Neighbours newcomer Nathan Borg has lifted the lid on teacher Curtis Perkins' new storyline that leaves him heartbroken after he’s led to believe that Jesse Porter (Cameron Robbie) is two-timing him.
The newly qualified teacher recently moved in with his aunt, the formidable Vera Punt (Sally-Anne Upton), after landing a job at Erinsborough High.
With his career on the up – despite the odd clash with fellow teacher Jane Harris (Annie Jones) – he thought things couldn’t get any better after some flirty banter with Flamingo bartender Jesse Porter led to more...
“Curtis is very headstrong and he’s always on top of everything at work,” explained Nathan.
“So he’s excited that he’s got something going on in his home life, as well.”
But in true Ramsay Street-style, nothing is ever easy and this new romance is even more tangled than usual!
Fed up with Paul Robinson (Stefan Dennis) interfering in her love life, Harlow Robinson (Jemma Donovan) asks new found friend Jesse to play along with a faux-romance to stop her granddad finding out she’s still in touch with jailbird boyfriend Brent Colefax.
Curtis has NO idea about what’s been going on behind his back and when Harlow’s friends discover her supposed new squeeze is also getting hot and heavy with Curtis, it’s not long before the news spreads and Jesse goes cold on Curtis.
Both Nathan and the character he plays are hard of hearing with cochlear implants and Nathan points out that being hard of hearing makes Curtis very sensitive to Jesse’s rejection.
“He really wants this relationship and when he admits for the first time that he really likes him, Jesse goes the other way,” revealed Nathan.
“Curtis feels quite sad and confused because he thinks that potentially Jesse didn’t accept him for who he is because of Curtis being deaf.
“Once he finds out the whole truth he gets very angry and physical over the betrayal!”
As a recurring guest character rather than a full time cast member, Nathan hinted that this recent upset will mean Curtis will be off screen for a while.
“I can’t give away too much for Curtis,” Nathan teased. “He’s still hanging around with his aunty and working at the school but after this storyline we won’t see him for a little bit.
“He’s still definitely around so you’ll have to wait and see what’s next for him!”
Although he’s been an actor for eight years, Neighbours is Nathan’s first major TV role and he’s proud to be the first hard of hearing actor with a cochlear implant on Australian national TV.
Nathan became profoundly deaf after contracting Meningitis at three-months-old but he was fitted with a cochlear implant on his right side when he was two and can now hear out of that ear.
In fact, he made the case for having a character with a cochlear implant when he met Executive Producer Jason Herbison at an acting workshop in 2018. Just over a year later, he was cast in the role of Curtis.
“It’s important that people with cochlear implants see themselves on TV and have a character that they can look up to and relate to,” insisted Nathan, who also revealed he’s learned a lot in his first few months of filming.
“It’s a good experience to have starting out in the industry,” he shared.
“Working with Annie Jones (who plays Jane Harris) and Jackie Woodburne (who plays Susan Kennedy) has been really awesome. I’m so grateful to have their support at the start of my career.”
With a bit of time coming up before he’s back on the Ramsay Street set, has Nathan been keeping himself busy with any other projects?”
“I do have two projects coming up, which is very exciting,” he revealed, “including a project with other deaf people, which I’ll be able to announce soon.”
Neighbours airs weekdays at 1:45pm and 5:30pm on Channel 5.
