almaspor@otenet.gr
That since the begining (we are still slow on episodes here in Greece) when I see Ben talking about Maria I think that something is very wrong !!!!! I Think that this 5 years she was with Derek (and I am convinced that she was cheating Ben with Derek during their marriage and Benjy is the result of their affair !!!!!!! ( That is why Ben burned Maria's bed in the studio!!!!)

anita evans
who cares....if only she could just go back there!!!

olivia richards
She has spent the last 5 years, where she was happily married to a dolphin (who has a special connection with her) and she should return

Niffa
In the "Lost Years" she has got married again, had three kids, then shot her husband, ran away with the money but had ANOTHER accident losing her memory for the second time. By the way, how did she fix her shoe, in the loo, at Meg and Ben's wedding?

Mia
She have proabaly just sit on her ass, and planned how she wold get Ben to feel sory for her and even how she wold do to make poor Mr.Evans to take her back, the same way as she kick out Meg froom there lives.

Adamio
She was in Amsterdam, wh**ing herself like the s**g that she is. The Dutch loved a bit of her ears. But not all of them, obviously. They didn't want to flatten their country any more when she whipped them out.

Bhupinda
That Maria was gone no where the script writers did not have a brain therefore could not think of a good storyline therefore they decided to cast Maria into the show with a very common and sad storyline

Christine
She was with Derek and Benjy isn't Ben's son he is Derek's

Timon
I think she really is dead and what we see is a holiogram, a most unreasonable facsimile

SOFIA AND SOPHIA
WHEN THE ALIENS KIDNAPPED HER THEY BRAINWASHED HER. MAYBE THATS WHY SHE IS SOOOOO THICK!!!

Susieque007
She has been shaked up with Derek, who beat her up so she lost her memory and ended up at ceder Oaks

Claire Roberts
Maria was living in Washington with a woman called Tess. Tess knows Derek somehow (not sure how). Also living with them was Maria and Ben's (or could it be Derek's) son Benjy. Not sure why Maria didn't go back to Ben as she had her memory during this time. She was probably just scared, or maybe Derek was blackmailing her.

Kat
She was definitely got by aliens, cos there's no way she's human, she must be one of them now !

Scad
Maria was kidknapped by mad scientists and genetically altered to look like a giraffe/rabbit/lunatic which on the whole just makes her damn odd.

LEAH
She should have been in a Mental Institute, but I'm sure she was just standing somewhere for 5 years talking to herself.

Alix Dean
She has been working as a nurse and did in fact deliver Olivia's baby and will be the one who ultimately tells Cole (phew!!) that Trey is his- then they'll have an affair before her new husband and family arrives in town

Racheal sent this to the BritBeachers list
Well the Good Doctor's christian name, if anyone else remembers, *is* Maria, isn't it? Maybe *Doctor Estrada* is Ben's Maria.
To back-track a little:
Maria had in fact never been in love with Ben at all. She'd hated his hairgel and the collars on his shirts you could hang glide on, so she'd had an affair with Derek instead who was less sartorially challenged and much more exiting. When Ben had caught her with his twin she'd run from the house, got on the Mariah and jumped overboard to fake her own death. She spent the next five years hiding out in bit parts on tacky daytime quiz shows trying to get over Derek's loss (she, like everyone else, presumed he had drowned). Then she heard via the grapevine that Derek was alive and was being sought for the Terror Island murders and Meg's kidnapping. She had to go back to SB to find him, but she mustn't be recognised by Ben as his dead wife.
She had a quick affair with a plastic surgeon (there are billions of them in California) and persuaded him to change her face so no-one would recognise her. She retained her christian name as she has a memory problem (like everyone else in SB) and knew she'd only get confused if she changed it, but took the surname of her childhood hero, Eric Estrada from C.H.I.P.S. The next stage of her plan was to get a medical degree, which she bought for $25 mail order, and applied for the position of resident surgeon and medical all-rounder at Seedy Oaks (it's easy to get a job in a hospital in Sunset Beach, you just need a dodgy wig and someone else's nametag).
On the drive down to the beach Maria continued to mull over the plans she'd been making for many years to get back at Ben who she blamed for Derek's death. Now she was even more angry at Ben because he'd cheated her of the last five years when she could have been with Derek after all. What could she do to punish him? Then she rounded a bend in the road and saw a woman thumbing a lift on the verge. She was about to accelerate and give the back tyres a hefty wheelspin to spray dirt all over the hitcher, when she caught sight of the woman's face, and blow me if she didn't look the spitting image of her original self, Maria Torres-Evans. Seeing a perfect opportunity for vengeance, Maria Estrada threw the car into reverse, sped back up the road a few hundred yards, revved up the engine, pointed the hood straight at the stranger with the strangely familiar face, and rocketed forward.
This explains why 'Dana' can't remember anything because she is in fact just a simple botanist (hence her attraction to 'familiar' vegetables like Meg and Tim), who happened to be out collecting wild cabbage specimens on the side of the road when Dr Maria Estrada- Torres-Evans was driving past.
Dr E. ran Dana over, slung her in the driving seat and pushed her over the cliff, then rang the emergency services from her mobile, making sure that when the botanist awoke she'd be transferred to Seedy Oaks from where the evil Maria could put her wicked plan into action. By this time she'd heard that Derek was dead and this fuelled her anger towards Ben even more. She ensured that Tim and Dana met and planted the photo of Annie and her old self in the ruins of the Richard’s' house, after following Tim there from the hospital. Having noted that Tim and Annie were close friends, and knowing what a schemer Annie was, the doctor was pretty sure that they'd use it to cause havoc between Ben and Meg and eventually Ben would see 'Maria,' which would pretty well stuff up his life.
Once Dana awoke at Seedy Oaks, Dr Estrada fed her medication to suppress her memories and reinforced this with regular hypnotherapy sessions in which the doctor placed subliminal triggers to make Dana think she was remembering certain aspects of Maria's past. This would help convince everyone that she was Ben's long-lost wife. The only person who couldn't be fooled was Spike, so he has always been kept away from her (have you ever seen them together)?
Now Maria's plan is to cause as much upset as she possibly can between Ben and Meg, hence forcing them to take Dana in to live with them. All the while Maria is laughing at the way her plan is working. The only fly in the ointment at the moment is the Cummings clan who keep interfering in her plans, so she might have to chuck them over a cliff too. But for the meantime, she's just sitting back and enjoying the show.

Mrs Antonio Torres
I think Maria was on Terror Island and while she was suffering with amnesia she murdered everyone, unfortunately she missed (S)Meg.
She could also be linked with the Rosario Jewels and she could be the evil that has been unleashed, but when the Jewels were in the Madonna she mysteriously disappeared.

Georgie Knott
I think that Maria should stay cos I believe that for the past 5 years she has been living in Cedar Oaks with Ben's child that she was carrying when she lost her memory, and that her child is suddenly going to appear! Ben will then dump Meg and live with Maria and his kid (well it's not exactly far fetched in comparison to some of the stories!!)

Jodie15916@aol.com
I think that Maria popped out to her local hairdressers for a decent hair cut and a bit of body put into it, and it took five years for the hairdresser to sort it out (Although it's still as flat as a pancake) and that all the perms and hair washes have scrambled up her brain cells so she can't remember anything. It was a bit stupid of her bcoz as we all know Ben's handy with a tub of hair gel anyway!

RV81521@aol.com
In my opinion Maria has been with Derek the last four and a half years. The boy (Benjy) is probably Dereks and they may possibly try to pass it off as Ben's.

Chintey81@aol.com
I think that for the past five years Maria has been practising those long stares and pouts that she seems to have perfected and got down to a T!

spirit@tir.com
Hi! I think Maria was somewhere living a whole new life, with a husband and everything. And that the new people, the woman and child, coming to SB are like somehow involved. the kid could be hers and Ben’s or hers and someone else’s. That's just what I think.

Mrs Antonio Torres
I think Maria has been in both Neighbours and Home and Away for the past five years. Two places where nobody could find her or watch her or maybe she has been hiding in peoples houses at Sunset Beach, all the different rooms people say they have but have never been into.