Ruth's marriage with Kurt is on the rocks as they argue, especially about spending Christmas with Ruth's family. It goes from bad to worse when Rob organises a hill walk in Wales and after Ruth has another argument with Kurt, she ends up going off with Lewis Richardson (Ben Hull). Ruth and Lewis take refuge in a cave where they kiss. Ruth then decides to go off to London for some work placement, leaving Kurt home alone. When Ruth returns, she is devastated to learn that Kurt is having an affair with Kate Patrick (Natasha Symms) and Ruth tells Kurt their marriage is over. Ruth gets into a fight with Kate that ends with Kate trying to drown her. In a fit of rage, Kurt intervened, trying to teach Kate a lesson by drowning her. In a wake of the fight, Ruth and Kurt do some soul searching and realised that they are not right for each other, prompting Kurt to leave Hollyoaks, and more bad news for Ruth, as she discover that Kurt had died from the ski accident. Ruth has a short relationship with flatmate Jasmine Bates but she later throws her out of the flat.