Woman endures ‘worst Tinder date ever’ as she ends up in river rescuing his dog

A woman says she endured the “worst date ever” after she jumped into the river to save her Tinder match’s dog while “he just stood there” watching on.

Lizzy Johnson had met the man with a “cute” boxer dog on the app and suggested going for a socially-distanced stroll along the River Mole in Walton-on-Thames.

Not long into the walk, her date mentioned that the dog had “never seen water before” just as it excitedly jumped off the bank and into the river.

Lizzie claimed that while the man was “too busy flapping” she darted down the bank and into the chest-deep water to rescue it, saying she was left struggling to climb back out while the man “made useless suggestions”.

After five minutes in the water, the mum-of-two eventually made it out having rescued the dog and all three began the “awkward” 10-minute walk back to the car where they quickly said their goodbyes.

When she got back home and into the warm, Lizzie recorded a hilarious video showing her jeans, top and face covered in mud to recap her date which ended “with a swim in the River Mole”.

After the footage went viral, Lizzie said: “It was probably the worst date ever – maybe because I wasn’t feeling him as well, it wasn’t a great date.

“It was my first socially-distanced kind of date and I’m just going to wait until things resume so I can be taken out for a nice glass of wine – dog walks are out of the picture for now.

“The funny thing is I’m on Tinder and Bumble having a look and if they’ve got a dog I’m like ‘no Lizzy, don’t do it, don’t do it’ – swipe left.

“I definitely saw the funny side to it – I’m proud that I saved the dog before thinking about my phone and keys, like him.

“All my friends were like ‘it could only happen to you Lizzy’ – I have no luck with dating and I just thought I’d share it.”

Lizzie didn’t ditch her phone or car keys before going in after the dog, and says she doesn’t know if it was her maternal instinct or her training to “save everybody” as a flight attendant, but she knew she had to act.

After lifting the dog to safety, she says her date was left panicked over what to do next but she simply told him to focus on keeping the pet out of the water while she looked for a spot to climb back out.

At one point the water was about four-and-a-half feet deep and after a few attempts she managed to “hook onto a twig” with her boots and gripped the bank with her hands to make it make onto land.

Lizzy said: “I got out and asked if my make-up was ok and he was like ‘yes, it’s fine’ – when I looked in the mirror at home I had mud on my face.

“We walked past quite a few families and they looked at me like ‘what have you been doing?’.”

The mum said the man messaged her two hours after the disastrous date, saying ‘Hey hope you’re alright, sorry about that’, but Lizzie was “too traumatised” to reply and believes he has now blocked her.

She added: “Thank God I didn’t like him – I would have been horrified if I did.”