Neighbours star Ryan ‘Toadfish’ Maloney has spilled more details over his surprise exit from the long-running soap, admitting it wasn’t entirely his decision to leave the show.
Maloney was speaking to Australian soap opera website Back to the Bay about his last few weeks as Jarrod ‘Toadfish’ Rebecchi, when he revealed the reason behind his departure.
Although the Aussie soap star said he “felt the pressure” to stay on the show, he had no plans to wrap up the character who made him famous.
“Well, it actually wasn’t my choice. It was their choice,” he said.
“So, yeah, I’ve been wanting to leave for quite a long time, but Neighbours is one of those jobs that you work with awesome people.
“You get paid really well.
“And if you had a mate who had one of these jobs, you’d be saying, ‘oh, mate, what are you doing? You’ve got to stay there. See it out for as long as you can.'”
But he also explained that playing “Toadie” for such a long time was tiring and he worried that this was coming through when he was on set.
“That’s kind of not the way you want to be doing Neighbours,” he said.
“You don’t want to have that kind of level of resentment in there.”
Although he will no longer play the iconic character, Maloney will continue to work with the Australian soap.
In June he posted a video on the Neighbours Instagram page where he revealed he will remain on the show but will bid goodbye to the role that made him famous.
“Although I won’t be bringing you our fantastic storylines in front of the camera, I do hope to be bringing them to you from the other side – behind the camera,” he said.
“I have just started director training and just finished filming my first episode as director, so I really hope you enjoy that. ”
He also hinted at the possibility that his character could return to Ramsey Street in the future.
“Maybe I’ll be the next Harold Bishop and just keep popping back over the years,” he teased.