A Texas woman says what began as a promising first date at a Dallas Mavericks game quickly unraveled into what she described as an “absolute nightmare,” and it didn’t end when the final buzzer sounded.
“Can we just talk about the absolute nightmare of a first date I went on last night in Dallas, Texas?” TikTok creator Natalie Hooper (@nataliehooperr) begins in the video, which has racked up thousands of views.
Hooper explained that she had secured two premium seats—“two rows behind the bench for a very cheap price”—through a friend and invited a man she had recently matched with on a dating app. The man, whom she described as a 47-year-old emergency room doctor visiting from Denver, agreed to join her and reimbursed her for his ticket via Venmo.
Still, Hooper said she was surprised he didn’t offer to cover both tickets. “As a guy, I would have just also Venmoed for the girls’ ticket as well,” she said. As bad as that seems, the red flags popped up earlier.
Things got off on the wrong foot at dinner
As Hooper explains, the pair met for dinner before the game. The man arrived early and, by her estimate, was already “two or three drinks deep” before she got there. With only 45 minutes before tipoff, she kept things brief, emphasizing that “something that really matters to me is tip-off.”
Once inside the arena, the situation escalated. Hooper said she had two drinks total, while her date consumed significantly more. “He had four to five drinks, now he’s somewhere between eight to 10 drinks deep,” she said.
As the game progressed—and with her team “getting absolutely annihilated”—Hooper decided to leave early. “I have quite literally never left a game early before,” she said, but added she was “exhausted” and no longer enjoying her date’s company.
Outside the arena, tensions boiled over. When she suggested going their separate ways, the man became confrontational. “So you just don’t like me where we can’t go get a drink together?” he asked, according to Hooper.
Attempting to de-escalate, she agreed to walk to a nearby bar, but the situation only worsened. At one point, she said he began yelling from across a crosswalk: “This is what I’m talking about. I don’t wanna follow you. You’re not the leader.”
“I’m like, oh my gosh, this is so embarrassing that this is happening in public right now,” Hooper recalled.
Hooper called a ride
Finally, Hooper says she ultimately sat down on a bench and called an Uber, telling him: “No man is gonna talk to me like this, you’re not even my boyfriend. This is the first time I’m meeting you.”
The confrontation didn’t end there. Hooper said the man continued berating her, telling her, “I don’t know what trauma you’ve had in your past, but I am a good guy. I am a genuine human.” She responded bluntly: “But I don’t like you.”
All the same, some viewers questioned Hooper’s expectations and decisions. One commenter wrote, “you said yourself you were ready to go to the game by yourself, so why do you think he should then pay for your ticket too on a first date? unrealistic expectation. also, why keep hanging out with a drunk? you had multiple opportunities to bail for personal safety reasons.”
Hooper clarified in a reply, referring to a friend, “Right so he had tickets for sale and i bought them.” Another commenter added in part, “I would offer to buy mine and your ticket. non drinker here.”
Reflecting on the ordeal, Hooper summed up her frustration with modern dating: “I don’t wanna give up on dating, but it is so hard to find, like, good, quality people.”
