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Guest Character Profiles > Heath Royce Ethan Panizza

When Tess Carmichael, 21C to SinCast President Reece Sinclair and now Head of the company's Asia Pacific investments, arrived in Erinsborough to check on Lassiters Hotel, it quickly became clear that there was more going on. The following week, Tess' assistant Heath Royce flew in from the US and it became apparent that not only were they sleeping together, but they had been embezzling millions from the Sinclairs in order to escape the family's grip, unhappy at Tess being given a job that took her away from the US to the other side of the world. Part of their plan was to convince Reece's younger sister, Krista - a former addict who'd turned her life around and become the hotel's Executive Consultant - that she was doing a good job whilst plotting behind her back to take money from Lassiters. Heath, however, was determined that they should start enjoying the money they already had, trying to persuade Tess to look at a house in Hawaii, whilst she wanted to complete the plan before the spending began. Annoyed that Tess didn't trust him to do any of the dirty work and wouldn't listen to his ideas, Heath quickly became distracted when he met hotel receptionist Holly Hoyland, who wasted little time in flirting with him, before grabbing the opportunity when he gave her the chance to drive his Mustang.

After sleeping with Holly, Heath decided to press on with his plan to buy the property in Hawaii, going to Toadie Rebecchi's law firm in the Lassiters complex and asking him to do the conveyancing. As he did so, Heath gave his real name of Heath Silversen, and when Tess found out what he was up to, she was furious, pointing out that everyone in Erinsborough seemed to be connected and that none of them could keep their mouths shut. Meanwhile, after learning that Heath had been giving two different surnames, Toadie's co-worker Mackenzie did some research, learning that Heath Silversen had been charged with fraud. She quickly reported this back to Krista, who told Tess, who acted surprised and insisted that she would get to the bottom of it. Aware that she couldn't fire Heath, she had him confess everything to Krista, claiming that he'd been conned by his uncle into signing some papers that he shouldn't have, and had changed his name to try and move on. Though unimpressed, Krista was left powerless as Tess pointed out that this was a SinCast matter rather than the hotel's concern, and that Krista should understand better than anyone that people deserve a second chance.

After making a veiled threat to Mackenzie to keep her nose out of his business, Heath went and told Holly about the fraud charges. Though surprised, she admitted that she was enjoying taking some risks in life and didn't want to end things between them. When Holly's friend Sadie then spotted Heath and Tess kissing, she reported this information to Holly, who attempted to act like she didn't care, but was clearly jealous. When she and Heath then returned to his place, she asked him about Tess and he admitted that he'd been seeing her in order to rebuild his career but had no interest in her beyond that. He then presented Holly with jewellery and she told him that she was prepared to share him, as long as he made it worth her while. When Holly arrived with some papers at the hotel room that Tess was using as an office, she could barely hide her shock as she realised that Tess and Heath had just been in bed together. When Heath caught up with Holly, he reminded her that his fling with Tess was only temporary, and that she would have to be better at hiding her feelings if she didn't want Tess to find out about them.

Heath was then annoyed when Tess sent him off the remote Warrawee Cattle Station. Having hired Justin Ashton to get rid of its caretakers and make it look like the business was failing in order to skim more than $2 million off the sale of the property, Tess wanted Heath to make sure that he hadn't left any evidence or paperwork behind. Feeling that Tess didn't trust him and just wanted him out of the way, Heath decided to invite Holly to go with him. Initially delighted to have some time alone with Heath away from Erinsborough, Holly started to worry when Heath's mood began to change. Having thrown Holly's phone into a creek, Heath was then left to deal with matters when Toadie and Melanie were found by Justin, snooping around the house that Heath and Tess had rented. Having gone there to have it out with Heath after he'd made multiple threats to Mackenzie to keep her nose out of his business, Toadie and Melanie had found back statements and fake passports, so Justin had decided to deal with them, taking them by train to Warrawee and tying them up in one of the cottages on the sprawling property. Heath was furious to have been left to sort out the whole mess, unsure of what he was going to do, with his terrible mood leaving Holly very worried, even more so when she was left alone at the station's accommodation and found evidence of Heath and Tess's embezzling in his bag. Meanwhile, Tess had made her escape to Cairns and called Heath to tell him about the arrangements to get out of Australia, only for him to ask her to just send him his half of the money.

After hearing a woman's voice in the background of the call, and worried that Heath no longer wanted to be with her, Tess decided to fly out to Warrawee and find out what was going on. Holly, meanwhile, hid out in the back of the ute the next morning, when Heath drove out to the cottage to deal with Toadie and Melanie. With Heath distracted, Holly was shocked when she found Toadie and Melanie, managing to get them out of the cottage and, as they ran off into the outback to escape, Holly tried to keep Heath calm. This quickly failed and he turned on her, chasing her until she was cornered and climbed up a silo, with Heath pushing her into the grain and leaving her to die. Having sent a text to Paul Robinson, demanding $5 million if he ever wanted to see his friends again, Heath, now armed with a gun left under the cottage by Justin, set off looking for Toadie and Melanie. When Melanie hurt her ankle, Toadie went off alone, and Mel made her way back to the cottage, hearing Holly's screams for help just in time to save her life. As Mel and Holly made their way back to the accommodation, Heath was annoyed when Tess turned up, having found Holly's clothes and wallet and wanting an explanation. An increasingly unhinged Heath bundled her into the back of the ute and Paul then phoned and demanded proof that the hostages were still alive before he sent any money. Desperate for the money, Heath turned the ute around and ended up back at the accommodation, where he found Mel and Holly desperately trying to get to safety, as Holly's friends Haz and Mackenzie, who had flown out to check on her safety, also turned up. As he drove the ute between them, Holly and Melanie were forced to retreat into the bushland, with Haz following, and Mackenzie remaining behind, where she found Tess in the back of the ute.

With Melanie's ankle injury stopping her from going any further, she hid out, leaving Holly to continue alone. Waving the gun around and firing random warning shots, Heath attempted to track down Holly, eventually stopping by a creek, putting the gun down and telling Holly to come out of hiding, telling her that he didn't want to hurt her and just needed a favour. When she finally appeared, she pushed him backwards into the water and, as Haz arrived to help Holly, she was horrified to witness Heath being attacked and dragged down by a crocodile as he attempted to swim to safety.

Episodes Featured
9086, 9087, 9088, 9089, 9091, 9092, 9096, 9097, 9098, 9099

Biography by Steve

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