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Guest Character Profiles > Hudson Walsh Remy Hii

Hudson Walsh 2013, 2014
Occupation: Swimmer

Professional swimmer Hudson Walsh had been trained by Don Cotter for years - even moving cities to continue working with him - when Don started training another swimmer, Joshua Willis. Don was keen for Josh to find sponsorship, as Hudson had done with the West Waratah Star newspaper, which they hoped would see him make it to the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and then on to the Olympics. Hudson then came into contact with another Ramsay Street resident, when he went on a date with mechanic Chris Pappas. Unaware that Chris and Josh were neighbours, Hudson started talking about his training, and how Don had convinced Josh to switch from sprinting to middle-distance swimming, in order to provide less competition for Hudson, the star pupil. Chris pretended not to know who Josh was, as he tried to figure out what he was going to do with this information.

Hudson was furious when he found out that Chris knew the Willis family, and had spoken to Josh's father, Brad. As Hudson tried to claim that Don was like a father to him, and was only looking out for his best interests, he started to suffer chest pains and shortness of breath. He later met up with Chris, claiming to have visited his GP who told him that it was a panic attack, and he should take up yoga. However, when the pains returned later that evening at Chris's place, he called an ambulance. The paramedic told Hudson to get checked out by his GP the next day, and Chris followed her to the door and asked her if it was another panic attack - she told Chris that his friend should seek help, as he had all the classic symptoms of someone who'd been taking drugs. Chris then found a bottle of pills, and realised that Hudson had been taking performance enhancing drugs, at Don's suggestion. Hudson continued to try to defend his coach, but he realised that things had gone too far - the next day, he met with Don and ended their professional relationship. Chris was relieved to hear this, but Hudson told him to stay out of his life from now on. However, later, Hudson met up with Chris to apologise - he explained that he was going to stay with his parents for a while, but hoped that he and Chris might get back in touch in the future.

A couple of weeks later, after spending some time with his parents in Sydney, Hudson returned to Erinsborough, determined to try and get his swimming career back on track, and sort things out with Chris. Hudson immediately ended his sponsorship deal with the West Waratah Star, suggesting that they give it to Josh instead, and started to look around for a new coach. But things weren't quite so easy to fix with Chris, who was hesitant about allowing the complicated Hudson back into his life. However, when he found out about Hudson ending his sponsorship deal, he started to soften towards him, and Hudson took that as a positive sign. He decided to surprise Chris, and after finding out from Kyle where they kept the spare key, he let himself in and arranged a surprise meal. Unfortunately, Chris didn't enjoy the surprise, and angrily asked Hudson if the drugs had messed with his brain. Hudson walked out, but met with Chris later, where Chris apologised for his outburst, though he made it clear that he could still only offer friendship. When they met for a drink, Chris was forced to defend Hudson to an angry Josh, who was furious that Hudson was even allowed back in the pool. Chris then invited Hudson back for dinner, and relations seemed to be improving, as they shared a kiss.

With the new relationship going well, Hudson hoped that he'd be able to stay in town, but was struggling to find a new coach, as there were already a lot of rumours about him and the drugs Don had given to him. When Hudson started talking about leaving the country and finding a college scholarship in the USA, Chris decided to try to help, and approached Brad about becoming Hudson's coach. Though he knew how much Josh hated Hudson for cheating, Brad also felt sorry for Hudson, and knew that potentially having two swimmers at the 2014 Commonwealth Games would do wonders for his coaching career. Though Josh and Terese were furious with Brad for even contemplating the idea, but after a chat with Hudson, Brad decided to give him a chance. Things continued to improve for Hudson, when Paul Robinson decided that sponsoring an up-and-coming young swimmer would make excellent publicity for the hotel, but this soon caused more conflict within the Willis family, and Terese, the manager of the hotel, was forced to tell Paul about the potential drugs scandal. After speaking to Hudson and thinking things through, Paul decided to go ahead with the deal, confident that they could deal with any problems that might arise from it. Things weren't working out so well with training, however, as Hudson and Josh continued to butt heads. Hudson realised that he was risking ruining the relationship Brad had with his son, and told Brad that he was sacking him as his coach, rather than allowing the situation to continue. Josh soon realised how badly he'd been behaving and admitted to his mum that he had preferred things when it had just been him and Brad. After father and son talked things through, and agreed to spend more time together outside of training too, Hudson agreed to give the coaching another chance too.

Meanwhile, Chris and Hudson were soon dragged into another drama, when they learnt that criminal Robbo Slade had made a video of himself having sex with Amber Turner and was using it to extort money from her brother Mason. With few people to turn to, Mason had asked Chris if he could borrow some money, and was eventually forced to explain the situation to Chris and Josh, both of whom were close to Amber and wanted to help. When Hudson found out what was going on, he admitted that he came from a very wealthy family and it would be easy for him to get the $8000 they needed. Later, Josh and Chris went to meet with Robbo to hand over the money and make sure the video was deleted, whilst Mason searched the squat and stole Robbo's laptop, but when Robbo was found unconscious the next morning, the victim of a hit-and-run, the boys were all acting suspiciously and became four more names on a long list of suspects, all of whom had reason to want Robbo gone. Hudson's suspicious behaviour continued when he found out that Josh was covered in bruises. Assuming that Josh had been in a fight with Robbo on the night of the hit-and-run, Hudson covered for him, claiming that he'd got into a fight with Josh, but telling Brad that nothing like it would ever happen again, as they'd both now moved on from their problems with each other. But as the days went on, Hudson struggled to focus on his swimming, missing training and wanting to leave early to spend time with Chris. Worried that Hudson was sacrificing a very good sports career for his relationship, Brad spoke to Chris, trying to get him to talk some sense into Hudson. But when Chris spoke to Hudson, he was surprised as his boyfriend admitted that he wasn't even sure that he wanted to be a swimmer now, as he'd found happiness with Chris, which was something he was no longer experiencing with swimming.

Hudson soon had other things to worry about, when he was spotted on some CCTV footage from the night of the hit-and-run, and brought in for questioning by Detective David Oakley. When Hudson tried to claim that he'd just been walking home, Oakley pointed out that he was going in the wrong direction, so Hudson then said that he'd actually been going to visit Don, his old coach, for some advice. When Don backed up this story, Hudson was freed to go, and continued with his quest to spend more time with Chris, and less time worrying about his training. However, when Robbo's phone was found, with the video of Amber on it, Hudson, Chris, Mason and Imogen were all brought in for questioning - with Hudson maintaining that he'd gone to see Don that night, and couldn't have run down Robbo. After his second round of questioning, Hudson took part in the state swimming trials, but while Josh easily qualified, Hudson failed, and then told Brad that he'd decided to quit swimming. He explained that it had always been his parents' dream for him, and after finding out he was gay, they had pushed him to swim competitively, hoping that they could show off about it to their friends - but he'd realised that he just wanted a normal life, without the pressure of early starts and restricted diet.

Unfortunately, Hudson's freedom wasn't to last long. As he and Chris were making plans to go up to Sydney to visit Hudson's family, Brad went to visit Don, to try and get some advice on persuading Hudson to come back to swimming. However, Don then admitted that he'd been lying when he gave Hudson an alibi for the night of the hit-and-run, and he was concerned that Hudson was in some serious trouble. Brad then went to the police to pass on this information, and Hudson was brought in again. After weeks of lying and trying to forget about what he'd done, Hudson finally confessed that he was the one who ran down Robbo. After telling the police everything, Hudson was then visited by a stunned Chris, and he explained again how he'd been walking home that night and had spotted Robbo and Amber, with Amber trying to start Imogen's car. When it didn't start, she'd walked away, and Hudson had gone over, hoping that he could start it and pick her up for a ride home. But he'd attracted Robbo's attention instead, and following an argument, a furious Hudson had managed to start the car and driven straight at Robbo, only intending to scare him, but instead running him down and leaving him for dead.

Hudson then explained to Chris that he'd considered making a confession every single day since the accident, but he couldn't bring himself to give up the happiness he'd found in his new relationship. Chris tried to make excuses for him, and insisted that he would stand by him, but Hudson didn't want to ruin another life, so he sent Chris off to get him some clothes. When Chris returned to the police station, Matt informed him that Hudson had asked for no visitors - and specifically that he didn't want to see Chris. Shortly afterwards, Hudson was taken away in a police car for his bail hearing, blanking Chris as he tried to speak to him.

Unable to get any closure on what had happened, Chris soon started behaving out of character, having random one-night stands and getting into trouble at work. With Hudson refusing any contact, Chris made the decision not to attend his sentencing, and later, Josh called round to see Chris, with a letter from Hudson and the news that he'd gone to jail for four years. Agonising over what the letter might say, Chris couldn't bring himself to open it, and continued to take his anger out on other people, punching Josh when he accidentally gave information to a journalist about Chris and Hudson. Chris then burnt the letter without reading it, and refused to apologise, or even try to fight against the assault charges he was facing. Chris's housemates struggled to get through to him, but Kate decided that some drastic action was needed and she drove Chris to the prison, where she'd arranged for him to see Hudson. At first, Chris refused to go inside, but Kate made him see that this might be the only chance to talk to Hudson, sort things out and move on with his life, before he hurt anyone else.

Finally face to face after a couple of months apart, Hudson and Chris struggled to know what to say, and Chris struggled to hide his bitterness at the way Hudson has simply walked out of his life without an explanation. Hudson told him that everything had happened so quickly, and he needed time to think and to prepare himself for prison. Chris then said that, as time went on, he realised that Hudson blamed him for everything, but Hudson then realised that Chris hadn't even read the letter, which told him how much he still loved him. This brought Chris to his senses, but Hudson explained that they still had to be realistic - he was going to be in prison for years, and they wouldn't be able to make a relationship work under these circumstances. Chris left, devastated but with a new focus, and the new day, he made the decision to return to the prison and change Hudson's mind. He pointed out that there were people in far worse situations who made their relationships work, and Hudson eventually agreed to give it a try.

Several months later, Chris was beginning to find it difficult with his boyfriend in prison, unable to support him. Kate had just died, and Chris was in hospital awaiting an operation on his leg after being attacked. Feeling the lowest he had in a while, he struggled to maintain contact with Hudson, who was only allowed limited time on video calls. Following his operation, a drugged up Chris started flirting with male nurse Will, who handed over his number, leaving Chris more confused than ever when Hudson then sent some flowers. Chris then confided in Georgia that he was beginning to feel very alone, and was wondering if he was going to be able to wait another four years before beginning a normal relationship with Hudson. Things only got worse when Hudson got involved in a fight and had his phone and visiting privileges revoked, and so it was a couple of weeks before Chris could see him again. Having backed out at the last-minute after arranging drinks with Will, Chris was more confused than ever, and Hudson picked up on it. Believing that Chris wasn't being honest, Hudson asked Georgia to come and visit, and although she didn't give anything away, she suggested that Hudson needed to have a frank conversation with his boyfriend. Hudson then asked Chris to come in for another visit, and confronted him about whether he'd been cheating. Chris didn't reply immediately, and Hudson took this as confirmation and told him that things were over between them, as he'd always thought that it would be too difficult for them to remain a couple under these circumstances. Chris was devastated, and later went back to see Hudson in order to explain things properly. Hudson was pleased to finally hear the truth, but maintained that the relationship wasn't working, and so he and Chris said a final goodbye.

Trivia Notes
• Remi Hii was also credited as Hudson in episodes 6737, 6748 and 6750, though he only appeared in photographs and flashbacks

Episodes Featured
6675, 6676, 6680, 6681, 6682, 6692, 6693, 6697, 6698, 6699, 6702, 6703, 6708, 6710, 6712, 6715, 6716, 6720, 6721, 6725, 6728, 6729, 6730, 6731, 6732, 6733, 6734, 6766, 6767, 6859, 6873, 6874