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Guest Character Profiles > Zoe Alexander Simmone Jade Mackinnon

Zoe Alexander 2012
Occupation: PR Executive

After a very public feud with local councillor Ajay Kapoor over the closure of Erinsborough's police station, Paul Robinson found himself forced to resign as editor of the Erinsborough News, with his public image in tatters. He decided to hire a PR company to help him, settling for nothing less than senior executive Zoe Alexander. Although Zoe was more used to helping businesses with their PR, she agreed to help Paul, her first suggestion being a bachelor auction, for the Women's Health Week charity. Zoe managed to convince Paul to auction himself off as one of the bachelors, then put in an anonymous $1500 bid, bringing him a lot of attention. Paul was pleased with the results, and enjoyed flirting with Zoe, suggesting that they go out for brunch as their 'date' from the auction. Zoe reluctantly agreed, but after an enjoyable meal together, she was keen to go out with Paul again, and was even beginning to have fun spending time with Paul's son Andrew and niece Sophie who lived with him.

Seeing that Paul was growing close to Zoe, Andrew warned his dad to be careful, as Sophie was emotionally fragile and wouldn't be able to cope with having a new mother figure in her life, only to lose her. Paul insisted that he was taking things slowly with Zoe, but a passionate kiss, witnessed by Andrew and Sophie, seemed to suggest otherwise. Zoe's next course of action to improve Paul's public image was a magazine spread, showing him at home with Andrew and Sophie. The photoshoot went well, and Sophie insisted that Zoe join them for a picture, but when Paul saw that Sophie was using the image as her laptop wallpaper, he realised that Andrew was right, and he made his excuses about keeping business separate from pleasure when Zoe suggested another meal.

The next step in Zoe's plan to help Paul came when she suggested that he make a public donation to Erinsborough High. Paul had already offered the donation once before, but principal Priya Kapoor had been annoyed when it had come with the proviso that she allow Sophie to return to the school, after she was expelled earlier in the year. Priya was happy to accept the cheque, if a little taken aback at the amount of journalists present for the handover, but she took the opportunity to tell everyone what Paul was really like - and that she was surprised that the money came with no strings attached. Disgusted, Paul tore up the cheque and left, with Zoe furious at his very public tantrum, telling him that she could no longer represent him if he wasn't going to listen to her. Realising that he still needed help to get the newspaper editorship back, Paul tried to convince Zoe, but with no success. But after a little interference from Sophie, Paul and Zoe met for coffee and she told him that, although she could no longer help with his PR, she would like to keep seeing him on a more personal level.

It didn't take long for Zoe to start helping Paul with his PR again, after she met Susan Kennedy, Paul's replacement as newspaper editor, and found her rude and arrogant. Though he was still desperate to get rid of Susan, Zoe told Paul that his public image was still damaged from the cheque fiasco with Priya, and even if Susan went, he would still have to stay away from the job for a little longer. Approaching the problem from a new angle, he and Zoe plotted to get rid of Susan for a while, so that Paul could fill in temporarily, and with Susan away in Canada at a journalism conference, Paul wasted no time in moving into her office and planning his return. At the same time, however, Paul's personal relationship with Zoe was suffering, as he began to back off whenever she tried to spend time with him and his family.

Though Zoe and Paul were close to getting him back in the editor's chair, Paul was becoming increasingly frustrated with her interference in his home life. With Sophie's school work suffering, Paul attempted to get her to knuckle down and asked Zoe to back off, but was annoyed to come home and find Zoe treating Sophie and Kate to PR freebies and takeaways. However, with his plan to get the former newspaper sponsors back on side almost coming to fruition, Paul couldn't afford to lose Zoe just yet. But when Susan returned early from Canada and found out that he'd been winning back sponsors - with a stipulation in the contract that it would be with him as newspaper editor - the plan fell apart. And when Zoe then spent a housewarming party at the Kapoors' new place, 24 Ramsay Street, getting to know everyone and sharing parenting advice with the neighbours, Paul finally snapped. Despite knowing that it was going to hurt Sophie, who was beginning to rely on Zoe as a new mother figure, Paul ended the relationship and asked a devastated Zoe to leave.