The friendship between Caitlin Ryan and Ellie Nash began when Caitlin accepted Ellie as her journalism protégée in the Season 3 episode, Whisper to a Scream.
History[]
Overview[]
Ellie has always looked up to Caitlin as her role model since the woman was fresh out of high school and began making numerous splashes in the media with her activism and journalism everywhere. When Ellie and Paige Michalchuk were competing for the chance to work in a mentor/internship with Caitlin, Ellie was feeling off with her depression plus Paige and her mother were also making her have a bad day. Upon being interviewed, Caitlin knew what was happening with Ellie, but also knew she was an amazing writer and deep person with passion versus Paige who just wanted the internship to impress her parents and be able to do whatever she wants. The two developed a strong friendship throughout the years, but when Ellie went to college in Season 6, the two hardly talked since Caitlin was discovering herself.
They crossed paths in Season 7 when Ellie's boyfriend and boss Jesse Stefanovic wants to interview Caitlin, but the latter says Ellie should do it due to the history behind them being interesting. He starts to get jealous after meeting Caitlin and wants to interview her, and Ellie finds this odd. Later, after walking into Jesse's office at night she saw him and Caitlin hooking up and she got angry. She then gets drunk and embarrasses herself, Jesse, and Caitlin in the interview by confronting her about "being a slut" and "hooking up with her boyfriend". Caitlin goes to Ellie's house later and apologizes, saying she didn't know she was dating Jesse because he didn't say anything. Ellie forgives her and the two become friends again.
Season 3[]
In Whisper to a Scream, Ellie went for an interview with Caitlin for the co-op job, which went horribly as she was extremely nervous. Paige, who also wanted the position, gave her a hard time. However, Ellie ended up getting it and became good friends with her mentor, Caitlin.
Season 4[]
In Goin' Down the Road (2), Ellie filmed a scene of Kevin Smith's film Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh! in which her character tells the science teacher Mrs. Hoffman, played by Caitlin, that Jay went into her purse, stole her tampons and stuck them up Silent Bob's nose. As Caitlin kept getting her lines wrong, the scene took 35 takes before Kevin, already angry at the news that Caitlin and Joey Jeremiah were engaged, finally replaced her.
Season 7[]
Caitlin and Ellie reunite.
In Jessie's Girl, Ellie had written an article about a tuition hike at Toronto University which was to have been the lead story on the next issue of The Core. However, Jesse pulled it when he arranged for Bill Nye to give a talk about climate change. Ellie was extremely annoyed by this, but Jesse convinced her to go along with it, though she was dissatisfied that she was relegated to writing the horoscopes. Bill Nye had to cancel and the paper was left without a lead story. Although Jesse suggested publishing Ellie's story, she used her relationship with her mentor Caitlin to get the famous journalist to give a talk on her newly released environmental film Storm of Controversy. Jesse was thrilled that he would get the chance to interview Caitlin, though she informed him that she wanted Ellie to conduct the Q&A due to their history together. Jesse was extremely annoyed by this so, to appease him, Ellie gave him her ticket to the Dean's Ball that night.
In her house, Ellie was having difficulty preparing her notes for the interview the next day as Griffin was having a party. As the party became even noisier, Ellie decided to do her work in The Core. When she arrived at the office, she was shocked to find Jesse and Caitlin having sex. The next morning, Jesse tried to apologize to her but she said that she wanted to break up. After he managed to manipulate her into continuing their relationship, she told him that she was going to quit the paper as she did not want people talking about them.
At the reception, Ellie drank three glasses of wine and became drunk. During the interview, she mentioned that Caitlin had been raising controversy while travelling through Canada, giving Jesse a pointed look as she said it. She then asked Caitlin if the responsible consumption that she encouraged in the film applied to alcohol consumption. Both Caitlin and the audience were confused by the question since it had nothing to do with climate change. As Caitlin tried to cover, Ellie bluntly asked, "Why did you hook up with Jesse? Why?" She then asked him, "And how was it, Jesse? Was it worth it?" Before waiting for an answer, she called Caitlin a slut and stormed out.
At breakfast the next morning, Ellie was drinking coffee and asked Marco Del Rossi to lower his voice. He realized that she was hungover and reminded her that they had talked about her inability to handle alcohol. Caitlin then entered and demanded an explanation for why she had humiliated her in public. Ellie revealed that Jesse was her boyfriend. Caitlin had no idea and apologized, saying that she would have never slept with Jesse if she had known. Caitlin was astonished when Ellie said that she had quit The Core to save her relationship with Jesse. She told Ellie that she had the potential to become a great journalist and not to let a "freshman romance" stand in the way of her future. Ellie followed her advice and returned to The Core. Jesse was surprised to see her there and said, "Well, I'm just glad you're back, Frosh, and I promise I will never cheat on you again." Ellie irritably responded, "I'm back at The Core, not with you...And from now on, call me 'Ellie.'" A shamefaced Jesse sat down at his desk as Ellie smirked slightly.
Trivia[]
- They both had a passion for journalism.
- They both had sex with Jesse Stefanovic, but only Ellie had a relationship with him.
- Caitlin's final line was spoken to Ellie. ("And, uh, I smelled booze on your breath last night.")
- Caitlin was Ellie's mentor.
- Both wrote for the school newspaper: Caitlin wrote for the Degrassi Digest and Ellie wrote for the Degrassi Grapevine.
- They both graduated from Degrassi: Caitlin in 1992 and Ellie in 2006.
- Both had a friend who was a member of the Degrassi Student Council: Caitlin was friends with Lucy Fernandez and Ellie was friends with Ashley Kerwin.
- They once had a conflict with a friend: Caitlin had one with Kathleen Mead and Ellie had one with Paige Michalchuk.
- Both have gotten detention.
- Both their actresses have the same first name, but spelled differently: Stacie Mistysyn (Caitlin) and Stacey Farber (Ellie).
- Caitlin had a long running, though off and on, relationship with Joey Jeremiah, the stepfather of Ellie's best friend Craig Manning.
- During the summer of 2005, Marco Del Rossi, another one of Ellie's best friends, worked with Caitlin in Africa.
- They both worked on Kevin Smith's film Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh!. Although Ellie appeared in the film, Caitlin was fired after she kept getting her lines wrong.
- They both studied journalism at university: Caitlin at Carleton University and Ellie at Toronto University.
- Ellie's mother Caroline Nash was an alcoholic, as was Caitlin's enemy turned friend Kathleen Mead's mother Mrs. Mead.
- They were the first instance in which a Degrassi Student was mentored by a Degrassi Alumni. The second being Peter Stone & Maya Matlin.
