Jeff Samuels
Jeff Samuels (1988)
Alex Petersons
Episodes: 52; 68–218
Parents: Clyde & Rose Samuels
Siblings: Gary Samuels
Occupation: PDHPE Teacher
First seen as a PE teacher giving Steven a hard time at training. Steven, still upset about losing his girlfriend lashed out at Samuels and was nearly expelled. The head was talked down by Tom and Pippa and Steven was given a week’s detention with Samuels instead. Samuels was impressed that despite pushing Steven very hard, he kept up with him and tried to convince Steven he could be a champion runner if he let Samuels train him.
Samuels continued to train Steven hard causing him to fall asleep in class. When Foley offered Steven a role in the school musical Samuels encouraged him not to accept and gave him an ultimatum, the musical or training. Steven chose training. Samuels then encouraged Steven to eat healthier but Pippa refused to implement his healthy eating plans.
He belittled Pippa’s brother Danny King, calling him a coward for wanting to kill himself but later retracted when he realised that before vietnam Danny was a sports player he admired. He asked Danny to do a pep talk for the cricket team but Danny refused because he was down at not being able to play sports so Jeff took him to a wheelchair basketball game and persuaded him he could still play. Danny left the bay a much happier man after giving the pep talk and having the team win.
Now in Tom and Pippa’s good books he was invited to dinner but bored everybody by talking sports non stop, he later upset Steven by suggesting he be fostered by people other than Tom and Pippa but Steven refused. When Samuels tried to get Steven to miss Frank’s wedding for a competition, Steven quit training and open warfare was declared with Samuels openly singling Steven out in classes.
Jeff was pleased when his brother Gary came to town and gave him an alibi when carly accused him of raping her. He also did a good turn by saving brett Macklin from killing himself and was rewarded with a few dates with his sister Stacey but he bored her by continually talking sports. He threatened Carly to stay away from his brother Gary after she became convinved he was up to no good and went on a few more dates with Stacey unaware that she was only using him for information on his brother.
He convinced Craig Barnett to take part in the funrun despite having an injured leg. He gave Craig pills to take and when Craig was found with them convinced him to lie that he had stolen them. Phillip and Fisher were suspicious though and Fisher suspended him and later sacked him when the truth about the pills was revealed. He was devastated when his brother Gary died and was convinced Carly had killed him refusing to believe he had killed himself.
Jeff found out the truth of what his brother had been up to and paid everyone his brother had ripped off their money back before making amends with Steven and leaving the bay with his head held high.