A Chinese man got more than he bargained for when his date ambushed him by bringing along 23 family members to their first ever date.

The man then fled without paying the bill, leaving his date and her many relative to foot the very expensive bill for themselves.

When he went to the restaurant as they had planned, he walked in to find his date had turned up with 23 of her relatives. She said, “Let’s all eat together”, and despite not receiving any advance warning that the party for two had turned into a party for 25, the man sat down and ate with the family.

As they ate, the table filled up with expensive meals and alcohol, which his date and her family members devoured happily. At the end of the meal, the man was given the bill by restaurant staff and he was gobsmacked to find it came to a total of 19,800 Yuan (US$2,962).

Unable to pay the bill, the man snuck out of the restaurant without anyone noticing and returned home, leaving the woman to foot the bill.

When she realised her date was nowhere to be found, the woman was reportedly surprised and attempted to contact him, to no avail. She then had no choice but to pay for the meal.

She went on to insist that she was the victim, as she ended up having to pay for the meal.

People online weren’t sure about that, commenting that regardless of who pays on a first date, ambushing the other party with 23 of your family members is never going to go over well.

So let this story be a warning to anyone thinking of “testing” prospective partners when meeting them for the first time. If you do, be prepared for it to backfire spectacularly.