Gym bunny survives six months of deadly spiders in Australia - only to be bitten days after getting back to UK

Jess Wade spent the lead up to jetting off to Oz paranoid that she'd encounter a deadly eight-legged terror, researching everything she should do to avoid them.

Armed with advice to shake shoes before wearing them, bring washing inside and wear gloves while gardening, she and her boyfriend Aaron Aseltine, both 27, were confident they'd be ok.

After a sun-soaked six months working and exploring the bush in Perth, western Australia, having seen nothing more than 'one lizard', the pair jetted home in June 2025 bite free.

But just 18 days after landing in the UK, Jess went to the gym and while working out felt a sharp stabbing pain on her right rib.

Stunned, she reached up under her jacket and fished out a 'horrific-looking' spider before flinging it onto the floor and grabbing a quick snap of it.

She claims a gym worker said it was the second time someone had been bitten there, with the previous victim having to go to A&E for treatment.

A trip to the pharmacy confirmed a false widow spider was the culprit and Jess was given antihistamine cream to soothe the skin where it had sunk its fangs in.

The following day Jess started experiencing flu-like symptoms and 'shooting' pins and needles down the right side of her body, which cleared up after three days. The irony of getting bitten in the UK days after heading home from Australia wasn't lost on Jess, and is something that she can now smile about.

Jess, from Stourbridge, West Midlands, said: "A few days after I came home from Australia I went to the gym and I was on the leg curl machine. I felt a sharp stabbing pain in my side, so I reached down into my gym jacket and then lo and behold I pulled out this curled-up spider

"I threw it but it started moving around. I shouted over to the cleaner and she came over and she put the spider on some tissue paper so I could get a good picture of it. It was horrific looking, I don't mean to be discriminatory to the spider but it really wasn't nice looking, it was horrid.

"A member of staff came over, I told her I'd been bitten by a spider and showed I had a visible bite mark on my rib cage. She was like 'oh yeah someone else was bitten a couple of weeks ago in here and they ended up in A&E'. I was really shocked.

"The spider wasn't really that big, it was a bit bigger than a 50p piece, but the colouring was very distinctive. The legs were spindly and hairy, something you'd expect to see in Australia.

"Then I had bizarre side effects. I had flu-like symptoms 24-48 hours after I was bitten and felt like that for three days. The weirdest thing was from the bite down my whole right side I kept getting shooting pins and needles.

"When the swelling subsided, there were two clear puncture marks. They were almost a finger width apart, I found it shocking it had a bite that big. The irony is I did six months in Australia, including out in the bush, and it was in a gym in the West Midlands that I was bitten by a spider."

Ahead of her and her partner flying out to Oz in January 2025, Jess said friends 'put the fear of God in her' about spiders out there.

Jess said: "Everyone was just really putting the fear of God into me before we went, everyone I spoke to was like 'you're crazy to go to Australia there are so many snakes and spiders'. Others said 'have you not seen about spider bites and how fatal they are?'.

"It got to the point that I did research into deadly spiders before I went to Australia because I thought 'better the devil you know'.

"I did lots of things that you tell you on these websites, mainly don't leave washing outside, if you do, shake it before you bring it in and check your shoes. While exploring Perth we did a scenic tour where you're out in the bush. We went to a lot of different places in Perth and didn't encounter anything apart from one lizard. We didn't encounter anything suspicious, the only place that we did was Perth Zoo."

Kind-hearted Jess said she doesn't blame the spider for biting her, but is now more vigilant keeping an eye out for others to avoid the same thing happening again.

Jess said: "I've no idea how the spider got into my jacket as it was extremely close fitting. The only thing I can think is he somehow was on the back of the chair and crawled down, there's no way he could have crawled up because it was too tight.

"It's not the spider's fault, he was trapped in a tight place and as I moved he felt threatened as he was stuck and he bit me. It's made me a bit more nervous about keeping an eye out for spiders in the UK. The fact they can be found in everyday activities, something as mundane as going to the gym, means it's important for people to be a bit more vigilant and aware of how to treat bites.

"In hindsight I can smile about it. If anything I kick myself because I spent a lot of time worrying and hyper-aware of spiders in Australia.

"I just wish I hadn't let that interfere with my experience, I ended up being absolutely fine there and then at home, when I least expected it, I was bitten."