Episode 488

Extended Summary

The dance is in full swing at the surf club. Alf welcomes Tom, Lance and Sally, with Sally showing him Lily. Lance pays the DJ to play their tape at the right time. Grant notices Carly looking around the room and wonders if she’s looking for Ben but she denies it. Emma, Viv and Sophie comment on Grant, who Emma in particular seems taken with. Viv points out she’s supposed to be with Adam and Grant’s a bit old for her but it doesn’t put Emma off.

Ben and Dave arrive and Dave thanks Ben for changing his mind about coming, saying he’s better off without Carly. At the same time, Grant tells Carly she was right to dump Ben because he’ll be off again soon and then tells Carly that he likes her. Adam goes over to Dave and shows him some of the money he’s got for their book. Celia makes a beeline for them and reminds Dave he’s supposed to be making a donation to the Ladies’ Auxiliary. Adam convinces her that Dave’s a changed person now and she agrees to drop the matter.

Emma and Carly go to get a drink at the same time. Emma asks Carly about her coming with Grant and seems pleased when Carly says they’re just friends. Bobby picks up on Emma’s interest and reminds her of their plans for the beauty contest. Alf makes a brief welcome speech and mentions the frog jumping competition and beauty contest. Tom drags Celia off for a dance. Grant sees Carly looking at Ben and wonders if he’s bothering her but Carly assures him he isn’t. Dave points out to Ben that Carly’s moved on.

Celia calls the contestants up on stage for the first part of the beauty contest, where they have to wear dresses they’ve chosen themselves: Sophie, Viv, Marilyn and Emma are among the contestants. Fisher wonders why Bobby is paying attention and realises she’s up to something. Dave asks Alf if he’s interested in making a bet so Alf puts $10 on Emma. Celia reads out the results at the end of the first stage and says Emma is in front.

Ben wonders if Grant’s plan is working, since Carly seems to be ignoring him, but Grant assures him she’s just being stubborn. Grant follows Carly outside when she goes to get some air and suggests they go back in for the frog jumping. Carly tries to convince him to go but Grant deliberately fails to take the hint, moving a chair next to her and saying he’d rather be with her. Inside, Sally is giving Lily a brief pep-talk prior to the competition. One of the other children, Curtis, says his frog, Brutus, will slaughter her. The frogs are placed in a small circle marked out in the middle of a larger circle and Tom places a box over them to stop them leaving it before the start; the first frog to jump out of the large circle is the winner. Celia complains about the contest and Tom says they could be racing funnel webs, with Fisher joking he’ll suggest it for next year. Alf starts the competition and Lance signals for the DJ to start playing the tape of Dag Dog barking. All the frogs start jumping around wildly at the noise and one lands on Celia’s foot, causing her to start shrieking. Lance makes himself scarce, running past Grant and Carly outside. Grant tells Carly that when he saw her he knew he was right to come to Summer Bay and suggests they go for a walk on the beach. Carly says she has to get back inside and objects to Grant referring to Ben as Soldier Boy, but insists she hasn’t got feelings for him.

Celia continues to moan to Tom and Alf about the contest. Sally has retrieved Lily and says Lance was just trying to help her. Celia starts the swimsuit part of the beauty contest and asks questions of the contestants. She asks Viv her ambitions and Viv says she wants to pass her HSC and go to college. Marilyn is somewhat at a loss when Celia asks her to say something about herself, until Celia asks what she likes doing and she says she likes shopping for clothes and starts babbling about working at the hot dog stand until Celia cuts her off. Emma is last up and Bobby gets her from a back room where she is covered in a blanket. When she gets on stage and takes it off, she is wearing a baggy Victorian-style swimming costume and has one of her teeth blacked out. She takes the microphone from Celia and says she won’t win now even though she’s the same person that won the first part and it’s what’s on the inside that should count. Carly starts applauding and, after several seconds, Grant joins in and soon almost everyone is clapping.

Afterwards, Celia takes Bobby and Emma to task but they are unrepentant, saying the beauty contest is just there for guys to ogle them. Adam and Dave commiserate themselves on another failed moneymaking scheme. Grant tells Ben to meet him outside in a few minutes then asks Adam to do something for him. Celia thanks the judges and contestants and announces Marilyn is the winner but Marilyn refuses to accept it because of what Emma said and everyone applauds her. Adam rushes up to Carly and tells her she has to go outside: Ben and Grant are about to have a fight over her…