Former Home & Away star Kate Ritchie has stepped in to bat for Sam Frost and defended her casting on the Channel Seven show, after the announcement this week was met with a swift and surprising backlash.
Ritchie, who played Sally Fletcher on more than 1200 episodes of the series and who now hosts Nova FM‘s Kate, Tim & Marty, slammed the various the “mean-spirited” industry types and social media users who have spoken out against the casting.
She told listeners on yesterday’s show:
“There have been a lot of people who have joined that show without any training and some have left without any training. They’ve gone on to do many things or they remain there because it’s a very worthy career in itself. What’s everyone meant to do? Turn down opportunities because they’re worried about what everyone is going to think of it?”
Earlier in the week, Ritchie had some advice for Frost on how to handle her acting debut, saying:
“Be punctual. Know your words. And try not to bump into the props. That served me well for twenty years, so I’m sure it won’t do Sam any harm either.”
Former Bachelorette Frost insisted that she went through the same audition process as any other actor before joining the cast of the long-running show, and recently hit back at the negativity in an Instagram post, saying:
“I am not afraid to challenge myself, to push through barriers … I work incredibly hard professionally & personally to constantly grow, learn and evolve. I have chosen to live my life embracing opportunities & challenges with open arms. It may work, it may not… but at least I can say I was brave enough to give it a shot.”
Her first scenes on the show are expected to be airing later this year.
Source: News Corp.
Photo: Don Arnold / Sam Tabone / Getty.
