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[Music]
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Sam wood welcome to the Davy podcast
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thank thank you so much for having me
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and H great to meet little Kanye oh yeah
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Kanye he will be um he will stand here
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with us for the duration of this chat at
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some point he might jump up on your lap
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uh you might look around and think he's
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not in here but he'll just be under my
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seat he's um he's never far from my side
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I other way how are you welcome to New
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Zealand M I'm great and it's so
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beautiful to be here of uh I'm from
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tazzy originally and the amount of
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people have said to me oh New Zealand
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and tazzy there's a lot of similarities
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and we're staying down there by the by
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the water and uh yeah went for a big run
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this morning and I can see what people
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are saying it's got hobot Waterfront
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Vibes that's for sure right what else
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what else are similar the
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incest no no no comment no comment no no
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I moved to Melbourne 20 years ago and I
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caught plenty of that early on so um
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where did you run this morning just
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along the um uh just along the dock
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there yeah not nothing uh probably
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nothing compared to what you do I did
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8ks so oh that's a good that was that
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was a nice little nice little druck yeah
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that that's one thing that Drew me to to
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running just the Simplicity and ease of
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it like wherever you are in the world
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you can just um I mean You You Shoes
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aren't even medat Tre you can go without
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shoes if you want um but it's so simple
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so easy great great way to see in New
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City as well best best way to see a
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place and it's uh I don't know we're
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soing at dogs as well dog walking my dog
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and running in my two meditations are
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reckon I don't not really typically do
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the the meditation thing but those two
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things and just switching off my two
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things for sure yeah yeah hey I'm so
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excited to have you over really looking
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forward to cracking to this chat I
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thought we could um do it structure in
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sort of three sort of chapters okay um
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chapter one The Bachelor stuff sure sure
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your you're your dark reality TV past uh
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chapter two we'll go back to Sam
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pre-bachelor sure and then uh chapter
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three post bachelor which is where we're
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at now absolutely no that's a good way
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of doing it a lot yeah yeah yeah so I
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mean there's probably some people
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listening to listening to this or
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watching this that know you from um The
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Bachelor that'll be excited about that
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um but with what you've done since then
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it's it's really just like a footnote in
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your story isn't
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it yeah a very important one I mean
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people sort of say to me flippantly a
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little bit like oh do you regret doing
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The Bachelor and that kind of stuff and
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the answer is absolutely not it's
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without doubt the best thing that I've
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ever done I didn't I didn't enjoy the
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experience that much it was a bit a bit
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contrived and you know you're you're
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filming for 16 17 hours a day most days
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7 days a week 16 uh weeks hours away
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from home and uh you know TV for those
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that have experienced it behind the
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scenes is you know there's a lot of
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fluffing around for not much content in
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the end it's it's it's you know it's a
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pretty painful process but wait wait a
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minute are you telling us the rose
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ceremony isn't done in real time no
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everything is rung right out and there
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were some seriously late nights and a
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lot of times I think go surely we can
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just wrap this up but you sort of just
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have to suck it up and it was a it was a
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brilliant learning experience it was a
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really good test for me of sort of
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patience and getting to know myself a
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bit better um you know really getting
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out of my comfort zone really getting
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comfortable talking about things that I
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typically wouldn't talk about even with
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a mate let alone in front of millions of
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people and you know 20 cameras so I'm I
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really feel like I evolved enormously
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from that experience as a person
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comfortable with vulnerability talking
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about my relationships and and feelings
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and all that kind of stuff stuff that
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BLS are typically not that great at and
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most importantly I met my now amazing
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wife we've got four daughters so for
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those that uh have no idea what I'm
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talking about I was on The Bachelor in
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2015 it was the third season of the
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Australian Bachelor I'd never seen the
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show before and uh client of my gym
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would pest to me about being single and
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getting a girlfriend and all this kind
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of stuff and she basically said I'm
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going to I'm going to apply for you I'm
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going to start filling out your form and
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you're going to go on this show and I
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was like I don't be ridiculous Kelly I'm
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not going on this show I've seen the ads
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on TV but that was as far as my
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knowledge went and she came around
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behind reception of my gym Googled how
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you apply for the bachelor started
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filling out this form you know asking me
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questions then she went and train said
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you make sure you filled the rest of
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these details out and lo and behold the
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phone rang the next day and I sort of
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you know private number and I answered
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it and they said oh hi we got your
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application for the show we're really
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interested in talking to you can we do a
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Skype interview I was like oh yeah sure
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and we did a 60-minute Skype I think it
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was two days
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later and then two days after that Sam
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we really lik the Skype interview we
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want to fly you to Sydney and uh we want
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to interview you and I was still a
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little bit naive about it all it's all
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very fast moving very fast and I said of
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I don't know how many people there'd be
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flying into Sydney I guess yeah so I
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flew up had my flip flops as you guys
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call them my thongs on M jines MAA I was
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all pretty relaxed about it all and I
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walked into this room and it was full of
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all these suits TV exx big cameras
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on um and it was about 15 people in this
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room and they spoke to me for about an
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hour and a half with the cameras on and
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I was like oh this is far more sort of
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advanced and full on that i' baps
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anticipated and as I was leaving I
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remember one of the heads of Channel 10
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in Australia sort of uh he sort of
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grabbed me by the arm and as I was
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leaving he said don't go doing anything
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rash and you know getting any crazy
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mohawks or anything and I said I think
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you I think it's pretty safe F and sort
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of gave him a wink and walked off and
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caught a came back to Melbourne and um
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about 10 days later I got a phone call
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saying mate you're it we've chosen you
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but you've got to pack up your life in
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Melbourne moved to Sydney for 4 months
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and you can't tell a soul why you're
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going there and where you're going and I
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was like oh Jesus I had a gym I had a
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kids Fitness
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business um so that was it was that sort
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of really that was the poignant moment
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of well what do I do here I don't really
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know what I'm doing I didn't ever think
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I'd get accepted now there's a decision
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to make it's a long time to put your
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life on H day yeah and it was also then
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I did start to think about God what what
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is this show what are the consequences
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of this show the guy that had done it
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the year before it had been an absolute
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balls up oh I was going to ask you about
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this where you fit into it so you were
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on in 2015 was the one before you with
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um Nick cumins honey be no no he was
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well after me
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he got slaughtered he did a similar sort
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of outcome the guy before me was a guy
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by the name of Blake who
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chose someone and then the shot that
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went to Air and then he backflipped on
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his decision and broke up with that girl
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and started texting the girl that came
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second for want of a better expression
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and was voted most hated man in
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Australia was basically banished from
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the country and so I'd sort of heard
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these stories like Jesus if it goes
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pearshaped it really does go badly so
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you know you start to have these not not
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not doubts but you you you got to
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realize scenar yeah a little bit a
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little bit but more more for me it was
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like if I don't do this now I will
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forever wonder what if and I'll just
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it'll be really hard to sort of live
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with that what if so I jumped in I
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called my best mate and uh I called my
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dad they were the two people that I told
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and um and off I went and I remember uh
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about a day before we started shooting
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the executive producer Shan great guy um
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I really got a lot of comfort by sort of
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spending time with him and chatting with
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him he said mate I've just heard you've
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never seen an episode like you've seen
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some bits of some episodes and said M I
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promise you I've never seen one minute
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of the show outside of an add-on that
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comes up on the ad breaks and he was
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like oh [ __ ] that's that's that's risky
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anyway he said let's just let's just
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start filming tomorrow as scheduled and
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if it's a total dogs breakfast we might
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have to pause filming and you might have
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to do a bit of homework to understand
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exactly how the show sort of flows and
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what actually happens on this thing cuz
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he said mate this is a big beast once it
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goes It goes I don't think you quite
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realize the enormity of it
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all anyway we started filming and it got
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to the end of that first night of you
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know a cocktail party where 22 girls
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walk down a driveway and I get out of
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limo and I meet them all and have to
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remember everybody's name and there's
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lights and cameras everywhere it was
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full on by the way that would give me
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like so much anxiety do you have someone
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in your ear reminding you of names or
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yeah a little bit but it's there's a lot
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going on you know girls are coming up to
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you and grabbing you and want to have a
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conversation and they're trying to
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you're trying to remember not only their
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name but where they're from and a little
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bit of information about them and it's a
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lot and uh it got to the end of filming
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the first night and Sean said mate
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that's the best and I said what man he
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said you got no preconceived ideas
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you're not trying to be here to be
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famous you just you're a bit of a dog
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and you're here being your like in
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meaning it as a compliment I think and
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um and he said he said you're not going
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to watch an let's just let's just roll
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with it and then you know you know the
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bachelor's The Bachelor it's a crazy
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circus but
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snana this Macedonian girl from Perth
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who had a 9-year-old daughter I just
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clicked with and really started to fall
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for and um and yeah so all I wanted to
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do was spend more time with her that was
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really hard because you've obviously got
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to do what the show requires you do go
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on different dates with different girls
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and different dates with different girls
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you know and I think because of the
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Season before me they they thought oh we
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might change his mind and I I was sort
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of saying guys I'm not going to change
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my mind I like I'm I'm pretty decisive
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once once stick to something and they uh
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they were like oh I will be the judge of
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that after last year you know you all
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this kind of stuff and uh yeah I started
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to fall in love with SN and find out
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about her little nine-year-old daughter
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eie and um and yeah the rest is history
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we're now married we've got four kids
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and it's uh been been a crazy adventure
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ever since it's a it's a brilliant Love
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Story there's actually um a New Zealand
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Bachelor couple who have a similar sort
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of story art and Matilda oh
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there's a lot of parallels with you and
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him like he's he's mad into the fitness
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scene um but yeah there she um sneeze
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yes is that how you say snana yeah she's
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Macedonian yeah so she was first out of
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the car on the night she was and did you
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feel something then or you just like
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over stimulated and well I did but I was
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I mean you said the anxiety about the
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names I was I was a little overwhelmed
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at that stage like it was kind of you
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know tuxedo on lights camera action and
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this car pulls up and bang and I was
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like oh this is this is how it works I
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didn't know if it was five girls I
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didn't know if it was 10 girls it turned
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out to be 22 girls so I was really
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trying to compute what the was going on
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here it was a lot to take in but even
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amongst that Madness I was like oh
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there's something like about you that
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you know intrigues me yeah that's the
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same sort of thing with art and mat
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said to the producers ear on oh yeah
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she's the one they're like no no no hold
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your horses this is episode one we need
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to go through the process yeah but he
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sort of he that must make it hard doing
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a show like that when you've sort of got
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this um idea in your mind that that's
00:12:46
the one I like well I hated it from the
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other girls perspectives because I felt
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like they never had a shot yeah and you
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you're not being fully honest you know
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and they sort of say look just have a
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great time with this person you don't
00:13:00
have to overcommit anything that you say
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but you know you they're here you've got
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to sort of be fully present when I said
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absolutely of course i' would be
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terribly disrespectful not to do that
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but I really had sort of worked it out
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in my head that you know nothing's going
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to change here that sort of changes my
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mind and uh yeah that's how it panned
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out you said of giving um sneeze like a
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a nudge and a wink like don't worry
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you're getting a rose tonight well they
00:13:28
were very quick to pull apart when the
00:13:30
cameras weren't on you should have seen
00:13:31
it it was just like get them away from
00:13:33
each other like the the all the
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producers and stuff had rushing at a
00:13:38
million rate of knots to pull you apart
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yeah yeah and did you throughout the
00:13:42
process did you like hook up or kiss
00:13:44
with any other girls well you do because
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it's sort of what the show is you have
00:13:49
to you have to well it sounds horrendous
00:13:52
even saying that doesn't it but the the
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hardest thing was watching the show back
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and you know I I sort of I'd get
00:14:01
together with my mates so I was still in
00:14:03
Melbourne SN was in Perth and perth's 2
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hours behind um or 3 hours in daylight
00:14:10
savings uh Melbourne time so it would
00:14:13
come on at 7:30 in Melbourne and be two
00:14:16
hours behind and so I'd watch it and I'd
00:14:20
see what comes out on that episode and
00:14:21
I'd text and you probably don't want to
00:14:23
watch tonight's episode and she'd be
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like why why don't I want to watch this
00:14:28
there's a weird sort
00:14:31
of point in time when that's happening
00:14:33
it's like you're being unfaithful in a
00:14:35
way yeah but it's already happened it
00:14:37
happened before we got together but it's
00:14:38
sort of it's playing out after we've
00:14:40
gotten together it was it was a nice
00:14:42
thing to watch yeah same sort of thing
00:14:43
with art and Matilda here yeah FY crazy
00:14:46
and how um how did life change change
00:14:49
afterwards in terms of like the level of
00:14:50
Fame and stuff I mean I suppose you're
00:14:51
in a good position to handle it cuz
00:14:52
you're a 35y old man you you've been
00:14:55
through a lot in your life so you you're
00:14:57
well equipped to deal with what's
00:14:59
happening next but the the Australian
00:15:01
media they can be quite Savage right oh
00:15:03
yeah it was I agree with you I I'm very
00:15:06
grateful that I was a bit older and sort
00:15:08
of bit bit more comfortable in my own
00:15:10
skin perhaps I think it could cheer you
00:15:12
up and spit you out pretty quickly but
00:15:15
like I literally went from complete
00:15:18
obscurity
00:15:20
to walking down the street and they'd be
00:15:24
20 M Billboards my face would be on
00:15:27
every bus every tram every train every
00:15:30
TV ad every radio ad couldn't walk down
00:15:34
the street without 50 people asking me
00:15:36
for a selfie Paparazzi be camped outside
00:15:38
my house camped outside my gym they'd
00:15:40
follow my friends around like it was
00:15:43
full on and it's really full on in that
00:15:46
there was a bit of a there was a thre
00:15:48
Monon delay between when we finished
00:15:50
filming and when it went to air so that
00:15:53
period is really hard because they're so
00:15:57
desperate to get a scoop on who you
00:15:59
shows by somehow seeing you together or
00:16:01
it leaking that you know they follow you
00:16:03
around very intensely to try and sort of
00:16:06
crack it crack it open and get paid all
00:16:08
this money to break the story so how how
00:16:10
did you um keep the relationship going
00:16:12
at that time was it just like remotely
00:16:14
with phone calls yeah it was yeah a lot
00:16:16
of phone calls the the studio um would
00:16:20
let us catch up every four weeks in
00:16:22
person so they'd fly me into Sydney on
00:16:26
one day they'd fly SN into Sydney from
00:16:29
Perth on another we weren't allowed to
00:16:30
fly in on the same day in case people
00:16:32
sort of tracked the flights so so they
00:16:34
managed the whole Logistics yeah it was
00:16:36
like born identity type stuff she'd get
00:16:38
in a car with tinted window she'd go
00:16:40
through a car park there'd be a car swap
00:16:42
they'd drive us out I'm not even making
00:16:44
this [ __ ] up it was crazy they'd drive
00:16:46
us out to a Airbnb at in complete remote
00:16:50
country Australia we'd spend 24 hours
00:16:53
together and then they'd fly her back
00:16:54
and they'd fly me back it was like a
00:16:56
4-day uh stealth operation for 24 hours
00:17:00
together just so we could see each other
00:17:01
and keep in touch in in the flesh but it
00:17:03
was um yeah it was Madness yeah so and
00:17:07
you you mentioned before she had um she
00:17:09
or she's got a daughter Eve who so Eve's
00:17:11
like 17 18 now 18 yeah so she was like
00:17:14
10 at the time nine she yeah she was
00:17:16
nine and when uh when SN and Eve moved
00:17:19
to Melbourne she just turned 10 right so
00:17:21
did she did she watch the show was she
00:17:23
allowed to watch the show well it was
00:17:24
actually her idea that snares went on it
00:17:27
so she sort of pushed mom to go on this
00:17:30
show and you should do it bit for a bit
00:17:32
of a laugh I think for both of them more
00:17:33
than anything I don't think they ever
00:17:36
quite envisaged it could have worked out
00:17:38
how it did but she'd have to go to
00:17:40
school and everyone was watching the
00:17:43
show and saying has your mom still has
00:17:45
your mom come home yet oh what's going
00:17:48
on oh she must do well like she was a
00:17:50
vault e was an absolute Vault she' get
00:17:52
pested by the teachers pested by the
00:17:54
other parents at school drop off like
00:17:56
what's going on with your mom it was it
00:17:58
was was uh yeah she sort of retells the
00:18:01
story that it was like a really full- on
00:18:02
time for a 9-year-old kid to just be
00:18:04
bombarded with these questions as people
00:18:05
were just so obsessed with the show but
00:18:08
um yeah she's now my little girl and
00:18:10
yeah we're great friends and she's a
00:18:11
ripper oh that's amazing God that's it's
00:18:14
such a cool story a just the way
00:18:15
everything's panned out yeah CHR I mean
00:18:17
um yeah Married at First Sight is is an
00:18:20
absolute laugh I love watching it but
00:18:22
anyone that goes on there thinking
00:18:23
they're trying trying to find true love
00:18:25
is is delusional but I feel like The
00:18:28
Bachelor
00:18:29
they they have had a reasonable sort of
00:18:31
success rate and it makes sense right
00:18:32
like if you put you in a room with 20
00:18:33
other people there's bound to be someone
00:18:35
that you have some sort of connection
00:18:37
with yeah I don't know what the what the
00:18:40
success rate is in New Zealand but in
00:18:41
Australia there's
00:18:43
been God I think there's been 10
00:18:46
seasons and it's been three success
00:18:48
stories so that's pretty good really I
00:18:51
mean i' hoped I would meet someone but
00:18:55
if you'd ask me really honestly do you
00:18:58
think you will I would have said well
00:19:00
probably not you know it's it's it's a
00:19:02
long shot still but um yeah three
00:19:06
there's something something really funny
00:19:08
about going through that experience
00:19:11
together like it's it's an experience
00:19:13
that so few other people could really
00:19:17
understand or you can even explain to
00:19:18
them it's incredibly unique isn't it
00:19:20
yeah so the fact you go through it
00:19:22
together and then you you kind of got to
00:19:25
sort of draws you really close as you as
00:19:28
you sort of navigating your way through
00:19:31
it and there there was something really
00:19:32
sort of special about that I know some
00:19:34
people go one way and they they love the
00:19:36
new found Fame and they go to the
00:19:38
opening of all these EV like I was sort
00:19:40
of the opposite I was all I just want to
00:19:42
spend time with my family my close
00:19:44
friends who know the real me and snars
00:19:47
and and so it sort of it sort of brings
00:19:49
you brings you the other way how how did
00:19:51
you not get wrapped up in the um in the
00:19:54
the trappings or bobles or whatever you
00:19:56
want to call it of celebrity life oh uh
00:19:59
it it was never
00:20:00
really you know there's bits of it that
00:20:02
I like don't get me wrong you know it's
00:20:05
you know I never sort of forget where
00:20:07
it's all come from and
00:20:10
um you know it I don't know yes it can
00:20:13
be good for the ego a little bit but I
00:20:16
maybe it's that age and maturity thing
00:20:18
yeah maybe a little bit I don't I don't
00:20:19
know I don't know I just I just wanted
00:20:21
to spend time with SN obviously get to
00:20:23
know
00:20:25
Eevee you know we haven't been going out
00:20:28
in we've had three more kids so you know
00:20:30
like it's been staying home and partying
00:20:32
yeah yeah it's been you know it's just
00:20:35
it's been such a wild ride and and also
00:20:37
then the business stuff happened and um
00:20:40
you know I already had businesses so for
00:20:43
me you kind of craved the normality a
00:20:45
little bit and um because we were doing
00:20:48
the remote thing for that first three
00:20:50
months that was that was sort of
00:20:51
challenging in itself but once once has
00:20:54
moved to
00:20:55
Melbourne I don't know I was just really
00:20:57
ready to set settle down and and for the
00:21:00
three of us to become a little family
00:21:01
that's what I was looking forward to
00:21:03
yeah that's really cool why why had you
00:21:05
not found love on your own as you a
00:21:08
personal trainer for your entire life
00:21:10
you're 35 when you gone The Bachelor
00:21:12
were were you a Manor were you were you
00:21:14
an F boy
00:21:16
no I wasn't I look I dated girls and i'
00:21:21
had girlfriends you know particularly in
00:21:23
my 20s I uh you know some longterm I I
00:21:27
don't know that broke up with a girl in
00:21:29
my late 20s and sort of that was a bit
00:21:33
of a I need to maybe be by myself for a
00:21:36
little while and get to know myself a
00:21:37
little bit I'd kind of I I hadn't really
00:21:40
realized it perhaps at the time but I'd
00:21:42
always sort of had a girlfriend you know
00:21:43
from sort of 18 to 30 and it was maybe
00:21:48
not wanting to be by myself and I was
00:21:51
pretty much single you know dated a
00:21:54
couple of girls for a few weeks here and
00:21:55
there perhaps you know through that sort
00:21:57
of 30 to 35 period but I was sort of
00:22:00
really enjoying being by myself for the
00:22:03
first time in my life and I think that
00:22:04
was pretty good for me and then um and
00:22:07
then you I think it was just the perfect
00:22:09
thing with SN and I think the other
00:22:10
thing is SN is the same age as me and
00:22:12
she's mature and strong and comfortable
00:22:15
in her own skin and all qualities that
00:22:18
really attracted me to her and there
00:22:19
were younger girls on the show who were
00:22:22
very different to talk to and approached
00:22:23
the whole sort of environment and
00:22:25
situation very very differently and
00:22:27
there was something about SN being you
00:22:30
know a lot of them were complaining
00:22:32
about I don't know being away from their
00:22:35
favorite Cafe for weeks or something and
00:22:37
SN had left her 9-year-old daughter for
00:22:39
the first time in her life as a single
00:22:41
mom and I'm like the only person here
00:22:43
that really should be stressing about
00:22:46
what they left behind as you and you
00:22:47
seem to not be you know like you're
00:22:48
really calm and strong about it and that
00:22:50
was something that I really admired from
00:22:52
the start and I think the fact that we
00:22:54
were both 35 and both knew what we
00:22:56
wanted was was a really big part of why
00:22:59
we sort of withd drawn to each other
00:23:01
yeah it's funny that Serendipity thing
00:23:02
just right place right person right time
00:23:04
because you're a personal trainer she's
00:23:06
a scientist and a solo mom the chance of
00:23:09
you meeting otherwise never would have
00:23:11
happened your paths never crazy yeah
00:23:14
yeah I've never been to Perth she'd
00:23:16
never been to Melbourne like we were
00:23:18
never meeting her without the show
00:23:19
that's for sure yeah okay so let's go
00:23:21
the way back so that that's enough of
00:23:22
the um the bachelor paints are really
00:23:25
good by the way you I can see why they
00:23:27
um they gave you as Zoom call the next
00:23:29
day and then flew you to Sydney the day
00:23:30
after you're a perfect Bachelor material
00:23:33
I'm guessing they had like a like a like
00:23:35
a c or something no I'm guessing they
00:23:38
had a maybe a coffee table with like 10
00:23:40
guys and they were like yeah they're all
00:23:42
good possibles but we don't have the
00:23:43
right guy yet and then your entry came
00:23:45
in and they're like yes oh that's nice
00:23:47
of you this guy takes all the boxes so
00:23:49
um so why why personal training What
00:23:51
attracted you to
00:23:52
that I've loved it um I've loved it
00:23:56
since day one Dom to be honest I so I'm
00:23:59
from tazzy I came over to do my human
00:24:02
movement degree to Victoria um because
00:24:06
you had to a lot of people leave tazzy
00:24:08
to do University or get a job so I I did
00:24:10
that when I was 19 and um I was actually
00:24:16
up in balarat at of country Victoria
00:24:18
doing my first year of my degree and a
00:24:20
guy came up and did a talk to our first
00:24:23
year uni students and he painted this
00:24:26
picture of this personal training Studio
00:24:29
that was 1,000 square m and had a 200 M
00:24:32
running track around the outside of the
00:24:34
gym he had 30 personal trainers and this
00:24:37
was in 2000 so personal training wasn't
00:24:40
that big then anyway it sort of he he
00:24:44
was a brilliant guy and painted This
00:24:46
brilliant picture and I was like wow
00:24:49
I've got to check this place out so I'd
00:24:51
ring i' I called him up and said can I
00:24:53
do some work experience in the next
00:24:56
University holidays
00:24:59
and he's like oh man I haven't had a
00:25:01
great track record with with this work
00:25:03
experience people to be honest I said I
00:25:05
appreciate you know you're being so
00:25:07
honest said but promise I'll I'll be
00:25:09
different and he said you're in balarad
00:25:12
I'm here in Melbourne I don't really see
00:25:14
how it's going to work anyway I kept
00:25:16
ringing him I didn't take no for an
00:25:17
answer and he's like oh God you're like
00:25:19
the opposite of the bachelor yeah ex
00:25:22
you're a persistant little bugger anyway
00:25:25
I uh he said all right come down you can
00:25:27
do a week in the the next holidays so I
00:25:30
went down found a place to crash on a on
00:25:32
a family friend's couch and uh would go
00:25:36
in there at 5:00 a.m. every morning
00:25:38
worked till about 8:00 at night just
00:25:40
kept my mouth shut absorbed as much
00:25:41
information as I could scrubbed toilets
00:25:43
did whatever was necessary and at the
00:25:45
end of the week he said if you're happy
00:25:48
to transfer Unis to a Melbourne uni um
00:25:52
you there's a job for you next year I
00:25:54
said consider it done and I sort of
00:25:57
walked in there and I still pretty young
00:26:00
and and fresh but I just I just knew
00:26:03
this is something I'd really enjoy doing
00:26:05
I love working with people I've always
00:26:07
loved sport um you know I was a really
00:26:10
skinny kid I was the same height that I
00:26:13
am now and sort of 30 kilos lighter and
00:26:15
I was just done to enjoy getting into
00:26:17
the gym and seeing what changes it could
00:26:18
create for me and how it was helping me
00:26:20
build my confidence and all that kind of
00:26:22
stuff loved weight training and loved
00:26:24
learning about it and um yeah he gave me
00:26:28
gave me a crack and it just I just sort
00:26:31
of took off I just got really busy
00:26:33
really fast and fell in love with it and
00:26:35
you did that did about 80 appointments a
00:26:38
week for six years and then I started
00:26:40
Australia's first ever kids gym because
00:26:42
i' so I'm going to pause you there 80
00:26:44
appointments a week yeah for six years
00:26:47
yeah yeah I Wass 0 appointments a we how
00:26:51
many days a week are you working uh six
00:26:53
six yeah so I was busy so like 1 hour
00:26:57
appointments uh 45 minutes usually yeah
00:27:00
so you're starting starting when like
00:27:02
5:00 a.m. 5:30 and I do I do pretty much
00:27:06
till midday and then I'd have lunch and
00:27:09
train myself and then what happened by
00:27:13
accident was I started training kids I'd
00:27:15
have a lot of parents and they'd say oh
00:27:17
you don't do kids do and I said yeah
00:27:20
sure and they said oh I've got a little
00:27:22
boy who needs to lose a bit of weight
00:27:24
and gain some confidence or wants to get
00:27:27
drafted into the
00:27:28
or play cricket or whatever it was you
00:27:31
know some were sort of athletic Pursuits
00:27:33
and others were a bit more aesthetic and
00:27:36
next thing I'd have parents bring their
00:27:38
kids out of school at midday 1:00 2:00
00:27:41
and see me for 45 minutes or an hour and
00:27:44
so where most trainers that have that
00:27:46
Gap in the middle of the day because we
00:27:48
were in a CBD location we were sort of
00:27:50
on your way to work after school drop
00:27:52
offer on your way home um I'd have kids
00:27:54
in the middle of the day so instead of
00:27:56
sort of having a ceiling of 50
00:27:57
appointment a week I'd do about 30 kids
00:27:59
a week so the the the money's the the
00:28:02
money's good I guess but um but it's
00:28:04
it's limited to your time isn't it yeah
00:28:07
absolutely how much are you making on a
00:28:08
good week 5,000 6,000 yeah five grand a
00:28:11
week as a 21y old at University I was
00:28:14
doing un online at the same time oh [ __ ]
00:28:16
so yeah she was busy times but I loved
00:28:18
it I love I couldn't get enough I was
00:28:20
this kid from Tazia who came over with
00:28:21
that with about eight bucks in a crappy
00:28:24
old Camry and all my life possessions in
00:28:27
the boot and my dad uh is old school
00:28:30
kind of you know once you're 18 Sam
00:28:31
you're on your own mate type thing you
00:28:33
know like don't ask me for another
00:28:34
cracker that's kind of how dad is and I
00:28:36
always thought he was a bit hard at the
00:28:38
time but I'm really grateful now and I
00:28:41
just loved it I'm like I can't get
00:28:43
enough of this I'm earning great money
00:28:44
I'm meeting great people I'm learning
00:28:46
lots I'm fascinated about having your
00:28:49
own business and all that kind of stuff
00:28:51
so yeah I was fully immersed in it you
00:28:54
you can't of had any sort of social life
00:28:55
to speak of well when you're 21 you
00:28:58
still find a way you know like you you'd
00:29:01
do that for six days and you'd still go
00:29:04
out with friends on a Saturday night and
00:29:06
you hang over on a Sunday and you know
00:29:08
Monday morning the alarm goes off at
00:29:10
4:30 5:00 and you do it all again it's
00:29:12
amazing how resilient you are you kind
00:29:13
of bulletproof in my late 20s it starts
00:29:17
to catch up with you a bit but yeah in
00:29:18
those first few years it was it was full
00:29:21
on but I it didn't seem to slow me down
00:29:23
but I I just loved it and then that kid
00:29:27
stuff I was just fascinated by how many
00:29:29
children were benefiting from personal
00:29:31
training but personal training is
00:29:32
obviously quite expensive and not
00:29:34
accessible for everybody so started um
00:29:38
Australia's first ever kids gym and we
00:29:40
did after school programs and birthday
00:29:42
parties and holiday programs footy camps
00:29:44
yeah yeah yeah Geo that was Geo G yeah
00:29:47
so um that was 2006 so so this The Story
00:29:50
Goes um one of your clients uh very
00:29:55
wealthy family you're training their kid
00:29:57
for like 300 bucks a morning five
00:29:59
mornings a week well that was you've
00:30:02
done your research D I'm impressed that
00:30:04
so that was actually the mom so I had a
00:30:07
there was a very uh wealthy um surgeon
00:30:11
and he was a surgeon who had about 150
00:30:14
other surgeons working for him he was
00:30:16
very wealthy man he's a we wealth man
00:30:17
and just the loveliest guy ever anyway
00:30:19
he he called me out when I was still
00:30:21
doing the adults and the kids and he
00:30:23
said oh I've got my son's a tennis
00:30:25
Prodigy I need um I need you to start
00:30:28
training him I've done my research and
00:30:30
apparently you're the guy said uh yeah I
00:30:33
said oh wonderful I can probably find
00:30:35
another train to look after him I said
00:30:37
but I'm I'm
00:30:38
full anyway he said well what do you
00:30:41
charge and I said I don't know $100 a
00:30:44
session and he said I'll pay you 200 and
00:30:47
I and he needs to see you four times a
00:30:49
week this is his nine-year-old son and I
00:30:52
said oh Jesus I said okay I'll find a
00:30:55
way it's a bit too hard to turn down as
00:30:57
a 24 year old I said all right so Daniel
00:31:01
came in great kid and I started doing
00:31:05
you know footwork and conditioning work
00:31:07
and rotation work for his tennis and um
00:31:10
great kid and David beautiful man lovely
00:31:13
gu pushy as he was at that sort of first
00:31:16
um meeting great guy and we just
00:31:20
developed a real friendship I became
00:31:21
really close with his family um I'd
00:31:24
train him sometimes um I'd train his
00:31:27
wife sometimes in in the
00:31:28
mornings and um then I I started gecko I
00:31:34
started in an old garage but it was a
00:31:37
short lease because they were ultimately
00:31:39
knocking that garage down to build
00:31:41
apartment so I could go get a pretty
00:31:43
sort of quick cheap lease for a couple
00:31:44
of years to get gecko off the ground and
00:31:47
when gecko was going quite well um but
00:31:50
we needed a new
00:31:52
location he invited at that stage I was
00:31:55
training um Lena his wife uh every
00:31:58
morning she'd sort of said oh Sam I want
00:32:01
to come in on my way to work and I
00:32:03
wasn't training all the adults in
00:32:04
because I was focing on on the kids
00:32:06
stuff and um and I said oh yeah I can
00:32:09
see in the mornings before I sort of
00:32:10
start my gecko day why don't you come in
00:32:12
so I'm training in a kids gym uh but
00:32:15
there's adults you know sort of you can
00:32:17
be versatile she wasn't you know
00:32:19
powerlifting 100 kilos or anything so
00:32:22
there was plenty of equipment that would
00:32:23
would suffice to give her a good
00:32:25
workout and over time I'd sort of say
00:32:29
look I can't train you anymore because I
00:32:32
just I've got too much too many
00:32:35
commitments with the gecko stuff and I
00:32:37
really need to focus on it and she she'd
00:32:40
put her own prices up just so I wouldn't
00:32:42
stop training her So eventually got to
00:32:45
the point where I'd see her at 7:00
00:32:46
every morning and she'd pay me $300 a
00:32:48
session she'd pull into the car park in
00:32:51
her convertible Ferrari she'd always be
00:32:53
15 minutes late so I'd only train her
00:32:55
for 30 minutes she'd pay me 300 $ then
00:32:59
she get back in the Ferrari and she'd go
00:33:00
off to work it was ridiculous but but
00:33:03
they were so beautiful to me as boo I
00:33:06
remember I was really stressed about
00:33:07
finding a new location when that lease
00:33:10
was coming up they had about six months
00:33:12
left and I was go where am I going to
00:33:13
where am I going to house this business
00:33:15
and where are all these kids going to
00:33:16
come and
00:33:17
train and they invited me around to
00:33:19
dinner and so I'd never been to their
00:33:21
house before they've got a $40 million
00:33:23
house in turac it's like something
00:33:25
you've never seen before you know your
00:33:28
eyeballs get scanned and this big door
00:33:30
opens up it's pretty it's it's it's
00:33:33
crazy so suddenly you're thinking 300
00:33:34
bucks a morning I'm being
00:33:36
under didn't actually think that but
00:33:38
perhaps I should have but they um they
00:33:41
invited me to dinner and they said Sam
00:33:43
we've been talking and we know how
00:33:46
stressed you are you've been so good to
00:33:48
our family and we see you as part of our
00:33:51
family and if you need um a
00:33:55
building uh to move gecko to will buy
00:33:58
one and I said what do you mean and they
00:34:00
said oh you know you can rent it off us
00:34:02
but we know there's not that much out
00:34:04
there in the commercial rental space so
00:34:05
sort of what you need where you need it
00:34:07
but you're probably easier to find one
00:34:09
to buy so two weeks later I found a
00:34:12
building for 2 and a half million bucks
00:34:13
and they bought it with that like side
00:34:16
unseen charged me 100 Grand rent which
00:34:19
is way unders on what it should have
00:34:20
been and let me keep my business going
00:34:23
and even later down the track they
00:34:25
invested in gecko to help sort of gecko
00:34:27
EXP expand into uh franchising and all
00:34:30
this kind of stuff though yeah personal
00:34:32
training thing I loved about personal
00:34:34
training almost the most was the people
00:34:36
that you make they're successful
00:34:38
business people they really care about
00:34:39
you they're just a wealth of knowledge
00:34:41
and you know you've just got this
00:34:43
incredible Network that genuinely cares
00:34:46
about you and I think the fact I didn't
00:34:47
come from money and I was kind of this
00:34:49
kid that had come over from tazzy having
00:34:50
a bit of a crack they really liked that
00:34:53
and I'm pretty open person I'd you know
00:34:55
if I was doing well I'd tell them I was
00:34:56
doing well if I was not doing well I'm
00:34:58
telling I wasn't doing well and I think
00:35:00
they always liked that openness and that
00:35:02
vulnerability and it's I'm still
00:35:05
Incredibly Close with that family and
00:35:07
probably 10 others that I see on a
00:35:09
regular basis you know 20 years later
00:35:12
yeah well I mean you're a very you're
00:35:13
you're very handsome and you're a very
00:35:15
likable person so I'm guessing that's a
00:35:17
lot to be part of the key of being a
00:35:20
successful personal trainer oh yeah
00:35:22
you're being good company and having
00:35:24
good chat yeah it's so much I mean what
00:35:26
trainers don't get is it's a lot less
00:35:28
about biceps and abs as it is about
00:35:31
emotional intelligence and caring and
00:35:33
good communication and you know I think
00:35:36
the biggest mistake personal trainers
00:35:37
make is
00:35:39
they you know they're a bit selfish and
00:35:41
they they care about you for the two
00:35:43
hours of 168 hours a week that you're
00:35:45
seeing the client but they don't follow
00:35:47
you up they don't you know work with you
00:35:49
on your nutrition they don't you know i'
00:35:52
I'd go and watch my kids in their school
00:35:54
and you know into sport cross country if
00:35:56
I was available you know I'd always you
00:35:59
know take a real interest in what these
00:36:01
families were doing outside of the
00:36:03
sessions that we had together and I
00:36:04
think I think they really could see that
00:36:06
that was genuine and appreciated it for
00:36:08
sure I can see why you were so
00:36:10
successful um but you you had this um
00:36:12
this this Hunger for More it seems like
00:36:14
this entrepreneurial Spirit or call it
00:36:16
whatever you want so um Geo that we've
00:36:18
talked about the first kids JY in
00:36:20
Australia um you expanded that ended up
00:36:22
with 14 40 in 18
00:36:25
months yeah but it wasn't a wasn't a
00:36:28
nice linear growth it was an
00:36:30
expensive you know roller coaster we
00:36:33
actually started we licensed it the
00:36:36
program and the equipment and the the
00:36:38
manuals and you know uniforms all that
00:36:40
to existing gyms similar to Les Mills
00:36:43
but for kids mhm obviously much smaller
00:36:47
um and that was awesome at launch but
00:36:52
then these gyms have such high turnover
00:36:54
of trainers that what would happen is
00:36:57
you'd go in to check and that trainer
00:37:01
had now left they' going oh you can run
00:37:03
the kids programs to someone new someone
00:37:06
knew had never had Direct contact with
00:37:07
me the quality of the programs had
00:37:10
dropped right off the equipment was
00:37:12
banged up and not packed away properly
00:37:14
in the corner or the store room and you
00:37:16
could just sort of see the writing on
00:37:18
the wall that this is you know we'd
00:37:20
bought 100 equipment kits and brought
00:37:22
them in from China with little rowers
00:37:24
and little bikes and little boxes like
00:37:26
we I I tend to get a bit carried away so
00:37:29
we' going this is going to be huge we're
00:37:31
going to have this in 300 gyms around
00:37:34
Australia and Asia and New Zealand oh
00:37:36
God I really got ahead of myself and
00:37:39
then it just it just wasn't working I
00:37:40
was like oh no and at this stage this
00:37:43
beautiful family was still investing in
00:37:46
gecko they but but I had to pay them
00:37:48
back they' said to me saying we'll bank
00:37:49
roll you but if this thing falls apart
00:37:53
you got to pay us back and being
00:37:58
sort of blindly optimistic let's call it
00:38:00
that perhaps not even stupid depends
00:38:03
what what you want to call but I saw it
00:38:05
as sort of just positive optimism it's
00:38:08
all going to work out I I can see that
00:38:10
what this needs needs to be to help all
00:38:12
these kids that I want to help but also
00:38:15
bit stubborn you know like if it's not
00:38:17
working you just keep keep charging your
00:38:19
head hammering yeah and yeah I remember
00:38:22
I had another client and he was a real
00:38:24
sort of business guy and I'd sort of
00:38:27
show him the numbers and I remember it
00:38:29
like it was yesterday he'd go mate
00:38:31
you're [ __ ] and I was like anyway I I
00:38:36
then got home and I was a bit rattled
00:38:38
and his wife rang me up who I also
00:38:40
trained and a long time ago and she said
00:38:43
oh bloody hell Glenn's just told me they
00:38:45
were real Loa family but he's a super
00:38:48
Savvy business guy and he said oh
00:38:51
Glenn's just told me what he said to you
00:38:53
you know you have dinner with him he
00:38:55
pisses all over your barbecue that's
00:38:56
what she said
00:38:58
and I I remember like was yesterday and
00:39:00
I was like yeah well he did but he's
00:39:02
probably right you know cuz we went down
00:39:05
the route of Licensing and then we
00:39:07
franchised and franchising actually did
00:39:10
work a lot better because you had the
00:39:12
direct contact with the coach and that
00:39:14
coach had skin in the game so we turned
00:39:17
things around but not before we'd sunk
00:39:20
way too much money into it and kids
00:39:21
Fitness is a beautiful thing to add on
00:39:24
to a personal trainer or a PE teacher
00:39:27
but it's not life-changing amounts of
00:39:29
money you know you might make an extra
00:39:31
30 or 40 50 Grand maybe at at at your
00:39:33
Peak it's not a you're not making them
00:39:36
it's not a McDonald's
00:39:37
franchise so you know we were never
00:39:40
going to recoup that money so when I
00:39:43
when I launched my online fitness
00:39:45
program I know we're jumping around a
00:39:46
bit D with the timeline but when I
00:39:48
launched my online fitness
00:39:50
program I had a really sort of hard
00:39:53
decision to make that I probably should
00:39:55
sell Gecko and there was one of there
00:39:56
was an aming franchisee who was
00:39:58
desperate to buy the whole business cuz
00:40:00
she could sort of see how busy I was
00:40:01
getting with other things because this
00:40:03
was now post bachelor and I owed this
00:40:08
family $900,000
00:40:11
oh so you sold it for like 20% of what
00:40:13
it was worth or what I sold it for 100
00:40:16
so I put a $100 dent in a $900 headache
00:40:21
and I then paid the family back $200,000
00:40:25
a year for the next four years once my
00:40:26
online program took off right and you
00:40:29
say you so had another gym that you
00:40:30
owned the the wood The Woodshed The
00:40:32
Woodshed which I still own to this day
00:40:34
profitable little business but not not a
00:40:36
McDonald that that that that pays me for
00:40:39
me to live you know like that that
00:40:40
wasn't that didn't have excess cash
00:40:42
being sped out that was this will allow
00:40:45
me to now live with my new wife and
00:40:47
nine-year-old you know like so there
00:40:49
wasn't an excess of money flying around
00:40:52
that's for sure so um how was how was
00:40:54
your mental health at this time what
00:40:56
what's it like being 35 years old having
00:40:59
worked your worked your ass off like
00:41:01
from from the Dark of the morning to the
00:41:03
dark of night in this industry you love
00:41:05
and you find yourself like 3/4 of a
00:41:07
million in dead do you know what it
00:41:09
should have been worse but it wasn't
00:41:11
like I always have thought it'll be
00:41:13
everything will be okay I where does
00:41:16
that come from I don't know maybe my dad
00:41:18
a little bit I I don't know I I mean I'm
00:41:21
I'm even more he thinks I'm a bit mad
00:41:23
how positive I am and how you know how I
00:41:25
sort of have this
00:41:28
you know just keep keep going everything
00:41:29
will sort of work itself out I mean I
00:41:33
that being said never in my wildest
00:41:35
dreams that I think it'll work itself
00:41:36
out as well as it has both from a family
00:41:38
and a you know business perspective like
00:41:41
I that's still almost a daily basis
00:41:44
pinch yourself situation but I just I
00:41:49
knew I knew I had something when it came
00:41:52
to Fitness and people I really did like
00:41:54
I I could I could just tell the way I
00:41:56
clicked with people people like very few
00:41:58
do I just hadn't worked out the way
00:42:01
perhaps for that to get that to work
00:42:03
yeah just like an unwavering sort of
00:42:05
self-belief yeah yeah perhaps I mean the
00:42:08
the thing that always had sort of was
00:42:10
said to me by people that were much
00:42:11
smarter than me was right the problem
00:42:14
with Geo
00:42:15
is you know it's not like McDonald's
00:42:18
you're it's so personal personality and
00:42:22
People based based on the coach that
00:42:24
unless you can clone yourself it's just
00:42:26
never going work or never going to work
00:42:28
to that level and I as much as I hated
00:42:31
hearing that they were right what's
00:42:34
happened with my now online Fitness
00:42:36
business and I know we're jumping to
00:42:38
chapter three
00:42:41
is you I can clim myself you know I can
00:42:44
genuinely transport myself into tens of
00:42:47
thousands of people's Lounge rooms on a
00:42:49
daily basis I can send them advice on
00:42:52
water consumption sleep
00:42:55
recovery planning goal setting whatever
00:42:59
you know I bring them into my world they
00:43:01
get to know me my family you know it
00:43:03
really is an extension of my my personal
00:43:05
family the 28 family and Technology
00:43:08
allows you to do that and I'm not a
00:43:10
technology guy I can barely send a text
00:43:12
message yeah but um my question would be
00:43:14
and I'm probably projecting here on
00:43:16
behalf of myself and a lot of people
00:43:18
listening to this so after that Geo
00:43:20
incident where you get burned pretty
00:43:21
badly yeah um why don't you just go nah
00:43:24
nah n I've tried business didn't work
00:43:27
for me wasn't for me oh I'm going to go
00:43:29
back to what I know pay the debt off and
00:43:30
then go never again well I sort of went
00:43:33
the opposite cuz I sort of my psychology
00:43:36
was well now to get to where I want to
00:43:39
get to I'm not starting at zero I'm
00:43:41
starting
00:43:42
at800 so the next thing's going to have
00:43:45
to really be a
00:43:48
success or I've got Buckley of getting
00:43:51
to where I want to get to let alone
00:43:52
paying this poor family back you know
00:43:55
like I think David deep down was like I
00:43:57
have no chance of seeing this money like
00:44:00
how is Sam going to pay me back $800,000
00:44:03
like it's going to take a thousand years
00:44:05
for Sam to pay me back that much money
00:44:08
and to be honest who probably right in
00:44:10
you know 99% of cases did you do you
00:44:13
guys have like a written contract or
00:44:15
anything or was it just like a
00:44:15
gentleman's agreement just a gentleman's
00:44:17
agreement [ __ ] this is so cool all
00:44:19
around it's cool from the family um and
00:44:21
it's it's cool from you as well because
00:44:23
I did have some shady friends I go [ __ ]
00:44:25
that don't worry about it I was like no
00:44:27
M they didn't know the backstory they
00:44:29
were just like he doesn't have an
00:44:31
agreement I said no he doesn't and they
00:44:33
said they said oh you don't need to I
00:44:34
said no I donate I know it's a moral
00:44:37
compass thing isn't it it is but it's I
00:44:39
I find that whole story wonderful on on
00:44:41
both on both sides on their side having
00:44:43
the trust in you and then you repaying
00:44:45
that trust yeah it's nice when it has a
00:44:47
happy end that's for sure it's cool I've
00:44:50
put I've put Kan to sleep oh he's he's
00:44:53
very relaxed and comfortable okay so um
00:44:57
yes that's a lot of I don't know I
00:45:00
suppose it's a lot of baggage that
00:45:01
you're going into the the The Bachelor
00:45:02
and then ultimately into this new
00:45:04
relationship
00:45:05
with yeah well when I went into the
00:45:07
bachelor I was I was still bullish about
00:45:11
gecko like
00:45:13
almost I even though the debt was there
00:45:16
I I shelved it a bit in my mind I think
00:45:20
probably to to maintain that positivity
00:45:23
and to protect my mental health a little
00:45:24
bit it was just more of a subconscious
00:45:26
thing but
00:45:27
I was like God if I focus if I fix out
00:45:29
on that how am I going to ever turn this
00:45:31
business around I'm not going to be able
00:45:32
to get out of bed and you know charge
00:45:34
ahead every morning it's going to really
00:45:35
drag me down but uh but yeah I I yeah I
00:45:41
mean when the bachelor's happening
00:45:43
that's the furthest thing from your mind
00:45:45
you know there is so much going on in
00:45:47
that world that the debt that you owe
00:45:49
this investor way back in Melbourne was
00:45:51
not something that got a lot of lot of
00:45:52
thought I got to admit yeah at that time
00:45:54
that family must have been like oh he's
00:45:56
yeah not worry about paying us back he's
00:45:58
swanning off for four months reality TV
00:46:00
show they might have that thought
00:46:02
initially and then they probably saw how
00:46:05
big the bachelor was and thought
00:46:07
actually this might help Sam eventually
00:46:09
be able to pay us back because there's
00:46:11
uh he's definitely growing in popularity
00:46:13
that's yeah so so then after the
00:46:15
bachelor that's when you started um 28
00:46:17
by Sam what yeah so i' always there was
00:46:19
only a couple of online fitness programs
00:46:21
in Australia at the time there was
00:46:23
Michelle Bridges and there was Kayla at
00:46:25
cenus who sweat oh yeah um yep and I'd
00:46:29
always sort of looked at them and
00:46:30
admired them and you know sort of God
00:46:31
look how many people seem to do their
00:46:33
programs and they seem both seem
00:46:35
fantastic very different to me um not
00:46:38
not better or worse but just different
00:46:39
with their sort of
00:46:41
approaches um and then after the
00:46:44
bachelor you know soal I'd had no social
00:46:46
media following Dom before the show and
00:46:48
it just went bananas you know went
00:46:51
from 20 followers to 250,000 in a number
00:46:56
of weeks and SED
00:46:58
snares and I'd get DMD a lot can you
00:47:01
write me a program are you ever going to
00:47:02
open a gym in Sydney which was never on
00:47:05
the cards um and so yeah we created 28
00:47:10
and it was um it was it was sort of like
00:47:14
how do we how do we be different to
00:47:16
those other programs and I looked at
00:47:19
those programs and they were still
00:47:21
really full on like very intense
00:47:24
workouts 60-minute workouts C your
00:47:27
calories all this stuff that I didn't
00:47:28
really believe in I was much more about
00:47:30
you actually get far better
00:47:32
results and most of the clients I'd
00:47:34
worked with were sort of 30 plus females
00:47:37
um or family people you know males as
00:47:39
well but family people and understanding
00:47:41
even though I wasn't there yet in my
00:47:43
sort of late 20s early 30s the
00:47:45
challenges that they were facing were
00:47:48
time
00:47:49
convenience um the fact that I need some
00:47:52
help with my food as well and so I was
00:47:54
all about making sure that if I did
00:47:55
launch a fitness this program online it
00:47:58
it catered For as much about what they
00:47:59
do outside of their sessions it does
00:48:01
inside their sessions and we called it
00:48:03
28 cuz we made the workouts all 28
00:48:06
minutes or less why what was the reason
00:48:08
for that I just I just think the amount
00:48:11
of people i' I'd spoken to that the
00:48:13
second they hear it's too much of a
00:48:16
commitment they don't do anything you
00:48:17
don't even get them in the door so I
00:48:20
just knew that that 30 minute
00:48:22
psychological barrier was real and if we
00:48:24
could do something to make that a bit
00:48:27
more comfortable for people that would
00:48:29
be a good way to help people get started
00:48:31
like you know why not 29 then great
00:48:33
question I also liked working with
00:48:35
people in 28 day blocks I found if you
00:48:39
work with people in four- we blocks it's
00:48:41
long enough to get a result but not so
00:48:42
long you become a bit disenchanted and
00:48:44
lose your way so that it sort of it had
00:48:47
two really sort of powerful meanings to
00:48:49
me but you know not a great deal of
00:48:50
thought went into the name 28 by Sam
00:48:52
wood and let's launch a website and see
00:48:55
what happens and we launched on
00:48:57
when did we launch first of Feb 2016 and
00:49:00
we had 5,000 people sign up in the first
00:49:02
month wow and I was like holy [ __ ]
00:49:06
paying $50 a
00:49:08
month hang yeah I'm just going to open
00:49:11
my calculator here
00:49:13
yeah so what was that 50 time 5,000
00:49:20
yep yeah
00:49:23
yeah 250 Grand a month Revenue knew and
00:49:27
it was me and a few Tech Guys in an
00:49:29
office and I was filming the videos in
00:49:30
my
00:49:32
gym something like that I suppose you
00:49:34
launch it and you hope it's you hope
00:49:36
that's going to be the result like an
00:49:37
instant oh but never like I'd had him
00:49:39
ahead imagine if we had 500 signups like
00:49:42
that would be amazing by the third month
00:49:46
we had
00:49:48
10,000 yeah yeah just absolutely
00:49:51
exploded and i' so who did you who did
00:49:54
you have on the 28 by samood team then
00:49:55
so you did it with yeah I did it with a
00:49:58
little Tech group um I sort of partnered
00:50:01
with them and they uh they handled the
00:50:04
website side of things and I I was very
00:50:07
involved in how the website needed to
00:50:09
look and feel and function um and then
00:50:12
I'd create content every day every week
00:50:15
new workouts we'd get nutritionists and
00:50:18
recipe creators to do the food stuff
00:50:20
we'd get psychologists and people that
00:50:22
I'd sort of built in my little network
00:50:23
over the years to do some mindset stuff
00:50:25
and motivation goal setting stuff and um
00:50:29
yeah we didn't know who our customer was
00:50:31
going to be and it ended up being 90%
00:50:33
female and lots of mum so then we
00:50:35
launched pregnancy programs and pilates
00:50:37
and post noal and then and I know we're
00:50:41
sort of fast tracking but it it
00:50:42
continued to grow to get and it sort of
00:50:44
it sort of level was starting to level
00:50:46
out around
00:50:47
20,000 members and then um then Co hit
00:50:54
and because we were just an atome
00:50:55
program Co was you know horrific in
00:50:58
Australia as it was here in New Zealand
00:51:00
and Melbourne was the worst sort of hit
00:51:02
from a lockdown
00:51:04
perspective but at home workouts just
00:51:06
went bananas so I was doing live free
00:51:11
workouts streaming to I think 2.8
00:51:14
million Australians did my live workout
00:51:16
I I got on and thought lockdown was
00:51:18
going to last for a fortnite and I said
00:51:20
hi guys I'm here going do live workouts
00:51:22
for everybody at 7:00 a.m. every morning
00:51:24
my wife's rolling her eyes going
00:51:27
we've got a one-year-old and a
00:51:28
three-year-old throwing their breakfast
00:51:30
cereal against the wall and you're
00:51:31
committing to doing a workout at 7:00
00:51:33
a.m. every morning I'm saying H lockdown
00:51:35
will go for a couple of weeks this is
00:51:36
the right thing to do people need it
00:51:38
lockdown lasted for 11 months in
00:51:40
Melbourne oh yeah Melbourne had it it
00:51:43
was excited that at 7: a.m. every
00:51:45
morning we had 2.8 million Australians
00:51:47
join us for our live workouts but then a
00:51:49
lot of them would join the program
00:51:51
afterwards and um yeah it was just it
00:51:54
was an amazing sort of growth period for
00:51:56
us and you know sort of feel a bit
00:51:58
guilty doing well in such a shitty time
00:52:00
but um yeah we were really well
00:52:02
positioned to help you can't like can
00:52:04
you perfect perfect storm right place
00:52:06
right thing right time and we have a
00:52:07
great product and we had a great product
00:52:09
it wasn't wasn't a fluke but you know
00:52:11
when so many people are losing their
00:52:13
jobs and can't work and that kind of
00:52:15
stuff you know and you're you're
00:52:16
actually going better yeah it felt a bit
00:52:20
it felt a bit weird yeah yeah gez it
00:52:22
must have felt good that last payment
00:52:23
that you made to the family for the G
00:52:25
stuff did it did I delivered that one
00:52:27
with a hand with a a hand delivered
00:52:30
check and dinner and a big hug and uh
00:52:33
and yeah we we still catch up regularly
00:52:36
yeah how good and then um so 28 by say
00:52:38
what it just kept on kept on growing
00:52:41
postco or is it sort of play uh yeah no
00:52:43
we've we've still done really well I
00:52:45
mean we we peaked in Co because we did a
00:52:47
lot of Partnerships with working from
00:52:49
home people and that kind of stuff we
00:52:51
did a big partnership with berer um
00:52:53
health insurance and uh so we definitely
00:52:56
peaked I mean at one at one point during
00:52:58
Co we had 140,000 people on the platform
00:53:01
at once cuz we offered a free membership
00:53:03
to berer members as part of a
00:53:04
partnership that we did so that was sort
00:53:06
of a peak of active members on the
00:53:09
platform but you know now we've got a
00:53:11
team of 30 people that work on the
00:53:13
program I love going to work every day
00:53:17
um very very excited to be here in New
00:53:19
Zealand um to sort of spread the word a
00:53:22
little bit we've we've already got
00:53:23
thousands of new zealanders who have
00:53:25
done the program but it's just been
00:53:27
through organic word of mouth and
00:53:28
they've gone on a holiday or their
00:53:30
friends in Australia s The Bachelor
00:53:32
whatever I don't ever know there's a
00:53:33
myriad of different ways I could have
00:53:34
found out about it but I'm catching up
00:53:37
with a few 28 this afternoon to have a
00:53:39
hug and a coffee and um and see them
00:53:41
here in Orland which I'm really excited
00:53:42
about but uh I just I just thought it
00:53:45
was time to get over here properly get
00:53:47
to see the
00:53:49
place um I absolutely love what I've
00:53:51
seen so far I'm definitely going to
00:53:53
bring the family over next time and uh
00:53:55
do a do a a big trip around but um yeah
00:53:58
I just I think there's so many
00:53:59
similarities between Australia and New
00:54:01
Zealand I know sometimes we can be a bit
00:54:03
competitive with each other in the
00:54:04
sporting context or whatever it might be
00:54:07
but I feel like that's more from New
00:54:09
Zealand towards Australia it's like
00:54:11
especially with rugby like austral no
00:54:13
one gives a [ __ ] about rugby in
00:54:15
Australia um yeah well we yeah we've got
00:54:19
so many football codes the union doesn't
00:54:22
doesn't hold the same place as it does
00:54:24
over here that's for sure but
00:54:27
um oh I think the way New Zealand
00:54:29
perform in a sporting context for their
00:54:31
population's unbelievable you know you
00:54:33
know cricketers and everything yeah yeah
00:54:35
I appreciate that so so you had um you
00:54:37
had a few offers over the years to sell
00:54:39
um the business yeah the phone started
00:54:43
ringing well at the very start actually
00:54:47
and as a guy that's not you know I'm I
00:54:52
think I'm entrepreneurial in nature but
00:54:54
I'm I'm not a finance guy so that was a
00:54:58
that was all a new learning for me but
00:55:02
it was interesting you know like people
00:55:03
sort of say to a you should always you
00:55:05
should always know what your exit looks
00:55:07
like and you should build your business
00:55:10
always to sell your
00:55:12
business those sort of sentiments didn't
00:55:15
really resonate with me I'm like why
00:55:16
would this is the best thing that's ever
00:55:18
happened to me I love I love this you
00:55:20
know I'd walk to work with my dog and
00:55:22
we'd go to the office and this great
00:55:24
team of 20 people it's a High I loved it
00:55:28
I still love it so selling the business
00:55:30
wasn't something that I really had
00:55:33
planned on doing well I suppose if if
00:55:35
it's if it's humming along and it's
00:55:36
growing and you're making a good income
00:55:38
and you're providing a a purposeful job
00:55:41
for so many people it's a good reason to
00:55:43
get out of bed in the morning yeah
00:55:44
exactly exactly but these offers were
00:55:47
coming in and they were they were crazy
00:55:49
you know like like what oh $50 million
00:55:53
plus yeah and how many years had you
00:55:55
been doing it at the Point uh five years
00:55:59
holy [ __ ] so you took that one you took
00:56:02
the no you didn't take no well we ended
00:56:03
up selling the business for
00:56:06
71 so yeah crazy so but to the right
00:56:11
people and I'm still fully invol I
00:56:14
didn't get $71 million the business was
00:56:16
valued at 71 I took a little bit and a
00:56:20
little bit uh oh 15 15 mil yeah [ __ ]
00:56:25
that's good money amazing and you you so
00:56:28
you still have a stake in the company or
00:56:30
oh massive I'm still as involved today
00:56:32
as I was then nothing's changed I still
00:56:34
go to work every day I uh I only agreed
00:56:38
if it meant I stuck around and we we
00:56:42
just the thing that appealed to me
00:56:46
about selling or it was a merger was
00:56:50
security for my family but future
00:56:54
opportunity to them what we could do
00:56:55
with sort of a a powerful Big Brother
00:56:57
behind you you know
00:56:58
like when you when you've gone from
00:57:01
nothing Orga
00:57:02
800 to something like that there's a bit
00:57:05
of impostor
00:57:07
syndrome a fear that one day something
00:57:10
could happen the bubble could burst and
00:57:12
the the dream could be over you know
00:57:14
like it doesn't feel real I had some
00:57:16
really it's funny I had more anxious
00:57:19
moments with money than I than I perhaps
00:57:22
did with this sort of optimistic
00:57:24
youthful enthusiasm when I had you know
00:57:26
cuz I was like you have something to
00:57:28
lose it was a really
00:57:30
weird um ju position for me to get my
00:57:33
head around I like [ __ ] imagine if I
00:57:35
lost all of this now or something
00:57:37
happened or this wasn't real or I stuff
00:57:39
I somehow stuffed this up or it was a
00:57:42
weird it was a weird sort of stress that
00:57:44
shouldn't have sort of been there I
00:57:46
should have been relishing in the
00:57:49
success and the excitement and the
00:57:51
future but I always it did really worry
00:57:54
me I was like what if this all sort of
00:57:55
especially as I was having kids like I I
00:57:58
don't know as my family was growing that
00:58:00
sort of stuff became a lot more top of
00:58:02
mind but um but yeah I mean look it it
00:58:06
was all about getting some security for
00:58:09
my family we paid off our mortgage you
00:58:11
know well and truly you know it's been
00:58:14
lifechanging and um and now it's about
00:58:18
yeah seeing what we can do with 28 we've
00:58:20
launched a supplement Range in Australia
00:58:22
which is launching here in New Zealand
00:58:24
in the middle of the year into a into
00:58:26
woolies and um kemist Warehouse called
00:58:29
28 go we're looking to see how we can
00:58:33
grow 28 first of all in New Zealand then
00:58:36
hopefully around other parts of the
00:58:38
world um and yeah see what else we can
00:58:40
do because it's just I don't know when
00:58:42
you when you get literally 20 emails a
00:58:46
day from people telling you how they've
00:58:48
how your program has changed their life
00:58:50
and I never take credit for it because
00:58:51
it's the people that have got to do the
00:58:52
work to have changed their own lives but
00:58:54
it's a pretty beautiful feeling when you
00:58:56
wake up to those emails every day yeah
00:58:59
yeah you're making making um a good
00:59:01
living for yourself by doing something
00:59:03
that you know is uh creating positive
00:59:05
change world and thanks for being so
00:59:08
open and honest about the money stuff I
00:59:09
I get I normally don't and I actually
00:59:13
I'm sitting here going [ __ ] have I
00:59:14
spoken too much about money I shouldn't
00:59:16
talk about money but no no no I'm I'm
00:59:18
I'm I'd rather be open and honest about
00:59:20
I've got I've got I mean it was publicly
00:59:22
announced you know Sam wood SS business
00:59:25
for 71 million which is not correct so
00:59:28
better to probably tell the right numers
00:59:31
no but so um okay so so that day that
00:59:34
you get you know your $15 million payout
00:59:36
is it um is it less exciting than what
00:59:39
you thought it would
00:59:41
be well the process of selling a
00:59:43
business is so slow it's not like one
00:59:46
day you agree and then the next day you
00:59:48
shake hands so I think I think the F
00:59:52
like it took a year and a half from the
00:59:55
when we first had a conversation with
00:59:57
this company to when we first did when
00:59:59
finalized the merger so I think that
01:00:01
sucks the life out of you a little bit
01:00:03
but my
01:00:05
CEO um was my be one of my best friends
01:00:09
from school and he he went into
01:00:12
corporate life and I remember I caught
01:00:15
up with him for a beer when 28 was 6
01:00:18
months old and he said as's your online
01:00:20
fitness thing going and I said oh we're
01:00:22
going well and he said oh how many
01:00:24
members have you got and I told him that
01:00:26
number it must have been I don't know
01:00:27
11,000 or something and he spat his beer
01:00:29
out literally and he went and he's a
01:00:32
super smart guy he's like Woody that's
01:00:35
500 Grand a month turnover that's $6
01:00:38
million and I said I know and he's
01:00:41
like what and he didn't s of he thought
01:00:44
I'd made a mistake and I he goes would
01:00:48
he and I go yeah yeah yeah and you know
01:00:51
the thing with those businesses is you
01:00:52
you spend a lot of money on digital
01:00:53
marketing so the profit margins are not
01:00:56
as high as people perhaps think I
01:00:57
suppose you can always
01:00:59
reinvest we established before you
01:01:01
didn't start with 30 staff members so as
01:01:03
you was very big on that you know we
01:01:05
took very little money out of the
01:01:06
business for the first three years it
01:01:08
was like no we're got to make this thing
01:01:11
this can't be a flash in the pan it
01:01:13
can't sort of disappear as quickly as it
01:01:15
arrives that we have to invest in great
01:01:17
trainers and build an app because we're
01:01:19
just a website and you know improve the
01:01:22
tech and great customer support and
01:01:24
build you know bring this team in house
01:01:26
like unless we do all this stuff this
01:01:29
thing will you know not not stand the
01:01:31
test of time but I had that conversation
01:01:33
with with Jacko and um about two weeks
01:01:39
later the I I was running the business
01:01:42
and I had no idea I was a personal
01:01:44
trainer so I was it was it was getting a
01:01:46
bit out of my depth but I loved it and
01:01:49
there there was certain things I loved
01:01:50
and you've obvious got a good sense of
01:01:52
um I don't know just instincts just
01:01:54
following your gut well I the customer
01:01:57
I've always cared about the customer and
01:01:59
everything was sort of done as been is
01:02:00
that what the customer wants and needs I
01:02:03
and I quite like marketing so I liked
01:02:05
marketing I was obviously the face of
01:02:07
the business did the pr and bits of the
01:02:09
marketing and was heavily involved with
01:02:13
what new content and features we added
01:02:15
based on the customer but I didn't
01:02:17
really get Tech God if someone said to
01:02:19
me had do you seller business I wouldn't
01:02:20
have known up from down so Jacko came
01:02:24
across as the CEO
01:02:26
and gave him equity in the business um
01:02:29
and we ran it together so when you say
01:02:32
it must have been enjoyable to do that
01:02:34
with one of I mean he'd been one of my
01:02:36
best friends since I was 13 in tazzy and
01:02:38
to do that with him and then to get a
01:02:40
result like that was really special tear
01:02:43
and your day ones yeah it was amazing
01:02:46
yeah how good and and um so you pay off
01:02:48
your mortgage what else have you done
01:02:50
you you just got the money invested or
01:02:51
uh no we we I've you call a batch no no
01:02:56
a beach house so I love property I love
01:02:59
renovating we renovated SN and I
01:03:01
renovated a house together and we bought
01:03:03
a very ugly yellow um yellow Shack or
01:03:08
batch down the down the morning to
01:03:10
Peninsula in Melbourne and we've turned
01:03:11
that into we'll retire down there one
01:03:13
day it's we build a beautiful house down
01:03:15
there that the kids can run around in
01:03:17
with plenty of space and go to the beach
01:03:19
and yeah that's that's our happy place
01:03:20
to get away from the city that's great
01:03:22
yeah it must be nice but like being a
01:03:23
being a dad of four knowing that um
01:03:26
there's this certain level of security
01:03:27
for the family moving forward yeah there
01:03:29
is but I'm still very conscious not
01:03:30
giving them too much I I really I really
01:03:33
do think the way my dad was with me
01:03:36
helped me so much and you know
01:03:37
everyone's a genius in retrospect but
01:03:40
how do you yeah my question would be
01:03:41
like how how do you do that because you
01:03:42
don't want to you punish yourself and
01:03:44
sneeze but you you don't want to spoil
01:03:47
the kids too much so I've heard you say
01:03:48
you're going to have um like a European
01:03:50
holiday uh potentially this this winter
01:03:53
or the next win oh next year when On's
01:03:56
three yeah I mean you fly everyone
01:03:58
business class or put them in economy or
01:04:00
that's a good
01:04:01
question I don't know if I could have my
01:04:03
kids in economy while I was in business
01:04:06
class and I'm 6'4 and I think I can
01:04:08
afford it so I don't know I I'd love to
01:04:11
just tell you would all like Hy D but
01:04:13
I'd be bullshitting you and your
01:04:14
audience so I I think we'll be in
01:04:16
business what I mean is I want him to go
01:04:20
out and get a job I want them to know
01:04:22
how hard it is to earn 18 bucks an hour
01:04:24
I want them to scrub dishes or work in a
01:04:27
cafe I think that stuff's really
01:04:29
important you know like I don't want
01:04:31
them to have a $50,000 car for their
01:04:33
like I hate that [ __ ] so I think you
01:04:37
know spoiling them them by showing them
01:04:40
the world you know the thing that is top
01:04:42
of my bucket list is taking my kids on a
01:04:43
safari I can't wait till my littlest is
01:04:46
six and taking them to Africa that's
01:04:49
absolutely top my list but life
01:04:52
experiences are perhaps a bit different
01:04:54
it doesn't mean we need to stay in
01:04:55
festar hotels and all that kind of stuff
01:04:58
but I I want to show them the world I
01:05:00
think that'll be really good for them
01:05:02
but um yeah I don't think I don't think
01:05:05
you know private schools from day one
01:05:08
and um you know not having to work for
01:05:12
pocket money and that kind of stuff is
01:05:13
going to be how it goes that's for sure
01:05:15
yeah oh how how good mate this is such a
01:05:18
good success oh one question of I would
01:05:20
have about the um the the company that
01:05:23
um bought the business so it is he
01:05:26
heavily personality based like they're
01:05:28
buying they're investing in you it's 28
01:05:30
by that's very true what what happens
01:05:32
say if you and me go out after this um
01:05:35
we we get on the cans I get a video of
01:05:37
you doing a doing a bubbl I know you
01:05:39
going to say I got hit by B something oh
01:05:42
we're having a
01:05:44
Bender's what's a oh bu
01:05:49
the
01:05:50
guy so he urinated and got the stream so
01:05:53
high that he got in his own I guarantee
01:05:55
you there be no bubbles from me okay but
01:05:58
hypothetically speaking so oh this is a
01:06:01
new term that I leared when we were in
01:06:03
The Boardroom to having these sale
01:06:05
negotiations called keyman risk or key
01:06:07
person risk and that is we pull the
01:06:11
value of your business down if it's too
01:06:13
heavily based on you and it's more I
01:06:16
mean they I don't think they thought I
01:06:17
might do something like that you know if
01:06:19
you do anything incriminating or you get
01:06:21
hit by a car or you know you're playing
01:06:23
business and your kids are an economy
01:06:25
yeah a bad dad yeah what happens so like
01:06:29
there is a lot of pressure obviously
01:06:30
around that but I think because of the
01:06:34
deal that we did and because of the fact
01:06:35
that I'm staying as involved with the
01:06:37
business now as I was before the deal
01:06:39
that gave them a lot of peace of mind
01:06:41
and it was exactly what I wanted to do I
01:06:43
think like they'll ask you what will you
01:06:45
do Sam after the deal it's like what do
01:06:47
you mean this is my job I'm not you know
01:06:49
it's 28 by Sam wood Sam Wood's not going
01:06:51
anywhere so I think when they hear that
01:06:53
gives them a little bit of comfort but
01:06:55
but they always use it as a negotiating
01:06:58
tactic you know oh your business would
01:06:59
be worth X but it's probably only worth
01:07:01
half X because you're about to go and do
01:07:03
a bubbl you
01:07:04
know yeah it's interesting though I I
01:07:07
suspect you won them over in the
01:07:08
boardroom in a in a lot of ways it's a a
01:07:11
huge huge scale of that family that you
01:07:12
talked about earlier the the Geo family
01:07:14
yeah I'd never thought about that
01:07:16
analogy but probably buying into the man
01:07:19
well there is that yeah I mean they they
01:07:21
say they invest in Founders you know
01:07:23
like the business can look good on paper
01:07:25
but you know the person who's got it to
01:07:28
where it's gotten to and needs to
01:07:30
continue to get it there is is who we
01:07:31
invest in and my our boss um is a
01:07:36
wonderful guy very entrepreneurial and
01:07:39
and he he likes that in me like he he
01:07:43
compliments me on that and so of says
01:07:44
man I love that you you care so much I
01:07:47
love that you're a risk taker I love
01:07:49
that you know the drive that you've got
01:07:52
and it doesn't seem to have waned at all
01:07:54
even though the fact you now come into
01:07:56
our office so like there's you know we
01:07:59
we get on really well yeah and I mean
01:08:01
the fact that you're in New Zealand now
01:08:02
trying to grow the business even further
01:08:04
I think that speaks volumes you know you
01:08:06
maybe just as driven if not more driven
01:08:08
now than what you were pre-sale yeah
01:08:10
yeah I mean when when you start selling
01:08:13
your business it's actually the that
01:08:16
that 18 months was the worst because the
01:08:19
advice you get given is don't do
01:08:22
anything too radical while people trying
01:08:25
to buy you because it sort of it could
01:08:28
distract you from the way the business
01:08:29
has been growing or you don't really
01:08:32
want to try to thing new in case it
01:08:34
doesn't work and I hate that that sort
01:08:36
of goes against every grain in my being
01:08:39
so now that that deal is well and truly
01:08:42
behind us and we can focus on what next
01:08:45
I love that with you know with a bit of
01:08:47
a safety net without you know I love
01:08:49
that it's fantastic what what would your
01:08:52
advice about anyone that's listening to
01:08:53
this that is um from the perspective of
01:08:55
someone someone that's um been in
01:08:56
business and has had a a failed business
01:08:58
and also a wildly successful business
01:09:01
someone that's thinking about starting
01:09:04
something well
01:09:06
look I always used to listen to you know
01:09:09
business podcasts and read business
01:09:11
books I was always really interested in
01:09:13
other people's success stories and I was
01:09:16
I was a little bit cynical because I was
01:09:18
like oh it's all very well for the you
01:09:20
know your Richard Branson's of the world
01:09:21
to say you know you've just got to not
01:09:25
focus on the money and the money will
01:09:27
come like that's all very well for you
01:09:28
to say you're a billionaire or or you
01:09:30
know like you've just got to keep if
01:09:32
your first idea fails it might be your
01:09:35
second idea or your third idea I'm like
01:09:37
oh you know again easier said than
01:09:39
done but both are so true you know like
01:09:42
if you focus on the B the right facets
01:09:47
of the business it will become valuable
01:09:50
and if your first idea like mine wasn't
01:09:54
you know the
01:09:55
the success that you'd hoped it had been
01:09:57
or you visualized it was going to be
01:09:59
don't give up you know and you know I
01:10:02
was in a position where not many people
01:10:04
would have begrudged me I think for
01:10:05
giving up and you know taking the safe
01:10:08
bet and going back to personal training
01:10:10
and grinding it out for the next 40
01:10:12
years but I don't know I
01:10:15
just you knew there was something more
01:10:17
well I hoped I hope I hoped and there
01:10:18
was a bit of me that that thought there
01:10:20
was and you it's panned out really well
01:10:22
thank God yeah and I mean you anyone
01:10:25
that's a detractor of you which I can't
01:10:27
imagine there is anyone but if there is
01:10:28
that it'd be simple to say oh you know
01:10:30
he was on The Bachelor then he
01:10:31
capitalized on his profile to but you
01:10:33
look at the the previous 20 odd years
01:10:36
behind that like it was all sort of
01:10:38
building up to this moment all the
01:10:39
personal training the gecko stuff the
01:10:42
lessons that you learned along the way
01:10:43
like it was a very long apprenticeship
01:10:45
true I mean there was some luck there
01:10:47
was some great timing um and I don't
01:10:50
take that for granted I I'm so grateful
01:10:53
for it but I think the thing that has
01:10:56
always I think the thing that helped me
01:10:58
so much was people do these reality
01:11:00
shows and then they get some popularity
01:11:03
and some notoriety and they just go what
01:11:06
can I do I'll launch that business I
01:11:09
have kept doing what I've always done
01:11:11
and in particular in this explosion of
01:11:14
online programs and fitness influencers
01:11:17
most of them have no idea what they're
01:11:18
talking about so the fact that I've got
01:11:20
so much
01:11:21
experience is so helpful with working
01:11:23
with people I think people now have this
01:11:25
choice where do I spend my money with an
01:11:27
online program or CH which personal
01:11:30
trainer do I choose you know half of
01:11:32
them got their accreditation on the back
01:11:33
of a serial box or they're an influencer
01:11:36
with 50,000 followers but don't know
01:11:37
they're asked from their elbow and you
01:11:38
got to be really careful to who you
01:11:40
listen to so I think the fact that I've
01:11:42
trained so many people I've been to
01:11:44
University and all this kind of stuff I
01:11:46
think I think people can see that and it
01:11:49
and they see that it's genuine and I'm
01:11:51
just doing what I've always done just
01:11:52
now to more people but yeah it's it's a
01:11:54
good way putting it Dom it was
01:11:56
definitely a long
01:11:57
apprenticeship yeah it's a hell of a
01:11:59
story um yeah I love a success story
01:12:02
like this especially when it happens um
01:12:04
yeah sort of later in life not later in
01:12:05
life you know sort of getting towards
01:12:08
middle age yeah I think it's really cool
01:12:09
would you describe yourself as an Aussie
01:12:11
betler is what does an Aussie betler
01:12:13
mean and uh someone that keep keeps
01:12:16
giving it a crack and gets knocked down
01:12:19
and gets back up or is it a derogatory
01:12:21
to it can be it can also it can be a bit
01:12:23
der like Aussie batler can be
01:12:26
never seems to find a way to get ahead
01:12:29
you know like
01:12:30
so you could use it in the other context
01:12:33
in some cases you know like keeps having
01:12:35
a crack but it's more a bit derogatory
01:12:38
so I probably was an Aussie batler and
01:12:41
i' I've now hopefully broken you know
01:12:44
broken through that but yeah I mean that
01:12:47
that persistence part definitely has
01:12:49
been a key yeah there's some some great
01:12:51
lessons in there that I think anyone can
01:12:52
use persistence being the key one yeah
01:12:55
definitely not an Aussie batler there's
01:12:57
there's never been Aussie batler that
01:12:59
that looks similar to David Beckham I
01:13:01
don't know about that I don't know about
01:13:03
that hey M it's been a pleasure having
01:13:05
you on the podcast today it's been it's
01:13:07
been great it's been wonderful to pick
01:13:08
your brains and um even though I never
01:13:10
saw your season of of the bachelor um
01:13:13
just fascinating insights into the
01:13:14
reality TV and business so thank you for
01:13:16
having me I mean it I've uh I've never
01:13:19
listen to your podcast but I promise I
01:13:20
will moving forward and I'll go back and
01:13:22
listen to some and uh I've when we we're
01:13:25
asking who should we talk to when we go
01:13:27
to New Zealand you're one of the first
01:13:29
names that popped up so thanks so much
01:13:30
for having me I appreciate it and all
01:13:32
the best for the future cheers
01:13:34
[Music]
01:13:48
man
