Erin Napier Has the Best Story About "Almost" Inheriting an Alligator Farm
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HGTV star Erin Napier revealed her childhood crush during a recent podcast interview—and it showed how her life could have gone down a drastically different path.
On April 2, Erin and her husband Ben appeared on the LandonTalks podcast and spoke about the realities of small-town life. During the episode, the Home Town hosts discussed all things Laurel, Mississippi, leading Erin to open up about the classmate she fell for long ago. Noting that there's "no anonymity" in the town, which has a population just shy of 17,000, Bryant asked the couple if they were aware of "Trapper Gators Farm."
"Yes, I had a huge crush on his son through 5th and 6th grade," Erin explained.
"She could have inherited [it]," Ben joked, while Bryant quipped, "It could've been yours, Erin!"
Our curiosity around this interview tidbit was piqued, and we had to do some digging. According to Jones County records, alligator trapper Wayne "Trapper" Parker is the owner of a wildlife management company, along with the Trappers' Veggies Mississippi Grown & Delicious farm stand in Ellisville.
While it's uncertain if Trapper also owns an alligator farm, it could be possible. According to a 2016 story by the Laurel Leader-Call newspaper, he is known for wrangling alligators out of unusual places, including a sewage lagoon that once housed a 13.1-foot, 740-pound gator.
“It’s the biggest one I ever caught,” Trapper told the publication at the time. "[The alligator] had gotten so big, people were starting to get worried, so we had to go remove him.”
While we can't say for certain that this is the same Trapper whose son Erin had a childhood crush on, we're nonetheless impressed with these feats of gator-wrangling!
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