A former centrepiece of Ten’s The Bachelor, Sam Wood, has been caught up in a scandal involving a couple of Instagram fitness gurus and some sweet treat recipes.
Wood’s health and fitness program, 28 by Sam Wood, has been accused of publishing recipes almost identical to those of a rival fitness duo, Steph Claire Smith and Laura Henshaw, who have their own program called Keep it Cleaner (KIC).
According to The Daily Telegraph, a leaked internal email from 28 By Sam Wood’s creative and social manager, Keira Rae, showed her bragging about how she “went in and downloaded all their good recipes … idiots xx”. The email included a link to a KIC recipe for chocolate fudge.
Furthermore, 28 by Sam Wood’s recipe for almond butter nut cups is very similar to KIC’s recipe for choc nut cups – which first appeared on the program’s blog in 2016 – the only differences being the name and the recommendations of different types of butter.
Smith, who considers Wood a friend, said the revelation had come as a shock.
“We didn’t want to believe it, but after seeing the imagery and method and recipes themselves, it’s blatantly obvious,” she told The Daily Telegraph.
Henshaw said they had never been on Wood’s website to snoop on his recipes.
“We developed the choc nut cup recipe a year-and-a-half ago and spent hours in the kitchen and tested it on our families to make sure people would like it, which is what makes it so disheartening,” she said.
It turns out KIC isn’t the only fitness program 28 by Sam Wood has been keep a close eye on either, with leaked emails also revealing staff had been seeking ideas by “trolling (sic) through 12WBT” – the website of fitness expert and former trainer on The Biggest Loser, Michelle Bridges.
Woods told The Daily Telegraph that 28’s nutritionist and chef created the choc nut cups because it was requested by members of the program, who had noticed the version created by KIC.
The former Bachelor star also posted the following private message on Facebook to 28’s member community after they caught wind of the revelations:
