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Character Profiles > JJ Varga-Murphy Riley Bryant

JJ Varga-Murphy 2023-
Lived: 30 Ramsay Street
Parents: Remi and Cara, Felix
Siblings: Dex
Occupation: Student at Erinsborough High

When the Varga-Murphy family received a surprise offer on their house in Werribee, 16-year-old JJ found them a temporary residence in Erinsborough through Rent-a-Home. As Remi, Cara, JJ and Dex arrived at 24 Ramsay Street, it seemed that JJ hadn’t chosen that street by chance, as he began to take a particular interest in the Rodwell family - parents Andrew and Wendy, and their daughter, Sadie, who lived next-door at no. 26. With JJ’s behaviour becoming very secretive, brother Dex was determined to find out what was going on, after catching him reading something, then hiding it in his bag. When he finally managed to get into JJ’s bag, Dex was surprised to find a diary that had belonged to Philippa, Cara’s best friend who had died.

JJ finally explained to his brother that he’d been reading the diary and had learnt that, when Philippa had been trying to get pregnant, a man named Andrew Rodwell had offered to give her a sperm sample. After changing her mind, and with best friend Cara also trying for a baby, Philippa had given the sample to her. With Cara falling pregnant soon after, apparently from an anonymous American donor, and some pages missing from the diary, JJ was left unsure if his biological father was actually Andrew or the anonymous donor. After chatting to Andrew, pretending that he wanted to join the police, JJ learnt that they both had a shellfish allergy, but he felt that he needed better proof. After learning that the spare key was at no. 24, JJ took it and let himself into the Rodwell house, believing that the family would all be out. Having just found a photo that showed Andrew and Philippa together, JJ was caught by Sadie, and lied that he’d come to borrow some milk, believing that everyone on Ramsay Street just let themselves in and out of each other’s houses. Sadie believed him, but when Wendy’s watch went missing, JJ was immediately accused of stealing it, sparking a war between the Rodwells and the Varga-Murphys.

Now believing that Andrew could definitely be his father, JJ agreed with Dex that they needed to keep the information to themselves and, as they were heading back to Werribee, it could easily remain a secret. Unfortunately, the brothers were in for a shock, as Remi and Cara had decided to buy 30 Ramsay Street, meaning that the two families would now be permanent neighbours. As JJ tried to settle into the street, he started at Erinsborough High and began a friendship with neighbour Nell Rebecchi, and when Wendy admitted that she’d found the watch in her laundry basket, JJ took the opportunity to go to the Rodwells and apologise for the trouble he’d caused. Andrew and Wendy insisted that he had nothing to apologise for, but it seemed that JJ was finding it very difficult to be living across the street from the man he believed to be his father.

When Andrew then offered to give JJ driving lessons, he was happy to accept. But as they sat and chatted in the car, and Andrew spoke to JJ about his own father, he came close to blurting out the truth, before doing a runner when Andrew went to get them some ice creams. As JJ continued to struggle with his secret, and Dex feared for the implications if it all came out, matters came to a head. With Cara due to give evidence against her former employers, the Linwell brothers, about their unsafe work practices, their intimidation tactics had included smashing one of Remi’s car windows and tampering with a fan that Cara had installed at The Waterhole. One morning, an enveloped containing white powder was delivered to the Varga-Murphys and opened by Remi. Believing that it could be anthrax, Remi sent Cara, JJ and Dex outside, with tension building as they waited for news. After learning that Wendy was responsible for the incident - as she had been snooping into Cara’s past, looking at her CV and had contacted the Linwell brothers - Cara was furious. When they learnt that the substance was actually baking powder, everyone was relieved, but Cara was adamant that her family and the Rodwells should have nothing more to do with each other.

As JJ tried to defend Andrew, he finally blurted out his big secret, leaving everyone in shock and Dex upset that his brother had wrecked their family. With the adults trying to process their own feelings, JJ told Cara that he had never felt like he needed a father in his life, but what he'd read in the diary had just made him curious. As they all waited for the results of a DNA test, JJ continued to enjoy spending time with Andrew, as he taught him about motorbikes, but the tension at home finally boiled over. A fight broke out between JJ and Dex, and JJ disappeared, stealing the motorbike from the Rodwells' driveway, just as the test results came in. When JJ finally got in touch, as the bike had run out of petrol, Cara went to collect him and he admitted that he'd come to like the idea of having a father in his life, but didn't want to hurt her or Remi by admitting that. As they returned to Ramsay Street, JJ then had to hide his disappointment as he learnt that Andrew wasn't his real father.

As the Varga-Murphys recovered from their dramatic first few weeks on Ramsay Street and things returned to normal for the family, JJ started to develop a crush on Sadie. When Remi and Cara found out, they quickly told him to forget about it, not least because of the age gap, but also because only months earlier, he'd believed that she was his half-sister. When Cara's sister, Chelsea, arrived in town, she had different thoughts on the matter and encouraged JJ to ask Sadie out, a plan that ended badly when she made it clear that he was too young for her.

When Slade Westall and his gang started causing problems around the area, JJ tried to prove that he wasn't scared of them, confronting Slade, but was warned off by Dex and Nell. When JJ then spotted Slade and his mates on Ramsay Street, spraying the Drinks Divas van with graffiti, he reported it to the police, but quickly realised that his heoric act had backfired, as Slade now knew where he lived. Over the days that followed, Dex worried that something was going to happen, and although JJ tried to reassure him, he was clearly worried too. After Slade then beat up JJ during the lunch break one day, he panicked and stole a knife from Harolds Cafe, worried that Slade was going to turn up at the school and hurt him again. Forced to hide the knife when Cara turned up to see him, it wasn't long before teacher Curtis Perkins found the weapon and the building went into lockdown. Initially trying to hide the truth from everyone, the guilt finally got too much for JJ and he confessed to Andrew. Remi and Cara were shocked to hear how Slade had hurt JJ, who received a two-week suspension, with Cara and Andrew vowing that Slade would be punished for what he'd done.

Still wanting to find ways to defend himself, JJ approached Andrew for some boxing lessons, and was introduced to Felix, Andrew's adoptive younger brother, who'd just been released from prison on parole. JJ soon found himself drawn to Felix, who showed him techniques to put off bullies like Slade, though Remi and Cara were uncomfortable about their son spending time with a recently-released prisoner. When Harolds cafe was then broken into, Felix was unable to give an alibi as he'd been planning a robbery of the Eirini Rising building site that night, so JJ decided to jump in and give his friend an alibi instead. Unhappy that their son was supposedly having secret late-night meetings with Felix, Remi and Cara asked him to stop spending time with JJ, who then overheard Felix talking to his girlfriend Jools about the plan to rob the site and use the money to skip the country. Initially upset that Felix would do something like that, JJ accepted Felix's explanation that he needed money urgently to pay off the criminals who he'd been involved with before going to prison, but asked him if he'd considered staying in Erinsborough afterwards, as he was the only person who understood him.

When Remi and Cara, struggling with JJ being moody and distant, agreed to Andrew's idea that maybe Felix could talk some sense into the teenager, JJ was finally allowed to spend time with him again. Continuing his quest to get Felix to stay, he offered up his own savings, hoping that it would help him to pay his debts, which Felix declined. JJ was then in for a shock when he went to the worksite and found Felix talking to Slade, who, it turned out, was his accomplice in the robbery plan. JJ was touched when Felix explained that he'd only cut Slade in on the deal if he agreed to leave Dex and JJ alone, but when Slade was then arrested and denied bail, JJ offered to take his place in the plan. With little time and no other options, Felix agreed to this, but later changed his mind as he realised that JJ wasn't cut out for it. However, on the morning of the robbery, JJ turned up anyway, but the whole thing ended in disaster when a suspicious Andrew turned up and a panicked JJ reserved the truck into some scaffolding, which fell onto Andrew.

With Felix failing to answer his calls and texts, JJ was relived to learn that Andrew was in hospital and had only suffered a couple of broken ribs, but went to see him and apologised. Andrew made him see that he needed to turn himself in to the police, which he agreed to do, before heading to the worksite, where he was found by Cara and Remi. They already knew about everything that had happened, but they'd also learnt something else from Andrew and Wendy - that Felix was almost certainly JJ's biological father. Though JJ struggled to be upset with Felix, only wanting to speak to him and find out why he'd done what he'd done, Remi went to see Felix before he was taken back to prison. She told him that she and Cara wanted him to have nothing to do with JJ, and, even if the teenager tried to get in touch, he should have no contact at all. She then returned home and told a devastated JJ that Felix wanted no more contact with him.