ben is the captain of his school's swimming team and embarks on a relationship with sophie. he takes sophie to the church youth theatre where she decides to become a christian. in may 2009, he persuades chesney brown (sam aston) to return to school telling him he will stand up to kenzie judd and the other bullies if they hassle him again. on 10 july 2009, at sally webster's (sally dynevor) birthday party, rosie (helen flanagan) winds sophie up by flirting with ben. sophie flips and throws a drink over rosie. however, her actions cause sophie more problems when ben tells sophie he doesn't go out with drunk girls who fight, breaking up with sophie but they eventually reconcile.