source : the age
The flashy former owner of the Derrimut 24:7 gym chain is being chased by authorities over personal debts topping $10 million as he continues to receive payments from the business, which was sold to new owners after its collapse last year.
Nik Solomos has almost disappeared from the chain’s marketing campaigns, but he continues to provide consultancy services to the gym group, which boasts 200,000 members.
Instead, Derrimut’s promotions are now dominated by Ben Cousins, the controversial former footballer with criminal convictions, as its lead brand ambassador and occasionally feature other prominent sportspeople, including Essendon midfielder Zach Merrett.
Solomos cheered on the group’s opening of its sprawling new outlet at the former Holden factory site in Elizabeth, north of Adelaide, on his personal social media account. Cousins was the face of that marketing campaign, describing the new outlet on social media as “the best facility that I’ve ever walked into”.
Derrimut’s continuing association with Solomos comes after the group collapsed late last year amid growing debts.
A $2.5 million Port Melbourne townhouse owned by Solomos, who once drove a Bentley while sporting expensive jewellery, has recently been leased, according to real estate listing websites.
An investigation by this masthead in September last year revealed the parlous state of Derrimut’s business, which was struggling to pay for day-to-day business expenses, including toilet paper and soap, despite its aspirations to expand from 25 gyms in Victoria and South Australia into a 300-outlet powerhouse.
At the same time, the business was also paying for staff members’ luxury cars and large allowances to Solomos and his family.
At the time of its collapse, the three main operating companies within the group owed its creditors as much as $69 million. Liquidators estimated in reports filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission that Solomos and his interests had received $15 million from the business over several years.
The group was then rescued by Rich-Lister Wes Maas in a deal that paid out employees and secured creditors in full while providing 50¢ in the dollar to unsecured creditors. Maas’ rescue pipped interest in the gym chain from entrepreneur Adrian Portelli.
Solomos’ massive personal debt was confirmed late last month when the Australian Tax Office (ATO) won a default judgment against the entrepreneur for more than $9 million over unpaid taxes relating to Derrimut and other personal businesses.
That judgment came more than a year after it was filed and followed Solomos’ initial participation in the proceeding.
Solomos was also recently hit with a new claim, this time from a former creditor to the Derrimut gym empire.
Bench Fitness filed action in the County Court on July 30 alleging Solomos and a personal company owes Bench $725,944.12 for missed instalment payments for equipment supplied to the Derrimut chain before the chain’s collapse.
Bench Fitness alleges Solomos is responsible for the debt because he provided a personal guarantee to ensure instalment payments were made by the group. Bench alleges it stopped receiving payment in July 2025.
Bench Fitness had been a supporting creditor to the ATO’s push to wind up the gym group before it decided to enter voluntary administration.
The group was one of several unsecured creditors to the Derrimut gym empire, which entered administration in November last year. Lawyers for Bench Fitness declined to comment.
Del Re National Foods, another former supplier to the Derrimut fitness chain when it was under Solomos’ stewardship, won a default judgment against Solomos for $151,832.
That debt again related to personal guarantees that Solomos provided while sole director of the Derrimut business.
Cousins has taken up the role at Derrimut to a warm welcoming from Derrimut’s fans on social media.
The former West Coast and Richmond star has courted headlines recently after two separate events where he was scheduled to speak were cancelled amid an outcry over his criminal past, which includes domestic violence and drug charges.
This included an event hosted by St Bernard’s Old Collegians Association in the lead-up to the AFL grand final and a speaking engagement at a pub in Ballarat, where he was expected to address the audience about his pathway to recovery.
A spokesman for Derrimut gym chain said it was focusing on the future and thanked its members who stood by the brand.
“Derrimut 24:7 came out of voluntary administration seven months ago and our focus since then has been operating over twenty gyms and serving the communities around them,” the spokesman said.
“Nik Solomos provides consultancy services to the business on commercial terms. Proceedings between third parties are not matters we’re party to or can comment on.”
Asked about Cousins’ involvement, the spokesman said: “We’re not going to run commentary on individuals who train at our gyms or appear in our content.”
Solomos did not respond to a request for comment.
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Sarah Danckert is a senior reporter who specialises in investigations and corporate wrongdoing. She is a two-time Walkley Award winner, and has won six Quill Awards and two Kennedy Awards.Connect via X or email.
