Man Feels a Tickle in Ears After Cleaning the Family Boat. His Family Panicked When They Saw What Crawled Out (Exclusive)
- - Man Feels a Tickle in Ears After Cleaning the Family Boat. His Family Panicked When They Saw What Crawled Out (Exclusive)
Jordan GreeneDecember 20, 2025 at 3:59 AM
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Sara Rice
Sara Rice and her family on their boat -
Sara Rice and her family have lived on a boat since 2014
As content creators, they’ve shared countless adventures, but nothing quite like what happened recently
The unusual incident began after Sara's husband, Lee, and daughter, Bella, had been cleaning the bottom of their sailing boat
Sara Rice and her family have lived on a boat since 2014, spending the past 11 years traveling the world. As content creators, they’ve shared countless adventures, but nothing quite like what happened recently.
The unusual incident began after Sara's husband, Lee, and daughter, Bella, had been cleaning the bottom of their sailing boat. Both felt a tickling sensation in their ears and asked Sara to take a look.
“I couldn’t see anything at first,” Sara tells PEOPLE exclusively. “So I thought it would be a good idea to put olive oil in the ear. It would most likely force whatever was in there out.”
Sara Rice
Sara Rice and her family on their boat
Seconds later, an incredibly small crab came out of Lee's ear. As everyone else in the family started to worry they also had crabs in their ears, everyone did an olive oil flush. A second crab swam out of Bella’s ear.
“Everyone freaked out,” Sara says. “We were paranoid, so we put olive oil in everyone’s ears just to be safe.”
Once the crabs were out, the relief was immediate, but the unease lingered. “Nothing came out of the other ear, but even with nothing there, we all felt something different in our ears,” she says. “After we cleaned up the olive oil, though, everyone felt much better.”
The family, who have a large following on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok documenting their lifestyle, happened to film the moment. They decided to share the video as a reminder to cover your ears when cleaning boats, because Sara says this can happen when scrapping the bottom of a boat.
Since posting on TikTok, the clip has gone viral, amassing over 23 million views and 1,400 comments with people sharing their reactions to the incident.
Sara Rice
Closeup of Bella Rice's ear
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“New fear unlocked,” one viewer wrote.
“I’m sorry? A CRAB?!” another chimed in.
“He's way too calm… I would have passed out,” added a third.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
