ratings continued to grow. From a low of 9, Home and Away slowly built its audience until the show was scoring 25 by the end of its first year. The serial was finally a hit". In the storyline, Carly keeps the rape a secret initially, but after the truth comes out the residents of Summer Bay "were shown to be divided as to whether or not Carly had contributed to the situation through reckless behaviour". The aftermath of the event explored Carly's descent into alcoholism and drug abuse, which has been described as "very brave territory for a prime-time soap [...] the Carly Morris storyline pointed to the fact that if there were feathers to be ruffled, Home and Away would ruffle them." During the time of the rape's airing, various protests were launched by the viewing public and the Australian media, who believed it should not have been broadcast. In an interview in 1989, Hodgson defended the storyline, saying "In Home and Away we show life as it really happens. It's not irresponsible to show attacks, unwanted pregnancies or people turning to alcohol. It's realistic and it shows we are confronting these problems. The thing about having a foster family as the main characters is that they do have trauma in their lives. Seeing how they cope must help people". Hodgson researched the storyline by calling the Rape Crisis Centre, reading articles and watching documentaries. Carly has a few love interests during her time in the show, including Matt Wilson (Greg Benson) and Gary Samuels (Darius Perkins). She also dates Adam Cameron (Mat Stevenson), but producers cut the romance short and soon paired Adam with Emma Jackson (Dannii Minogue), as they thought the characters were better suited. In early 1990, Italian-Australian soldier Ben Lucini, played by Julian McMahon, was introduced to the show and he became a "major" new love interest for Carly. TV Weeks David Brown reported that writers had immediately begun planning a wedding between the pair. Producer Andrew Howie commented, "Their romance will be full-on, bigger than Ben Hur. McMahon later told Barry Divola of Stars of Oz magazine that he and Hodgson worked hard to make it seem that their characters had experienced "love at first sight". Ben and Carly get engaged after a short romance and endure "all that pre-marriage trauma stuff", including finding their first home and paying for it. McMahon told Divola