A woman was an hour late to a first date who called himself a gentleman, then he asked her to pay as penance and a man at the next table spoke up

A woman says arriving an hour late to a first date may have been the best mistake she ever made, as it showed her who her date really was before the night was over. Nico Slater, who posts on TikTok as @eaudenics, called it “the worst date of my life” in a video that was picked up by The Mary Sue.

Nico says she spent the day with a friend who was visiting from Birmingham and badly underestimated the trip to the restaurant after dropping her off. She messaged her date to say she was running late and apologized, though she admits she did not keep him updated. She arrived expecting him to have gone home, but he was still at the table and greeted her with a hug.

According to Nico, the man told her once she sat down that she should pay for his dinner as “penance” so they could move on. She thought he was joking until the bill arrived and he gestured toward her when the waiter came over. The men at the next table were horrified, she says, and one of them told her, “that is not your guy.”

Viewers agreed the hour was bad, but most said he made the night worse

Nico says the evening did not improve from there. She claims her date told her what a gentleman he is and said that, as a CEO, he was teaching his son the same values. She says he barely asked her any questions, spent a lot of time talking about an ex who wanted “princess treatment,” and suggested she speak to her therapist about Kama Sutra practices.

She also alleges that he tried to kiss her twice at the end of the night and, on a third attempt, held her hands and almost wrestled with her before she told him no. Nico says she then gave him a piece of her mind and blocked him. She admits showing up late was a mistake, but says being disappointed does not entitle anyone to treat someone without respect.

Most of the comments under the video sided with Nico, even if few people defended her timing. “an hour late is insane,” one viewer wrote, while another said the story “just gets worse and worse.” Several people echoed the idea that the delay worked in her favor, with one writing that “being a hour late was a sign” and another saying she “dodged a bullet.”

A handful of viewers were not ready to let her off the hook. However, their questions were mostly about the hour itself. One person asked how long she originally thought the journey would take if she ended up an hour behind. Another argued that nobody misjudges a trip by a full hour, suggesting she was not motivated to go on the date in the first place.

A different commenter split the blame, writing that both of them were “silly” but that he was worse for waiting around after she ran so late. Many others had only one question. Comments asking whether she actually paid for his meal popped up again and again, though Nico does not say in the video how the bill was settled.

Lateness on first dates has sparked plenty of debate on TikTok before, including when one man said his date arrived 90 minutes late and later left him with the check. However, Nico’s story stands out as the person who was kept waiting is the one viewers ended up criticizing.

Nico closed her video by saying the late arrival let her see his true colors faster than she would have if she had shown up on time. She did not share the man’s name or say where the restaurant was located, and he has not been publicly identified.

The man’s side of the evening has not surfaced online, and Nico has not said whether she plans to share more details about the date or what happened with the bill.

Attack of the Fanboy was unable to independently verify her date’s side of the story, as this account originates solely from Nico Slater’s TikTok video.