Kate Ritchie’s rude shock on final day of filming Home and Away

Kate Ritchie has opened up about the cheeky behaviour of one of her co-stars on her final day of filming Home and Away.

Kate Ritchie has opened up about the ruthless treatment she received from a co-star on her final day of filming Home and Away.

Ritchie said farewell to her character Sally Fletcher in 2008 after 20 years on the Channel 7 soap. But it seems one of Summer Bay’s other stars was a bit too eager for Ritchie to leave.

“Have I told you about the story about my Pigeon Hole when I left Home and Away?” Ritchie said on Nova’s Kate, Tim and Marty last night.

“I swear to god, I had not even finished filming my final scene and I go into the green room between scenes … and someone had pulled my name off (the Pigeon Hole).

“I had a good Pigeon Hole because I’d earnt it,’ she said. “Up high on the corner near the phone. Someone peeled my name off and put their name on it!”

Kate Ritchie with John Farnham on the set of Home And Away.

Ritchie’s co-host, Marty Sheargold, joked, “Well that’s the business isn’t it! 20 years means nothing when there’s a good Pigeon Hole to be grabbed!”

Ritchie, who at one stage was the joint Guinness Book of World Records holder for the longest continuous role in an Australian drama series, has previously spoken about walking away Home and Away because she “wanted a challenge”.

“I wanted to feel scared and I wanted to feel like I didn’t know what I was doing and I wanted someone to teach me something,” she said on ABC’s Australian Story.

“I always knew I could do something else but now I’m trying to prove it. I’m not just that girl on Home and Away.”

Kate Ritchie and Heath Ledger on Home and Away.

Ritchie was just eight years old when she started appearing on the show and at times she struggled with being in the public eye.

“I don’t remember what it was like to go to school or go to the supermarket or go anywhere and not be approached by strangers or pointed at,” she said on Australian Story.

“Some days that doesn’t bother me, you know, and I can talk to everyone and I’ll say hello and I’ll be at the butchers and I’ll … But there are other days where I can get in the car and go to the supermarket and then I don’t get out of the car and I come home, because I just can’t do it.”

Since leaving the show, Ritchie has found success on Nova radio, firstly with Merrick and Rosso and now with Tim Blackwell and Marty Sheargold.

Tim Blackwell, Kate Ritchie and Marty Sheargold. Picture: Tim Pascoe

At last year’s radio awards, Ritchie broke down in tears backstage after winning the ACRA for Best Entertainment Presenter.

“It does mean a lot because it’s been a period of reshaping my career in some ways,” she told news.com.au.

“I suppose in some ways I’ve always felt like a visitor here in this world, but the more things that continue to happen with Kate, Tim and Marty, where we continue to go from strength to strength … there are all these signs that universe is telling me maybe I’m not just visiting.”

Ritchie has once again been nominated for the award this year and is up against her co-host, Tim Blackwell.

The ACRA’s (Australian Commercial Radio Awards) will be held at the Royal International Convention Centre Brisbane on October 19.