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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.