Steph's Revenge Porn Shock

What will happen when Jamie follows up on his threats. We spoke to Tisha Merry about the nightmare Steph is about to face.

How does Steph feel when she hears that Luke is racing again?

Steph is absolutely furious - she can’t believe they are in this situation again. They’ve had problems with Luke’s racing in the past. Steph knows it’s dangerous and the last thing she wants is for her big brother to be taking part in it all again. She doesn’t want history to repeat itself.

How does the conversation develop before Luke tells her about the photos?

Luke has just finished a big car race, which he didn’t think she knew about, but Steph has found out about it and runs down to see him. She runs over and screams at him, she completely blows up at him. Steph is so angry with Luke - she feels so betrayed and let down by him because he knows how much she didn’t want him to race again and he has gone behind her back.

Steph asks him how he can do this to her again and put her through the stress and worry again. She’s pushing him and pushing him asking him why he has done this and eventually he breaks down and shouts that he has done it for her! He tells her that he had no choice because of the threat Jamie has made...

How does she feel when she hears about Jamie’s blackmail? Did she even remember that the photos were out there?

She feels sick to the stomach. It really knocks her sideways. It’s the furthest thing from her mind - she’s completely forgotten all about the photos and she could never in a million years have predicted that this would have been the situation that Luke had found himself in and that Jamie would use these pictures to his own advantage so far down the line. Steph feels disgusted.

How does she feel about Luke giving into Jamie’s demands? Does she feel guilty about the situation Luke has been put in?

Absolutely. There’s not one part of her that questions why Luke gave in to Jamie’s demands - she completely gets it. Course she knows that Luke would have felt he had no alternative than to do as Jamie had asked to protect his sister. She feels bad more than anything that Luke has had to deal with this on his own and has been compromised in this way. She feels guilty.

What happens when she goes to confront Jamie? Does she feel like she’s got through to Jamie at any point?

Jamie is ashamed. When she confronts him, he’s visibly ashamed of what he’s done and that Steph has found out about it. He tries to make excuses and she just cuts through him and tells him to listen to her. Jamie tells her that he was desperate, that he’s in debt and that he had no choice. Jamie never wanted her to find out about this - I don’t think he had any intention of doing anything with the pictures but now she’s confronted him about it and he’s really embarrassed by it. I think he still cares about her and she asks him how he could this when they were once in love and when she really trusted him. He justifies it by repeating how much in debt he is.

How does Andy react when he finds out what’s going on? Is Steph surprised by his reaction?

He’s very mad - he’s angry about the situation - not at her, but at Jamie and he’s furious about the amount of people that will have seen the pictures. Andy asks her what she was thinking?! Steph thinks he’s blaming her but he assures her he isn’t, he’s just so mad at Jamie.

When she tells Jamie to do his worst, does she really think he’ll deliver his threat? How terrified is she?

Jamie cracks a lot. When she confronts him about it and asks him how he could do this to her and Luke, his eyes fill up - he’s really broken. Steph asks him how he could even think about doing this and says she thought he cared about her. She thinks she’s broken him so she calls his bluff and tells him if he’s going to do it then he should just do it, to really see if he’s serious - but then he does. She really panics - she feels sick. I think she felt as though she’d got through to him and that he wouldn’t actually go through with it.

How does she feel knowing friends and family have seen them?

All her friends and her mum and dad are all trying to call her to ask what is going on. Her cousins are messaging her and every person that contacts her about it is like another kick in the stomach for her. Everyone is gobsmacked but nobody can really understand the turmoil she’s going through.

Does she blame herself?

She can’t do anything about it - she can’t take what she did back or take what Jamie has done back. Steph questions how she could have been so trusting of him. She has a huge sense of regret - but at the time they were in love and she trusted him. She could never have predicted it would have turned out this way. Steph is mortified, and also sad at the way Jamie has turned out. She asks him what has happened to him? He’s a different person now. When you’re desperate you do crazy things.

How do you feel about being involved in a storyline dealing with such a current issue?

I feel really privileged to be involved in this storyline - it’s a great opportunity to be involved in such an important story. I think it’s really important to raise awareness of issues such as this. I hope people watch and have a reaction to it - because I don’t think it’s talked about a lot at the minute and people need to know how damaging revenge porn can be.

For Steph, those pictures will always be there now and she will never, ever forget this horrible ordeal. It will be with her forever - it won’t blow over in a couple of days.

Advice

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