Home and Away star Harley Bonner's shock show exit: 'Best wishes'

Just weeks after it was announced Sam Frost was leaving Home and Away over her controversial vaccine stance, another star of the show is bidding Summer Bay farewell.

Harley Bonner, who made his first appearance on the Aussie soap in August last year as Dr Logan Bennett, won’t be returning to set in 2022.

The news was confirmed by a Channel Seven spokesperson, who told the Daily Telegraph: “Channel 7 can confirm Harley will not return to Home And Away when filming resumes in the coming weeks.

“Harley leaves with our best wishes and sincere thanks for his work on the show.”

Harley had previously starred as Joshua Willis on Neighbours from 2013 to 2016 before his character was killed off.

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Just a number of weeks ago, former Bachelorette star Sam Frost made her exit from the show, shrouded in a controversial vaccine scandal.

It came after Channel Seven issued a mandate for all staff working on any of its productions, saying they are required to be vaccinated.

The 32-year-old — who has played the role of Jasmine Delaney since 2017 — faced backlash in October after she posted a tearful video to Instagram, calling out the “segregation" of those who are unvaccinated.

The Herald Sun previously reported that an email sent out to Channel 7 staff claimed the network will "only engage fully vaccinated presenters, cast and crew" from January next year.

It came just over a month since Sam announced that she would be 'written out temporarily' of the show, saying she would not be quitting the long-running TV soap but her character would instead be 'going off-screen' for a few weeks.

Sam explained that she would not be 'fully vaxxed' until the end of February 2022 at the latest, after she undergoes an undisclosed 'medical procedure'.

"I'm not leaving Home and Away," she wrote. "I've got a medical procedure booked in for January. So I won't be fully vaxxed until mid-late February.

"I will be written out temporarily, Jazzy is going on an off-screen adventure for a few weeks... But I'll be back."

Sam said that she had been able to negotiate with her 'amazing' bosses and come up with a plan that 'works for everyone'.

She added, "My bosses are amazing, we've been in open communication for months. Very grateful we were able to make a plan that works for everyone."

In October, the Home and Away actress was criticised for uploading a video to her Instagram page, where she opened up about the “harsh judgement” and "segregation" the unvaccinated are experiencing and how it's impacting her mental health.

“There’s a lot of harsh judgement and opinions being thrown around a lot and it's taking its toll on my mental health for sure, and I know people around me are struggling, particularly if they're on the side that they don't want to get vaccinated for whatever reason," Sam said at the time.

Sam explained that she had spoken to her doctor and her psychologist when deciding to forgo the jab but kept her reasons private.

“It's a really hard time to be in society right now and you feel like you’re less of a human and you feel like people judge you,” she said.

“And you're too scared to talk about your opinion or talk about your feelings, and part of you wants to go, ‘Well it’s none of your damn business why I’m not!’.

“It's going to be a really hard time when vaccinated people are allowed out to do things and go to restaurants because I've made a choice.”

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