Wild moment Today show presenter is attacked by a giant crab live on-air: 'I am going to hospital'

There's a long-standing rule in the world of entertainment - never work with children or animals.

And one Today show presenter learned the latter the hard way on Friday when a live cross descended into chaos after a giant crab turned on her. 

Reporter Taylor Haynes was taking viewers on a tour of the Sydney Fish Markets in Glebe when she stopped at a tank filled with live crustaceans. 

To her delight, a worker named Mike emerged with a giant crab and placed it in her arms, prompting her to bend down and place a kiss on its head. 

Unfortunately things quickly went pear shaped when the crab retaliated by grabbing her finger with its huge pincer. 

Taylor recoiled in pain, almost dropping the crab in the process. 

'Ahh! it's got my finger! He's got my finger... oh god!' she screamed, sending Today's hosts into hysterics. 

Taylor was still struggling to remove her finger from the crab's grasp when the segment awkwardly ended. 

Co-host Alison Piotrowski later revealed Taylor was recovering well after the unfortunate encounter. 

'She's doing fine, thank goodness, and we will catch up with her later on in the program,' she confirmed.

Tayolor made another appearance later in the program with her hand submerged in a cup of cold water. 

'I'm still in shock. It did take a good while (to remove my hand from the crab),' she said, adding: 'But I will be going to hospital after this.'

Mike also revealed they needed to use a metal rod to pry the crab's claw from her hand. 

It's not the first time a Today presenter has been attacked by an animal live on-air. 

Back in 2023, Today show weather presenter Tim Davies was pestered by a parrot while reporting live from a bird enclosure in Queensland. 

During the hilarious moment, the bird attempted to kiss Tim extremely close to his eyes, forcing Tim to try and dodge the animal on-air. 

'This is Miko, I don't know if Miko will let me do the forecast,' Tim said. 

'I need to scoop him off my beautiful face - I thought my eyes were gone then.'

A similarly chaotic incident occurred in 2008 when Today weatherman Steve Jacobs was attacked by a large rooster during a live cross from a farm.   

Steve was holding the seemingly calm bird when it suddenly flapped and lunged, sending him scrambling mid-report. 

Footage of the incident has since gone viral, with millions viewing the now-infamous clip on social media. 

The animal kingdom continued its vengeance against Steve back in 2016 when a guinea pig bit him on the finger while he was discussing 'pet dating' live on-air inside a pet shop. 

'That was the pet world getting back at you,' then-host Lisa Wilkinson said at the time.