‘Imagine if I packed this up’: Sam Wood had the world, now it’s crashing down around him

Millionaire way of life and physical fitness business owner Sam Wood was living the picture-perfect life.

The individual fitness instructor had a truth television star partner and he sat atop a self-made service empire, valued at $71 million, that he ‘d simply offered to a Melbourne billionaire.

The 46-year-old business owner should not have had a care worldwide, however Wood was distressed.

“When you’ve gone from absolutely nothing … to something like that, there’s a little bit of imposter syndrome, there’s a worry that a person day something might take place, the bubble might rupture and the dream might be over,” he informed a NZ podcast in 2024.

Way of life and physical fitness business owner Sam Wood has actually been transferred to a high-security jail in Brisbane after being rejected bail on domestic violence charges. Matt Davidson

” It’s amusing, I had more distressed minutes with cash than I possibly made with this sort of positive, younger interest when I had none, you understand, due to the fact that I resembled, you have something to lose.

“It’s like, ‘f–, think of if I lost all of this now or something took place or this wasn’t genuine or I in some way packed this up.'”

Wood’s stress and anxiety would show prophetic.

A Triple Zero call from his stepdaughter to Queensland authorities on Saturday night, in which she explained Wood supposedly strangling his better half, Snezana, has actually brought his world crashing down.

Secured in a watch-house cell at Maroochydore, near Noosa, after being declined bail today, Wood will have lots of time to review how everything concerned this.

A television love

Wood was a 34-year-old individual fitness instructor when he went trying to find love on The Bachelor Australia in 2015.

Snezana, likewise 34 at the time, was a single mom from Perth, a clinical sales agent from a tight-knit Macedonian household and the earliest lady because season’s cast of hopefuls.

“I keep in mind the very first time I touched her. It was a hug for a picture shoot on the very first group date and I might feel something there,” Wood informed Jules Sebastian in an episode of podcast Tea With Jules in 2016. “That was the very first time when I understood there is truly something unique about her.”

Wood accepted his brand-new partner’s young child Eve and the kid was provided her stepfather’s surname. He had a ready-made, photogenic household.

Snezana and Sam Wood in 2016.Hausmann Communications

For more than a years the genetically blessed couple were high-voltage social networks and red carpet mega-stars.

Wood collected practically 250,000 fans on his individual Instagram account and Snezana collected 330,000 fans of her own.

They enhanced the cover of the similarity Who publication, Outstanding and NWdeveloped out their fairy tale to consist of 3 more young children and struck collaborations with brand names consisting of Weetbix, Mercedes-Benz, Bupa, 2XU and Under Armour.

The features of their wealth consisted of multimillion-dollar homes in Melbourne’s wealthy Brighton and on the Mornington Peninsula, and pricey European cars and trucks.

Even Eve, simply 9 years of ages when her mom appeared on The Bachelorgrew to end up being an influencer herself.

The truth of organization

Wood leveraged his popularity to develop an empire, targeting females with his at-home physical fitness and nutrition service, 28 by Sam Wood.

It provided pregnancy and postnatal strategies, in addition to a 12-week menopause program. Months earlier, Wood released Ollo for Women, a medical and physical weight-loss program targeting females in midlife.

When Wood ultimately offered his physical fitness organization to Bastas for a reported $71 million, the offer consisted of retention of Wood as the face (and body) of the quickly broadening business.

The fluctuate over 10 years of Wood’s online empire was amazing.

“I ‘d had no social networks following before (The Bachelorand it simply went bananas, you understand, went from 20 fans to 250,000 in a variety of weeks, therefore did Snez,” he informed The Dom Harvey Podcast in April 2024.

After Wood released the physical fitness platform in February 2016, 5000 individuals registered in the very first month, at $50 a month: “$250,000 a month profits, and it was me and a couple of tech guys in a workplace, and I was shooting the videos in my fitness center,” he stated. “By the 3rd month, we had 10,000. [It] simply definitely took off.”

Wood informed Paul Spain on NZ Tech Podcast in February 2024 that business ultimately grew to more than 1 million customers internationally, at the time of recording, with an increase of memberships throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, providing locked down Australians an at-home physical fitness alternative.

Bupa, among Australia’s most significant health insurance providers, observed and used their clients 3 months’ access to Wood’s online program totally free.

The insurance company anticipated an additional 10,000 sign-ups, however rather 130,000 participated in 3 days, Wood stated.

“We went from 30,000 to 160,000 practically over night,” he remembered.

After numerous deals to purchase the platform, Bastas’ DBG Health actioned in, purchasing the operation’s moms and dad, Australian Life Tech. Wood clarified in the podcast that while he offered business to Bastas for $71 million, he swiped $15 million himself.

Dennis Bastas, chairman and CEO of DBG Health, purchased Sam Wood’s physical fitness organization.AFR

One previous partner stated Wood was”ruthlessly enthusiastic about developing his brand name “, however was typically hesitant to acknowledge or pay those who added to his climb.

The rushing truth star engaged a retinue of press agents, individual fitness instructors, online marketers, brand name supervisors and diet professionals, who got essentially no acknowledgment and often invested months chasing him for payment.

Some were never ever spent for their services, while a couple of were required to utilize attorneys to use pressure. On one event, fitness center devices was taken from his fitness center in East Brighton, The Woodshed, to recover a financial obligation.

His growing profile developed an expectation that regional companies would align their items with his brand name, and spend for the opportunity.

“He utilized business plans to construct an understanding of himself that wasn’t genuine. It was all an impression, and I’m not even sure he understood how entitled he ‘d end up being,” stated a previous partner.

In 2016, Mazda consented to offer Wood with a BT-50 energy– totally free of charge. Wood thought about the offer below him, and worked out a different plan with a Melbourne-based Mercedes car dealership.

The exact same year, Wood and Snezana were visitors of the Singapore Tourism Board, which totally moneyed their five-day go to. Wood grumbled bitterly about a quid professional quo expectation that he make a series of social media posts to promote the island country.

Another source from the business tv market, who asked not to be determined due to the fact that of the nature of the accusations versus Wood, stated the truth star was desperate to end up being an individual fitness instructor on the relaunch of the Greatest Loser in 2017.

Wood acknowledged the prospective to parlay his look on the program into increased subscriptions for 28. He was left flaring when the network ignored him for Sydney-based fitness instructor Shannon Ponton.

Throughout settlements for the sale of 28, Wood confessed to Harvey that he found “a brand-new term”.

“It’s called ‘crucial male threat’ or ‘essential individual danger’, which is we pull the worth of your organization down if it’s too greatly based upon you,” he stated.

“I do not believe they believed I may do something like that. You understand, if you do anything incriminating, or you get struck by an automobile, or, you understand.”

Snezana fears for her life

Throughout an uneventful couple of days in Noosa with his household, Wood was identified by residents delighting in ice-cream with his kids near the high-end beachfront home they had actually leased in the La Mer complex on Noosa’s attractive Hastings Street.

The night before their prepared go back to Melbourne, a trifling argument over packaging exploded into what authorities declare was a violent domestic disruption that sent their delighted household story off script.

The disagreement spilled into the corridor, the court heard, with Eve, now 21 and back in Australia after a stint in New York studying company style, informing Wood to leave her mom alone.

Authorities declare Wood approached Eve strongly and Snezana stepped in.

Wood is declared to have actually gotten his partner by the throat with one hand, tossing her versus the wall and striking her head.

Snezana wed Sam Wood in 2018 after they satisfied on The Bachelor.GK Photography

While keeping a company hold of Snezana, he is declared to have actually tossed her to the ground, and while on the ground held her throat, grasping tighter and limiting her air passage. She tried to complimentary herself and yell for aid, in worry for her life.

Eve called cops and Wood was tossed behind bars, charged with domestic violence offenses, consisting of attack occasioning physical damage and strangulation.

Snezana was dealt with by paramedics and offered a video declaration to cops, the court hearing she stays “encouraging of the charges”.

Wood was supported in court by daddy Andrew, with his attorney stating the physical fitness expert would safeguard the charges and might be entitled to a self-defence argument.

Wood stays secured till his next court look in November, nevertheless his attorney, Mathew Cuskelly, informed this masthead on Friday he had actually gotten initial directions to make another quote for flexibility on Wood’s behalf in the Supreme Court.

The exterior of Wood’s ideal life was additional shattered when the court heard Snezana had actually informed cops of a previous supposed event of domestic violence in Victoria.

No charges were laid, and the information were not aerated.

The fallout

The status of the Wood’s television marital relationship made great is uncertain.

On Monday, the couple provided a joint declaration stating they were “overcoming this as a household” as their kids went back to Melbourne and returned to school.

In January, the couple picked a $7.1 million purchase of a Brighton home, which this masthead was informed, by a source near to the household, the couple never ever moved into. They stated the home had actually just recently gone through a cosmetic overhaul towards putting the house back on the marketplace.

Rather, the household have actually been leasing a close-by home, where Wood’s Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon sat idle today in the home’s gated driveway, recognizable by means of customised number plates.

It’s not simply Wood’s individual life that remains in tatters.

On Tuesday, Bastas and his GBH Group stood Wood aside in the past, the next day, ending his industrial handle the business.

The conclusive relocation from Bastas consisted of promptly getting rid of Wood’s image from the 28 Group sites and Instagram pages. The larger reaction versus Wood was likewise instant. He lost online fans, while 28 by Sam Wood ambassadors and coaches openly cut ties.

Even before last Saturday, Wood was under substantial pressure.

The Australian Taxation Office sued him, declaring $7.3 million in overdue earnings tax. According to a writ submitted in the Victorian County Court, Wood stopped working to stump up $4 million for the 2022 fiscal year, about $102,000 for FY2023 and $3.2 million in FY2024.

Wood never ever submitted a defence or counterclaim to the case, regardless of being approved an extension 6 times. The matter was dismissed in September. Wood was purchased to pay the ATO’s legal charges worth $1647 and the case was settled.

The business regulator was looking over his shoulder too.

The Woodshed Group Pty Ltd, of which he was a director and significant investor, was struck off the business sign up at the end of August after it stopped working to pay costs and fulfill other renewal requirements for a number of years running. A business’s yearly evaluation consists of a statement of solvency. An ASIC representative decreased to discuss the action.

At Wood’s fitness center in Brighton, The Woodshed, farmed out individual fitness instructors were recently still running classes.

Wood’s image and story as the fitness center’s creator stayed on its site and a video including him published to its Instagram account last month likewise stays in location.

Telephone call to the health club go to voicemail, up until Thursday including a taped message from Wood himself, “Hi, it’s Sam …”.

By Friday, he ‘d been changed by an automatic voice.

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