Ramsay Street will be welcoming a new face to Neighbours this month in the form of Australian Idol star Rob Mills' new teacher character Finn Kelly, but we could have been seeing him in an entirely different Australian soap if things had played out a little differently.
As it was, it was Mills' own housemate Ryan O'Kane who got in the way of that dream and was cast in the role on Home and Away instead.
"There was a role on Home and Away that I got pretty close to," Rob told news.com.au. "It was to play Penny McNamee's love interest on the show."
But before he could win the role of Riley Hawkins, the surgeon who will be joining the soap in the coming months, his housemate revealed he'd got the call offering him the job.
"I'm pretty sure he just said, 'I've got the job'," Rob said before insisting that there wasn't any bitterness between the friends.
"We had a beer to celebrate and I think I even cooked him dinner."
Luckily, it seems Rob didn't have to wait too long for a lucky break as he's now landed a stint on Neighbours as a progressive teacher appointed by Susan Kennedy (Jackie Woodburne) and his scenes will start airing this month.
New teacher Finn Kelly is warm, easygoing and friendly as he settles in, but he soon clashes with his ex-girlfriend Elly Conway (Jodi Anasta), who is livid to see him and is convinced that Finn has a darker side.
Elly Conway clashes with Finn Kelly in Neighbours
© CHANNEL 5
[Elly Conway clashes with Finn Kelly in Neighbours]
"I can't wait to get started on the show," Rob said when his casting was announced last year. "As a youngster, I played baseball just behind where Ramsay Street is located and I thought at the time, how great it would be to be on Neighbours, and now it has happened!"
As for the Home and Away character that got away, Riley Hawkins has already made waves for soap fans watching at Australian pace, but the character has yet to star in Summer Bay for fans in the UK.
Digital Spy
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