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‘Cracking the facade’: The unravelling of the Sam Wood empire · The Morning Edition

0:04
S1: For more than a decade, Sam Wood was one of
0:06
S1: the greatest success stories to come out of the reality
0:09
S1: TV series The Bachelor. He met the love of his life, Snejana,
0:14
S1: on the show, and he built a hugely popular multimillion
0:18
S1: dollar fitness franchise geared at women off the back of
0:21
S1: their joint fame. But now, the 46 year old faces
0:25
S1: charges of domestic violence against Najada, including an allegation that
0:30
S1: he strangled her after police were called to their luxury
0:33
S1: beachfront apartment during a recent holiday. I'm Samantha Zellinger Morris,
0:38
S1: and you're listening to The Morning Edition from the Sydney
0:41
S1: Morning Herald and The Age. Today, senior reporters Angellica Snowdon
0:45
S1: and Christine Lacey on the unravelling of Sam Wood's empire
0:50
S1: and what led up to these allegations. And just a
0:54
S1: note the domestic violence allegations against Sam Wood are now
0:57
S1: before the court. Wood's lawyer has said his client would
1:00
S1: defend the charges. Welcome, Christine and Angelica to the podcast.
1:07
S2: Great to be here.
1:08
S3: Thanks, Sam.
1:09
S1: Okay, Christine, I'm just going to start with you. Can
1:11
S1: we rewind a little bit? Can you take us back
1:14
S1: to when Sam Wood first shot to fame on The
1:17
S1: Bachelor and he met his wife, Snejana? Now, what was
1:20
S1: it about him as an individual and the two of
1:23
S1: them as a couple that really captured the public's attention
1:26
S1: at the time?
1:27
S3: Right. So it was 2015, third season of The Bachelor.
1:30
S3: Wood was the handsome personal trainer. He was originally from Tasmania,
1:35
S3: was living in Melbourne and was single mum from Perth.
1:40
S3: They were both 34. She had a daughter, Eve, who
1:45
S3: I think was five at the time. Sam recalled after
1:49
S3: the series that he says he knew from the very
1:53
S3: beginning that she was the one and he really. The
1:57
S3: love story was really centered around this idea that he
2:01
S3: got his head around and was able to really lean
2:04
S3: in to this idea of an instant family becoming the
2:07
S3: dad to the daughter. He embraced the whole thing and
2:12
S3: they went on to become this dream family. The daughter
2:17
S3: took on his surname. He became the stepfather figure. And
2:22
S3: it really was this instant, gorgeous, glamorous family that we
2:28
S3: all came to know.
2:30
S1: Absolutely. I mean, I think some listeners will remember them
2:32
S1: gracing the cover of who magazine and stellar and, you know,
2:36
S1: all kinds of incredible features like that. So Anjelica, over
2:40
S1: to you. From the outside, I guess to many of us,
2:43
S1: it looked like they perhaps had it all. They had,
2:46
S1: of course, found love. And then he built this hugely
2:50
S1: popular fitness app, right? 28 by Sam Wood. So I
2:54
S1: guess just tell us about that and how much perhaps
2:57
S1: it was geared towards helping women in particular.
2:59
S2: Yeah. So leveraging off the success of his appearance on
3:03
S2: The Bachelor, he launched this app and website called 28
3:07
S2: by Sam Wood. And as you said, it is for women.
3:10
S2: It's targeted towards women. There are programs on there around
3:15
S2: postnatal recovery, pregnancy workouts. You know, it's really built on
3:19
S2: his relationship with women. It was successful when it first launched,
3:23
S2: and then we hit Covid and everybody was in lockdown
3:27
S2: and looking for a way to exercise, you know, indoors essentially.
3:31
S2: And the app and the website really took off. Like
3:34
S2: there was hundreds of thousands of people had subscribed and,
3:38
S2: you know, would had told some previous podcasts that at
3:42
S2: $50 a subscription, you know, this really skyrocketed the value
3:46
S2: of the company. And indeed, many, I guess, successful businessmen
3:53
S2: and business owners took attention. And I mean that the
3:56
S2: success of the business was really, really huge. We could
3:59
S2: see that he had it all. He had this family. Eve,
4:02
S2: Chris mentioned her would and Snejana also had their own children,
4:07
S2: and they continued to leverage on their own social media platforms.
4:10
S2: Their family, they were all daughters. They had. And really
4:14
S2: the alleged unraveling of his empire came afterwards.
4:19
S1: And then, Kristina, I want to go to you next
4:21
S1: because then we fast forward to October 4th and many
4:25
S1: of us hear the news. Sam wood is charged and
4:29
S1: jailed with alleged domestic violence offenses against Snejana, including allegations
4:34
S1: that he strangled her. He is still in jail in Queensland.
4:38
S1: So can you just briefly take us through what happened?
4:41
S3: Okay, so it's a pretty grim, dark story as it's
4:46
S3: been retold to the court. And we know that these
4:49
S3: remain allegations. The family of three daughters, plus stepdaughter, were
4:56
S3: in Noosa, staying at a luxury resort on Hastings Street.
4:59
S3: Lots of Melbourne families go up to Noosa for the
5:02
S3: September school holidays. They'd been out for dinner on the
5:05
S3: Saturday night. It was the final night of their holiday.
5:08
S3: They came home and allegedly had a disagreement. Sam wanted
5:13
S3: to go to bed and his wife wanted to pack
5:15
S3: for an early morning flight the next day, and things
5:20
S3: escalated from there. So amidst an argument, would is alleged
5:25
S3: to have grabbed her by the throat with one hand
5:29
S3: and thrown her against a wall in the hallway, striking
5:33
S3: her head. Then he allegedly threw his wife to the ground,
5:36
S3: gripped her throat, restricting her airway and preventing her from breathing.
5:41
S3: So it's pretty heavy stuff, and obviously it all has
5:45
S3: to be dealt with by the court as the matter proceeds.
5:49
S3: But as it stands, you know, it's pretty grim reading.
5:52
S1: I mean, it really is a shock. And we know
5:54
S1: from the reporting that you and Angelica and a couple
5:56
S1: of your colleagues have done that. The court also heard
5:59
S1: that Snejana had told police of a previous alleged incident
6:02
S1: of domestic violence in Victoria, although no charges were laid,
6:06
S1: nothing is known about that incident. But, Christine, just further,
6:10
S1: I mean, has Snejana spoken publicly about the incident and
6:14
S1: what has Sam Wood said.
6:16
S3: Okay this far? In the immediate days after the alleged incident,
6:21
S3: there was a joint statement put out on both of
6:24
S3: their Instagrams saying that they were seeking to work through
6:28
S3: the incident as a family. Subsequent to that, he faced
6:33
S3: Court Maroochydore Magistrates Court, where he was remanded in custody. Then,
6:39
S3: on the subsequent Thursday, he was denied bail and since
6:44
S3: then we haven't heard anything, obviously from Sam Wood. All
6:48
S3: communications are limited as they have been have come via
6:51
S3: his lawyer and for her there's been no public comment.
6:55
S3: She's been sighted in Brighton, near the family home, taking
7:00
S3: her youngest daughter to an activity. She's been seen out
7:05
S3: with some friends, but thus far that's all that we've
7:08
S3: seen from either of them publicly.
7:10
S1: And Angelica. Can you tell us a little bit about
7:12
S1: what the wider reaction has been to these charges and
7:15
S1: the quite extraordinary turn of events?
7:18
S2: Absolutely. So going off the back of the success of
7:21
S2: his app during Covid, he sold his business to a
7:25
S2: Melbourne billionaire, Dennis Bastis. Dbg health is the name of
7:29
S2: the company that bought that business off Sam Wood and
7:32
S2: was valued at a $71 million deal, and wood was
7:36
S2: said to have pocketed about $15 million as a result
7:39
S2: of that deal. Even though he sold the business, he
7:43
S2: remained the face. It's still 28 by Sam Wood. His
7:47
S2: image was all over the website. He was in all
7:51
S2: of the videos, all of the workout videos. So his
7:54
S2: personal brand and reputation were the success of the platform.
7:59
S2: And he was to continue until the allegations of domestic
8:02
S2: violence shocked everybody. It was particularly shocking because he had
8:08
S2: built his entire empire on his relationship with women and
8:14
S2: supporting women. And very swiftly, Bastos Company released a statement,
8:20
S2: I think the day after that explained he had been
8:23
S2: stood down immediately from all of his duties. And as
8:27
S2: the story evolved a couple of days later, the company
8:31
S2: actually said he is no longer associated with this brand
8:36
S2: or business at all. He will not have any involvement
8:39
S2: moving forward. And, you know, we saw his picture being
8:43
S2: taken off their Instagram account. I checked this morning. Actually,
8:46
S2: it's no longer called 28 by Sam Wood. It's just
8:49
S2: the 28 program online. So they're really separating themselves from
8:54
S2: Sam Wood, the brand.
8:56
S1: And I believe even his name, I think is taken
8:58
S1: off the voice messages, isn't it? If you call the
9:00
S1: company or the business, is that right?
9:02
S3: Well, he has a gym in Brighton. It's called The Woodshed,
9:05
S3: of which he was the founder of the business and
9:09
S3: remains associated. Well, he owns it, so he's associated with it.
9:13
S3: But up until just a few days ago when you
9:16
S3: called in, it was, hi, Sam here. In terms of
9:20
S3: the voicemail that's been replaced now with an automated voice.
9:24
S3: So it's really interesting. He was associated with the business
9:29
S3: after it was sold. As Ange said, he was an
9:32
S3: effective employee. He was the face of it. It was
9:35
S3: under a commercial agreement. So under terms of that agreement,
9:38
S3: the organisation was able to sever all ties based on
9:42
S3: reputational causes that were in the commercial arrangements. So now
9:47
S3: there is no income stream from that for him, obviously,
9:52
S3: but also the family. One of their homes in Brighton
9:56
S3: has now been put on the market. There's another holiday
9:59
S3: house down on the Mornington Peninsula where there's a question
10:02
S3: mark over the future ownership of that. So there's lots
10:06
S3: and lots to play out apart from the court case itself,
10:10
S3: in terms of what happens now for would his family
10:15
S3: and the commercial viability going forward?
10:22
S1: After the break.
10:24
S3: As we know, and we are often reminded that domestic
10:28
S3: violence cuts across all socio economic classes and divides. And
10:35
S3: we just need to stay aware and vigilant when we're
10:41
S3: looking at the likes of Instagram, that sometimes it's not
10:45
S3: all what it's cracked up to be.
10:56
S1: And the fallout from this, even though, like you say,
10:59
S1: it's still to be heard by the courts. So these
11:01
S1: are just allegations at this point. But in one of
11:04
S1: your features, you wrote that Sam Wood had engaged a
11:07
S1: retinue of publicists, personal trainers, marketers, brand managers and dieticians
11:12
S1: who got virtually no recognition, sometimes spent months chasing him
11:16
S1: for payment. Some were never paid for their services. So
11:19
S1: all of this stuff is coming out now, and I
11:21
S1: just wanted to put it to you, to both of
11:23
S1: you really, that this kind of thing, you know, fights
11:25
S1: over finances, disgruntled business associates, this is not unusual, right?
11:30
S1: When we investigate or read about stories about successful business people.
11:34
S1: So why is it important to dig through this history
11:37
S1: in this particular case?
11:39
S3: Right. Well, it is a grim matter. It is before
11:41
S3: the courts. There's serious allegations. And I guess when we
11:46
S3: look at those, it's important to take a broader look
11:49
S3: at the man himself, the character, the person behind the facade.
11:55
S3: In this instance, a lot of the persona is built
11:58
S3: around social media. It seems like in this instance, as
12:03
S3: we've seen in other stories, that maybe like this, that
12:08
S3: sometimes what is represented publicly is not exactly what's going
12:14
S3: on behind the scenes. So, Sam, it's really interesting. The
12:17
S3: woods have curated over a number of years an incredibly
12:22
S3: glamorous lifestyle. There's multimillion dollar properties in Brighton on the
12:27
S3: Mornington Peninsula, luxury European cars in the driveway, he drives
12:33
S3: a Mercedes G wagon with personalised number plates. She drives
12:37
S3: a Range Rover. Obviously, they're all across social media. She's
12:41
S3: an influencer, a promoter. They're a gorgeous, gorgeous couple. They're
12:45
S3: a gorgeous family. They're gracing magazine covers all this coverage.
12:50
S3: And I think what's so jarring about the whole unfolding
12:56
S3: scenario is that it's really the cracking of this highly
13:03
S3: curated facade that we are seeing falling apart in real
13:08
S3: time within days. Really. It was cracking right apart.
13:12
S1: And Angelica, what say you on that point? I mean,
13:15
S1: do you think many people are surprised at the sort
13:17
S1: of revelations, I guess, that have come out, particularly in
13:20
S1: your reporting with your colleagues, in terms of all of
13:23
S1: the disgruntled former business partners that have sort of been
13:26
S1: left in the wake?
13:27
S2: Absolutely. I think, you know, from the public's perspective, the
13:30
S2: allegations are shocking. And as Chris pointed out, it felt
13:33
S2: like they came out of nowhere. And I think you
13:37
S2: could sort of consider his broader sort of. Business empire
13:41
S2: as as worthy of really being looked at in this case.
13:44
S2: We discovered a lot a big history, I guess, around
13:48
S2: his business dealings. So in Victoria, I'll start there. In 2016,
13:54
S2: when he launched 28 by Sam Wood, we actually identified
13:58
S2: a number of business disputes that had to be settled
14:02
S2: out of court linked with that business. So in one instance,
14:06
S2: Wood's original business partners, who, I might add, have gone
14:10
S2: on to launch Chris Hemsworth's online fitness website called center.
14:16
S2: Wood also worked with them. Originally, they had this dispute about,
14:21
S2: you know, what I've been told is that wood wanted
14:23
S2: the platform to only be used for wood, whereas his
14:26
S2: business partners wanted to offer it to other celebrities so
14:29
S2: that they could also host their own fitness programs and
14:32
S2: things like that. They saw a big potential there, so
14:34
S2: they agreed to go their separate ways. It was amicable
14:37
S2: at first. However, it was alleged that wood didn't come
14:42
S2: good on their exit payments, so he owed them hundreds
14:46
S2: of thousands of dollars as a result of their split.
14:49
S2: And it was alleged that he didn't pay them. That
14:51
S2: case was settled out of court. I understand that the
14:54
S2: deal wasn't ultimately very good for the business partners, but nonetheless,
14:58
S2: it was settled. And in another instance, on 28 by
15:02
S2: Sam Wood as well, his other business partners, they're in
15:05
S2: the same year, had claimed they were owed 25% of
15:10
S2: the company that would also reneged on allegedly, that matter
15:14
S2: was settled, too. So those are really interesting details. I
15:17
S2: think that go to who the businessman is behind these
15:21
S2: really successful ideas and platforms. And even broader than that,
15:27
S2: we identified, I think many members of the press have, that.
15:29
S2: He had a dispute with the tax office That was
15:32
S2: also settled quite recently around allegations that he hadn't paid
15:37
S2: personal income tax. So there's really quite a rich history,
15:41
S2: as Chris had pointed out, that this public facing image
15:45
S2: of a really well put together, shiny businessman and a
15:50
S2: perfect family behind the scenes. Again, we've found that there
15:54
S2: was business disputes and disagreements with a lot of his
15:57
S2: business partners.
15:59
S1: And Christine, just over to you while we wrap up.
16:01
S1: You know what happens from here with the court case.
16:04
S3: Right. So as it stands today, would remains in jail
16:09
S3: in Brisbane. His lawyer has foreshadowed an action in the
16:15
S3: Supreme Court, an application for bail that's yet to be filed.
16:20
S3: Obviously yet to be heard in the absence of that
16:23
S3: would will stay in custody until mid November when the
16:26
S3: next hearing is scheduled.
16:33
S4: I guess the thing for me that is really.
16:36
S3: Powerful in this whole sad tale is the way we
16:43
S3: as a society buy into and give so much power
16:48
S3: to social media. The likes of Instagram, where these perfect
16:53
S3: lives are crafted, and then we seemingly are surprised when
17:00
S3: we see behind the veil. And it's not all as
17:04
S3: perfect as it is packaged up to be. Of course,
17:08
S3: we need to remember that these remain allegations, but as
17:14
S3: we know and we are often reminded that domestic violence
17:18
S3: cuts across all socioeconomic classes and divides. And we just
17:25
S3: need to stay aware And vigilant. When we're looking at
17:31
S3: the likes of Instagram, that sometimes it's not all what
17:35
S3: it's cracked up to be.
17:42
S1: Well, thank you so much, Christine and Angelica for your time.
17:46
S3: Thanks, Sam.
17:47
S2: Thanks, Sam.
18:02
S1: In other news, today, more than a year after a
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S1: bombshell investigation found popular Australian sunscreen brands failed to meet
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S1: advertised SPF 50 plus ratings. The Therapeutic Goods Administration has
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S1: proposed regulatory reforms that include more frequent testing and results
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S1: customers reporting they're hearing a crunching sound when unfolding the phone,
18:33
S1: followed by a large crack forming along the center crease
18:36
S1: after just hours or days of use. And Foreign Affairs
18:41
S1: and national security correspondent Matthew Knott is on the ground
18:44
S1: in Israel for the nation's first election since the October
18:47
S1: 7th attacks and what some are calling the country's most
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S1: consequential election in decades. Follow along for live updates as
18:56
S1: results come in. You can read more at the age.com.au
19:00
S1: or smh.com.au. Today's episode was produced by Josh towers. Our
19:06
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