Ryan Moloney (aka Toadfish ‘Toadie’ Rebecchi) was ‘glad’ his Neighbours contract ended. This is what he did next.
Thirty years after 15-year-old Ryan Moloney, aka “Frogfish” Rebecchi, gave up his military aspirations. neighbors The role that will define him is, in the end, a soldier. He stands out in the Moroccan desert, sweat streaming down his familiar brow as he endures barking insults from former British elite soldiers and 13 other celebrities. SAS: AUS and ENGMoloney is in his element.
“If you tell me to hit a brick wall, I’ll hit it head on,” he says at the beginning of the series. Born to follow orders, stick to the rules and have a work ethic honed by the soap’s famously tight production schedule, Moloney is a powerful weapon for the Australian side in this mock war that simulates the selection process of elite army personnel.
“I loved it so much!” Moloney says he would have happily joined the air force to become a pilot if he hadn’t made his big acting breakthrough. “It’s about pushing yourself to your limits and finding what comes out. It’s about surrendering to what you’re doing, not resisting, and giving 100 percent.”
“These soldiers are next level. When they tell you what they went through, it humbles you to think that you know people who had to do this. If there’s a mission and you fail, they give you a real-life example of how it turned out, and you’re like, ‘Wow, man! That’s ridiculous!’ you say.
Since coming out neighbors In September 2024, when Toadie left Erinsborough for the Victorian town of Colac following mental health issues, Moloney remained busy with his off-grid farm in rural Victoria, where he lives with his wife and two children. He runs a small business providing animal grooming, fencing and maintenance to local properties.
“I’m quite happy to be on the tractor and spend 12 hours a day building something… There was a moment [after Neighbours]’What will I do?’ Then I thought: ‘Why don’t I do the things I do here every day for others?'”
And now the proud owner of his commercial pilot’s license, Moloney feels like he’s finally freed from his lifelong alter ego.
“Whether or not I can leave Toadie behind is up to other people,” he says. “I played around with it for a long time and it was time to put an end to it. [the Neighbours producers] ‘We will not renew your contract,’ he said. ‘Oh, thank God! Thank you!'”
Still, leaving the set that had become his second home was both bittersweet.
“My last scene was quite emotional,” he says. “We’re talking about Toadie leaving and all these emotions that are actually real for us and people who have known each other for so long.”
The environment the actor finds himself in in this new series is very different. of every day SAS: AUS and ENGThe 10-day shoot “felt like three days”, with Moloney doing grueling training runs alongside Australian soap alumni Natalie Bassingthwaighte and Axle Whitehead; cricketer Brad Hodge; Olympians Mack Horton and Emily Seebohm; And ‘We Married at First Sight’Jessica Power. Their British rivals are a mix of athletes, reality TV stars and influencers. Dodging explosives, surviving underwater when trapped in a submerged aircraft fuselage, and one-on-one combat were all part of the routine. Misdemeanors resulted in the entire group being punished with harsh physical and mental challenges.
This season, former UK special forces member and former sergeant major Mark “Billy” Billingham replaced outgoing chief instructor Ant Middleton. Unlike other competitors, Moloney earned the respect of the decorated soldier and his team from the first brutal “interrogation”.
“They didn’t actually hit me in the face,” Moloney says. “They went and he’s doing his best, so that’s all we can ask for. And they were all full of jokes. They saw that there were other people who weren’t giving 100 percent, so they did it. Some of the recruits were really scared of them.”
Appointed the camp’s “duty officer”, Moloney’s job was to ensure protocol was followed, sometimes to the chagrin of his fellow players: “I think I pissed them off relatively quickly.”
Moloney recalls clashing with British Olympic bobsledder Toby Olubi, who became “Gladiator” on television. “He wasn’t there for the team and that made life difficult. We were punished a lot because of Toby.”
But Moloney struck up friendships with Axle Whitehead and former rugby player Ben Cohen, enabling him to bond with the latter over their shared hearing loss, which Moloney said he acquired through Moloney. neighbors promotional appearances in nightclubs. These friendships were vital when unexpected and confusing emotions overwhelmed him. He would later attribute the cause to an undiagnosed hiatal hernia.
“Normally, when I’m upset about something, I know what it is. And I’d think, ‘I have no idea what this is about. I really feel like I’m losing my mind.’ It wasn’t a fun experience. But then I got home and discovered I had a giant hernia. Half of my internal organs were stuck under my left lung. I was actually pretty sick. And that could be responsible for a lot of emotional dysregulation,” she says.
“I had emergency surgery and made some lifestyle changes. My outlook on life and the important things – eating more regularly and the diet itself, looking after myself and spending time with my family – are coming to the fore, which is great.”
When the time came, though, Moloney would still apply for the Australian Defense Force, although he did enjoy real life a bit..
“I think anyone who signs up and takes on this life is a very brave and pretty amazing individual.”
SAS: AUS and ENG It returns on Wednesday, April 29 at 7.30pm on Seven and 7Plus.
