Acid attack survivor Katie Piper reveals dine and dash date left her to pick up £740 restaurant tab
2 June 2025, 10:39 | Updated: 2 June 2025, 10:45
Acid attack survivor Katie Piper has revealed how a date once left to pick up a £740 restaurant tab after doing a runner when he spotted her facial disfigurement.
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The British TV presenter, 41, suffered an acid attack set up by her ex-boyfriend when she was 24.
Katie needed 40 operations to treat her burns, which left her with severe scarring to her face, neck, chest, arms and hands.
Now, she has shared vulnerable story about how a man she had met in a bar invited her to Nobu, a pricey Japanese restaurant in central London.
But when he spotted the permanent damage left behind by the acid attack, he ran away, leaving Katie to pick up the eye-watering bill.
Read more: WATCH: Katie Piper's Inspirational Message
"We'd met on a night out. I'd had pioneering treatment with incredible results, so when I would go out somewhere with dark lighting, where people were very drunk, often they weren't able to see what I fully looked like," she told the Hay Festival.
She added: "So I met this guy and we messaged for quite a long time. He suggested we go out for dinner.
"I hated going out for dinner because I had a lot of oesophageal damage and often I'd choke when I ate, so the whole idea of eating in front of someone on a first date was nerve-wracking, but I agreed."
They met on a summer's day and the man did not immediately notice her facial disfigurement when first seeing her in the bar, Katie said.
She added that the man chose the fancy dinner location and ordered a three-course meal for the pair.
He then claimed to spot some people he knew.
"I'm going to go and say hi to them and I'll be back," he told Katie.
"He didn't come back," she said.
It left Katie, who was living on disability benefit after the attack, forced to pay the staggering £740 bill on her own.
She is now a happily married mother-of-two.
In October 2019, Katie bravely shared a graphic image online displaying the terrible injuries she sustained after being doused with sulphuric acid.
In her victim impact statement in the aftermath of the attack, Katie said: “When the acid was thrown at me, it felt like I was burning in hell. It was an indescribable, unique, torturous pain.
“I have lost my future, my career, my spirit, my body, my looks, my dignity – the list goes on.“All I am left with is an empty shell. A part of me has died that will never come back. This is worse than death.’”
Since the ordeal Katie has featured on numerous TV shows, including a 2009 documentary about the impact of the attack as she rebuilt her life.
She also launched the Katie Piper Foundation to raise awareness for other victims of burns and other disfigurement attacks and injuries.
