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Guest Character Profiles > Tess Carmichael Anica Calida

Tess Carmichael 2023, 2024
Occupation: Strategic Assistant/2IC to Conrad and Reece Sinclair, Head of Asia Pacific at Sincast Corporation

When Reece Sinclair’s half-sister Krista went missing in Australia, her wealthy family went to great lengths to find her, including buying into Lassiters Hotel in Erinsborough, the last place they’d heard from her. Reece was then sent out to Australia to try and track her down and, after a month in Sydney, she went to Melbourne, checking into Lassiters under her married name of Peters. There, she began a relationship with hotel porter Byron Stone and when her true identity came out, she claimed that she was just in town to check on her father, Conrad’s investment.

As Reece had been in Australia for three months, Conrad sent his right-hand woman, the company’s senior executive and next-in-line to the top position, Tess Carmichael, to find out what was happening. Reece was surprised to see Tess, who wanted to know exactly why the search was taking so long. Reece then admitted that she’d struggled with the task she’d been given, not really wanting to look for Krista as the pair had a difficult relationship. But after finding a sun necklace that had belonged to Krista in the hotel lost property - and to which Reece owned the matching moon - she remembered how close they’d once been, and she’d begun her search in earnest. Reece explained that she was close to finding out the name Krista had been using whilst staying at the hotel, and was hoping that it would bring more leads. Tess warned that there needed to be more progress, saying that she’d be back in a few days, after a trip to Adelaide, where there was a business that Sincast were hoping to acquire.

After a successful deal in Adelaide, Tess returned to Erinsborough the following week. She discovered that Reece had made a little progress, tracking down a car that Krista had used during her time in town, as well as an affirmation card that Reece had given to Krista, which had been in the car’s sun visor. Tess was unimpressed, explaining that Conrad was starting to regret sending her to Australia to do this job. Meanwhile, the pair were spotted chatting in the Lassiters grounds by the hotel’s co-owner, Paul Robinson, who’d felt that there was something odd about Reece ever since she arrived, and had been desperate to get rid of her. After recognising Tess, Paul invited her to dinner at his penthouse, where he took great delight in revealing that Reece had kept her identity a secret when she first arrived - and that she was in a relationship with a hotel porter, who used to be an escort. As Paul tried to find out more from Tess, she refused to give him any information, but he was pleased with the outcome of the dinner, sensing that Tess was unhappy with Reece.

Tess then went straight to Reece’s hotel room, telling her that she and Conrad had decided that Reece was taking too long - and had become too sidetracked - to find Krista, and so would be headed back to the US the following day, with Tess taking over the search. With Reece refusing to return to the US, Tess tried to force the issue, but Reece pointed out that her father might side with family over an employee when push came to shove. After speaking to Paul about Byron and denying more of Paul’s attempts to dig up information on Reece, Tess went to see Reece to play her final card - telling her that Conrad was unwell. As she explained that Conrad was struggling without Reece’s help, Tess was surprised when Reece insisted that she was staying in Australia until she’d found Krista. Realising that nothing was going to change Reece’s mind, Tess reminded her that she would have to return to the US as soon as Krista was found, then packed up and left later that day, leaving Paul frustrated that he’d once again failed to get rid of Reece.

Soon after, Krista was found, while Conrad's health took a turn for the worse and he passed away. With Krista battling drug addiction, Reece returned to the US and took over the running of SinCast, while Krista eventually took on the role of Executive Consultant at Lassiters. The following year, Tess, now Reece's 21C following Conrad's death, returned to Melbourne as SinCast's Head of Asia Pacific. With Paul away in New York, the hotel had hired Brett Heade as a temporary manager, but Krista had been forced to fire him following a series of mistakes. Tess arrived to find the hotel in chaos, telling Krista that she wanted a full explanation. As Krista did her best to fix everything, Tess explained that she was just there to check on SinCast's investments and that she had no interest in seeing Krista fail. However, it seemed that she did have an ulterior motive for returning to Erinsborough, as she made secretive phone calls saying that the Sinclairs had no idea what was coming, then snapped at receptionist Holly Hoyland as she tried to snoop on Tess as she did some printing at the reception desk.

A few days later, Tess' 21C Heath Royce arrived in Erinsborough, and it soon became clear that not only were they sleeping together, but they had a plan underway to embezzle the Sinclair family, having already funnelled millions of dollars from the company. Tess continued to plot behind Krista's back, tipping off the Quill Group about Krista's planned deal with the Melbourne Experiences tour group, allowing the Quills to steal it with a better offer. As Krista had already cancelled another big group booking to make way for Melbourne Experiences, she'd ended up losing two big contracts in one day, knocking her confidence, with Tess claiming that she admired Krista's grit and determination to fix the problem. Tess' plotting continued as she encouraged Krista to arrange a 'secret shopper' visit to see how the hotel was doing, whilst also trying to stop Heath from spending the money before their plan was complete and she'd handed in her resignation to Reece. Feeling that Tess was keeping him on the outer and not listening to any of his ideas, a frustrated Heath ended up taking Holly, who he'd been flirting with since his arrival, for a drive in his car.

After sending troubleshooter Justin Ashton to the outback to deal with a property, Tess soon had other things to worry about when she realised that Heath had approached lawyer Toadie Rebecchi about some conveyancing work on the property he was interested in, in Hawaii. Tess pointed out that everyone in Erinsborough was connected and none of them knew how to keep their mouths shut, and her fears proved to be correct when Heath gave Toadie his real name - Heath Silversen - and soon Toadie's co-worker Mackenzie was looking into it, having heard from Holly that his surname was Royce. After learning that Heath Silversen had been charged with fraud, Mackenzie reported back to Krista, leaving Tess with some explaining to do. Tess insisted that she'd had no idea about Heath's past, congratulating Krista on finding out and explaining that she'd deal with the matter. Heath then claimed to Krista that he'd been set up by his uncle and had signed some papers he shouldn't have, with Tess adding that this was a SinCast matter rather than anything to do with Lassiters, and also reminding Krista that she'd been given several second chances herself, so she should have a little more sympathy for Heath.

Having put out that fire, a new problem arose when Paul Robinson returned early from his trip to New York. Aware that it was going to be difficult to mess with Krista and make the hotel look like it was losing money with Paul around, Tess decided to try and distract him. She put it to him that SinCast were planning to sell off some of their assets and she could get the hotel added to the list, allowing Paul to become sole owner again. Tess was delighted when he took the bait, unaware that she was being double-crossed and that Paul was firmly on Krista's side and was planning to get to the truth about why Tess and Heath were really in Erinsborough. As she continued to try and keep on top of everything that was going on, Tess told Heath that he'd have to go out to the outback property of Warrawee, where they'd sent Justin Ashton to get rid of the current tenants, and make sure that he hadn't left any evidence of their scheming before the property was sold. She then told Paul that she'd managed to get Lassiters on the list of properties to be divested by SinCast and that she'd make sure Paul got first refusal.

With Paul and Krista slowly getting closer to the truth and realising that Tess and Heath couldn't be trusted, Tess was worried to learn that Justin had caught Toadie and Melanie snooping around at the house that she and Heath were renting. As they had found bank statements and fake passports, Justin had tried to act quickly, getting them onto a train to the outback and leaving them at a cottage on the sprawling Warrawee Cattle Station, where Heath had already gone. Unbeknownst to Tess, Heath had also been seeing hotel receptionist Holly and had taken her to Warrawee with him, where things had slowly been unravelling as he tried to stop her from contacting home. After learning what had happened with Toadie and Melanie, Heath grew more desperate, whilst Tess bought herself some time by pretending to board a flight to Honolulu, whilst actually heading to Cairns. As she spoke to Heath, Tess told him about her plans to get them out of the country, but he was more interested in just receiving his half of the money and when Tess then heard a woman's voice in the background, she worried that Heath no longer wanted to be with her. She then flew out to confront him, finding that events had spiralled out of control, as Toadie and Melanie had escaped, with Melanie then rescuing Holly, who Heath had left for dead in a grain silo. As she realised how dangerous Heath was, Tess found herself bundled into the back of his ute as he raced back to Warrawee's accommodation to try and find Toadie and Melanie. Once there, he found Melanie with Holly, as well as Holly's friends Haz and Mackenzie, who had flown out to help her. With Heath stopping them from getting to each other, Holly and Melanie were forced to backtrack into the bushland, with an armed Heath giving chase, and Haz then following to help, as Mackenzie remained behind and found a broken and apologetic Tess in the back of the ute.

In the aftermath, Heath ended up dead when Holly pushed him into the river and he was attacked by a crocodile, while Mackenzie was shot by one of the stray bullets from Heath's gun. As the police arrived, and also found a badly dehydrated Toadie lost in the middle of nowhere, he, Tess, Melanie, Haz and a recovering Mackenzie were flown back to Victoria. There, Tess was questioned by the police in Erinsborough and, before she was charged and taken away, Krista was given the opportunity to talk to her. Tess apologised for her behaviour recently, explaining that, after 18 years of working so closely with Conrad, things had changed when Reece had taken over and she'd felt underappreciated and pushed out. She told Krista that her scheme with Heath had spiralled out of control and she'd finally realised that Heath didn't love her and was only in it for the money. Krista then said that it was good to finally see this human side to Tess, and that the best thing she could do now was to admit to her mistakes and take her punishment for them. The next day, Paul was informed that Tess had been denied bail.

A few months later, Tess was visited in prison by a woman claiming to be Leah Curtain, a lawyer representing Heath's family. In reality, she was Yasmine Shields, Heath's sister, who was looking for the truth about her brother's death, convinced that Holly was being protected by her friends and by Tess, and that she had killed him to get his money, rather than acting in self defence. Tess found the entire conversation uncomfortable but offered her view of what had happened with 'Leah' then offering to help Tess if she spoke out and got the police investigation reopened. As she considered what to do, Tess decided to contact Krista, asking her to come and visit. Tess then explained everything to Krista, pointing out that, if Heath's family were successful, then the whole business in the outback could be reopened for all of them, and Holly could be facing serious repercussions. As Krista went to Holly to warn her, Tess arranged for her lawyer to contact 'Leah' and let her know that she wasn't interested in talking to her again.