatment, but Bridget snaps back and tells her that the only reason why Rachel is acting like this is because Bridget slept with Tony and that she could have him whenever she wanted. Rachel gets angry and starts giving Bridget a piece of her mind. But Bridget plays the sick card and fakes a faint spell so people would see that Rachel was “attacking” a sick woman. Rachel is gobsmacked by this and tells Leah what really happened.
Brian keeps pushing Bridget to get the money from Leah’s account. But she doesn’t seem confident that she can pull it off.
Rachel rings Dr. Cassio (Bridget’s “doctor”) and she finds out that Bridget isn’t receiving treatment in the city at all. She then confronts Bridget at Noah’s in front of Alf. Alf steps in and tells Rachel to back off and tells her that Bridget is having a bad time because of her treatment. Rachel goes to Jack to see if he do anything about the situation, but he is on his way out so he couldn’t talk to her.
Bridget’s lies were finally exposed when Rachel found a letter. Bridget got a hysterical phone call from her mother, who thought her daughter had cancer. Bridget confronted Rachel about contacting her family, but Rachel told her the story about how confused her mother was when she was told her daughter had cancer. It turned out it was Bridget’s aunt that had cancer, not her, and that she lied the whole time about having it.
Bridget started making up lies about why she lied about the cancer, but Rachel didn’t believe her. Rachel wanted to tell Alf the whole story, but Bridget convinced her not to because of what everybody was going through because of Jack’s death. Rachel came up with a plan to get rid of Bridget once and for all. She told Bridget that she was going to America for cancer treatment and that she’d have to leave right away. Bridget agreed to go along with this because none of her lies would be exposed to the rest of Summer Bay if she went now. But when she broke the news to Alf, he convinced her to stay until after Jack’s funeral. Rachel wasn’t happy about this, but agreed that it might be best until the funeral is over.
Once Jack’s funeral was over, Bridget began to say her goodbyes to Summer Bay. But on her way to the airport, Alf forgot his jacket and had to turn back. But while they were back in the Bay, Bridget found out that Leah’s son, VJ, had been kidnapped. The kidnapper was Brian, and he wanted $30,000 in return for VJ. Bridget made an anonymous phone call to the police to tip them off, but she was unaware that Brian had a police radio in his car, which was why Leah hadn’t gotten the police involved. After the whole abduction fiasco had ended, people were in Leah’s house celebrating VJ’s safe return home. Bridget was about to leave again, but Alf asked Jai to get his coat for him. When Jai picked up Alf’s coat, a necklace dropped out. He claimed that it was for Bridget so she wouldn’t forget about him when she was in America. Rachel witnessed this, and she reached breaking point. She confronted Bridget publicly and told her to tell Alf about the fake cancer.
Bridget’s lies were out in the open thanks to Rachel. Brian, who had been arrested for kidnapping VJ, told the police that Bridget was in on the scam to get Leah’s money, so she was arrested also. Down at the station, Alf spoke to Bridget to understand what she had done. She kept on telling him that she really did love him and that was something she never lied about. But Alf couldn’t forgive her and left Bridget behind at the police station.