Venomous Huntsman spider crawls on Australian health minister’s leg during press meet, here’s what happened next

An uninvited guest interrupted Queensland health minister’s media briefing on Covid. Unaffected by the topic at hand, the guest was happy to grab all the attention, even if for a few minutes. The guest who so unceremoniously walked in during the media briefing of minister Yvette D’Ath was a huntsman spider. She found it surreptitiously crawling on her leg while she spoke about the need for business entities to adhere to Covid-19 vaccine orders.

The health officer, however, did not lose her cool. As per a BBC report, when a journalist pointed out the spider, she said, “Oh!..Can someone please get that spider off?” Standing on the podium, she continued speaking. “This shows how controlled I can be. I don’t like huntsman. But I am going to keep going and pretend I don’t know I have a huntsman on me right now. Someone else manages it, but if it gets anywhere near me, please let me know.”

Another official helped remove the spider and the arachnid could be seen scampering away. “Okay, it has wandered off,” she said. “That was a moment, wasn’t it? We have got Covid and we have got huntsman,” she added with laughter.

Watch the video here:

Update – No spiders were harmed during the press conference. https://t.co/220c6aM8ii

— Yvette D’Ath MP (@YvetteDAth) December 16, 2021

Yvette D’Ath took to Twitter to share the clip. “Update – No spiders were harmed during the press conference,” read the caption of the tweet. Netizens were amazed at her composure under pressure.

“You were ridiculously more composed than I would have been,” commented a user. Another user wrote, “You did so well to keep your cool and carry on the presser, I’d have lost it.”

Hunstmans are large venomous spiders. It has a leg span of up to 15 cm. However, they are not considered dangerous as they are reluctant to bite.