The victim of a nightmare pest invasion has told Newsweek how rogue rodents led to the love story of a lifetime, and the internet is hooked.
Elizabeth Coll, 26, (@elizzzabeth5) was horrified to hear rats scurrying and squeaking while cat-sitting at her mom’s house in San Diego. The unexpected visitors triggered a series of events she could never have predicted.
Coll shared how she went from having a pest problem to a new lover in a TikTok video which racked up 106,900 likes and 615,800 views.
“The noises of the rats running back and forth were truly my worst nightmare!” Coll said. “My mom told me to schedule an appointment with a pest control company, and Terminix was the first to come up.”
Chad Piper and Elizabeth Coll. Piper swept Coll off her feet when he picked her up for their first date in his ‘rat mobile’.
@elizzzabeth5/@elizzzabeth5
After two nights of tossing and turning, convinced the rats were ready to “attack” her, Coll received a voicemail with an ETA for her appointment. The sound of the pest control agent’s voice immediately surprised her.
“I thought that he had a “younger” sounding voice, contrary to my belief that a pest connoisseur could only be an older and wiser gentleman,” she said.
But when six-foot-two, tall, dark, and handsome Chad Piper knocked on her door, Coll was left stumbling over her words.
“I actually had a boyfriend at the time, so I was confused why I was so intrigued by this gentle giant,” Coll, the operations manager for HYLETE from Solana Beach, California, admitted.
They soon learned they had a lot in common and she felt calmed by Colls’s cool demeanor.
“I couldn’t quite tell if the attraction was more-so the result of the hero complex since he was just out there saving me from the critters,” she said.
Despite her long-distance relationship, sparks flew as Piper assessed the rat situation. She quickly found herself texting friends about the “rat-slayer,” as her friends affectionately nicknamed him.
Meanwhile, Coll’s mom teased her with jokes about when their first date might be.
Coll’s excited texts to her mom. The 26-year-old amusingly kept her mom updated on her rat problem – and new crush.
@elizzzabeth5/@elizzzabeth5
During the inspection, Piper confirmed the rats hadn’t yet entered the house but were still a problem. He set up a plan to rat-proof the home by sealing entry points during the day, when the rats typically leave to forage. According to Terminix, sealing gaps and eliminating food sources are key steps to making a home uninviting to rodents.
Though disappointed when other employees returned for the rat-proofing job the next day, Coll couldn’t shake thoughts of the “rat-slayer.”
After her long-distance relationship ended, she found his Instagram profile, but before she could make a move, Piper followed her first. Taking this as a sign, she slid into his DMs, suggesting they met over drinks.
On their first date, Piper arrived in his Terminix-branded Prius—dubbed the “Rat Mobile”—and from that night on, they’ve been inseparable.
Coll shared a viral montage of Piper at her door in his rat-slaying uniform and then adorable moments in their relationship which followed after.
She wrote as the text overlaying the video: “What if I never had rats in my walls?”
TikTokers were enchanted by their unusual love story.
One commenter called it a “burnt toast theory” moment, explaining how seemingly negative events can ultimately work in your favor, while others simply reveled in the romance. “Now that’s a MEET CUTE,” one viewer gushed.
Since their first date in November 2022, the couple has moved in together, and Coll couldn’t be happier.
“I can proudly and confidently say that our house is 100 percent rat-free, and it will be for the indefinite future. We have a dog that helps with that too, of course,” she said.
