Sam Sulek ROBBED in Hosstile Deal?

It’s been about 1 year since Sam Sulek signed with Hosstile Supplements to appear at events, promote their products, and collaborate on co-branded Hosstile products.

Also in these last 12 months, Sam Sulek has gained about 3.27 million YouTube subscribers 224,000 subscribers in July 2023 to his current 3.5 million and climbing [Social Blade].

The partnership seemed to be going very well, with content collaborations, fitness expo appearances, and traveling across the world. But in one of Sam’s recent YouTube videos, he only spent about 40 seconds discussing his decision to not renew his Hosstile contract.

This decision led to speculation that Fouad Abiad, IFBB Pro and founder of Hosstile, wasn’t treating Sam well and even that Sam got “robbed” in this deal after leaks suggested that he was only being paid $2000 a month; which would seem extremely low for the perceived value that Sam brought to Hosstile Supps considering the size and trust that he’s built with his audience.

Jon Bravo gave his own take on the situation pointing out other athletes that did not re-sign with Hosstile like Nick Walker and Justin Shier.

Jon also references a Eric Kanevsky video from earlier this year where Eric suggests that his antics towards Fouad “Shut down Sam Sulek’s line.”

The premise of Eric’s video was to go to a large fitness expo and ask bodybuilders and fitness influencers their height and weight, and then confirm it with a scale and tape measure that he brought.

There were adverse reactions from some of the athletes, and other than personal problems, there is probably another reason why they feel that way.

Back when I had a side business doing 3D virtual tours focused on serving gyms, I thought it might be a good idea to network at events like the Arnold Classic where gyms would have booths set up. It was a good way to get past gatekeepers and get in front of decision makers to sell my service.

I found a couple forums that explained why it’s a bad idea to do that, mainly because those businesses and professionals paid a lot of money for a spot at the expo, and there you are with a general admission ticket trying to do the same thing they paid way more money to do. It would be different if you were also an exhibitor, but it’s seen as almost disrespectful.

Jon then released another video on the same topic, but this time involves… Mr Beast???

In this video, texts between Fouad Abiad and a representative from Mr. Beast’s team are shown discussing a potential collaboration, to which Sam turned down. Which led to Jon wondering if these messages were real, and if Fouad was actively trying to keep Sam out of collaborating with people/companies outside of Hosstile as a condition of the contract.

After speaking with Fouad directly, he explains that Fouad never prevented Sam from collaborating with other creators, and that the only action that’s restricted while being a Hosstile athlete is being a regular part/co-host of weekly podcasts.

Also addressed in the conversation, was Nicki Trigili’s (Bodybuilding and BS) claim that Sam was only getting $2000 a month for being a part of Hosstile.

Apparently, Jon and Nick both saw the same information that validated the claim. But when discussing it with Fouad, he said:

If Sam was only getting $2,000 a month and nothing else, I would agree that he’s getting shafted. However, I’m sure there was some sort of commission deal worked out with the co-branded products as well as compensated travel expenses, etc.

Hosstile probably made it worth his while, but my guess is that the schedule was taking away from his core activities that he loves which is just training and filming.

I’m not surprised that Sam decided not to re-sign, because signing with a supplement company isn’t really succeeding or “making it” anymore, in most cases.

There’s more money to be made by promoting your own product or finding other ways to monetize your community without having another company in the middle of it.

In fitness marketing, we’re at a point where companies need social media influencers more than influencers need companies.

For the longest time it was the opposite. Companies themselves used to influence buying behavior and built strong communities around their products.  But over the last few years, communities and buying behaviors are being built and influenced by individuals rather than companies because of relatability and perceived trust.

Individual people shitposting online and well-established companies trying to promote their products are all fighting for attention on the same internet, and the most interesting or relatable content wins the battle for that attention.

Some companies do social media well, but it’s much easier for a regular person to get traffic on a post that’s a funny meme or shared experience than it is for a company to get a lot of organic traffic on a post that’s tied to their product.

So maybe Sam will partner with another company, maybe he won’t. Maybe he comes out with his own clothing or supplement line, maybe he just keeps making videos. Either way, supplement companies need someone like him more than someone like him needs a supplement company.

The only supplement company I need is Crystal MF Pump. It is such a credible threat that certain supplement company founders are trying to talk shit and prevent you from trying this Lifter Elixir.