Celebrity2 min(s) read
Published 11:27 15 Apr 2026 GMT
American TV personality and former model Brandi Glanville recently revealed she was forced to take a trip to A&E after a garlic clove ended up lodged in her ear.
Speaking on last Friday’s episode of her Brandi Glanville Unfiltered podcast, the former Bravo star explained that she caught a cold from her son Jake, 18. After looking up remedies on the internet, she decided to try a viral TikTok trend that involves using garlic to relieve congestion.
She admitted: “On Easter, I didn’t do anything because of the garlic in my ear,” adding: “I was trying to get it out.” However, things got worse when “it really went down further and I had to go to urgent care the next day and get it taken out.”
The 53-year-old said she was “just trying to clear up [her] sinuses” when she put the garlic clove in her ear. Reflecting on where she got the idea, she said: “It’s online,” before warning others: “Don’t listen to people online or TikTok or Instagram or Twitter or Facebook.”
Glanville also shared that her older son Mason, 21, had previously used garlic differently. He told her that when he had a cold, he would put a clove in his nostril to ease congestion. She tried that approach too, saying: “I tried my nostril,” but quickly stopped because “it was burning too much so I moved it to my ear.”
She added that the sensation was intense, explaining: "It was like burning my skin because I’d just lasered it.”
Medical experts strongly advise against this trend. Madeleine Herman, president at the Sinus Center & ENT Specialists of Houston, warned: “Please don’t do this,” adding: “Not only is it ineffective, but it can actually make symptoms worse.”
She explained that inserting raw garlic into the nose or ear can be harmful, noting: “The active compounds in garlic can cause chemical burns when applied to the skin or mucous membranes,” and warned that leaving objects inside can also lead to an “infection”.
Glanville said she turned to the viral hack while dealing with health issues, after recently solving a long-running mystery related to her facial paralysis, a matter she documented for two years before it was resolved, when she discovered that it was linked to an infected ruptured breast implant.
