Natalie Joy has shared her worst first date “horror story” in which she was left to pick up an extortionate $1,600 bill after her date abandoned her in a restaurant.

Speaking on an episode of Viall Files – Better Date Than Never, a podcast hosted by TV personality Nick Viall, Viall’s fiancé Natalie, was asked about her worst first date.

Joy reflected on a time she reluctantly agreed to a date and it ended with a dine-and-ditch scenario.

“I went on a date… this guy asked me out on a date maybe 20 times. Finally, I was like ‘sure’,” she explained in a clip of the Viall Files.

When they arrived at the restaurant for the date, Joy recalled that her date was very keen to try out the menu, and they each tried “one of every appetiser” and an entrée dish.

“And then he’s like, ‘It’s time for dessert.’” she continues.” And I’m like: ‘Honestly, I’m so stuffed, I’ve never been so full. I am good’. He’s like: ‘No, no… let’s get dessert.’”

The pair ate dessert. However, afterwards, Joy’s date received a phone call and left the table.

“And then he gets a f****ing phone call and he does not come back for 20 minutes. And I’m like, ‘I wonder what the phone call’s about.’ so I get up and go outside and he’s gone.

“I have not seen or heard from that man ever since. He has blocked me on every social media – the bill was literally $1,600,” said Joy, to an aghast Viall.

Joy was then asked by her fiancé if she ended up paying the bill, to which she replied: “Yes, of course I had to pay it!”

Fans of Viall and Joy have been sharing their thoughts on the date, which one Instagram user dubbed as the “worst date ever”.

“Omg he made you pay for a $1,600 meal?!!!! And left you! So sorry that takes the cake of worst dates ever,” wrote one follower.

Viall is best known for appearing on reality American TV shows The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise and The Bachelor. He began dating Joy, a surgical technologist, in 2020. They got engaged in January of this year and announced last week (8 August) that they are expecting their first child together.

Viall Files – Better Date Than Never is live every Thursday on AMP