The dating app Tinder is shown on an Apple iPhone in this photo illustration taken February 10, 2016. (REUTERS/Mike Blake/Illustration)
The Tinder user who duped hundreds of men into showing up at Union Square for a phony date Sunday was actually a stunt for a “viral marketing agency” — the same one that famously recorded hidden-camera footage of a woman being catcalled as she walked around New York City.
“We will be releasing a video Thursday that explains the entire project and story,” marketer Rob Bliss of Rob Bliss Creative told The Post.
Bliss, whose company “specializes in making viral video campaigns,” created the widely-shared “10 hours of walking in NYC as a woman” clip for an anti-harassment non-profit in 2014.
In his latest production, a model and actress named Natasha Aponte invited unwitting men she met on Tinder to the public square on Sunday for what they thought was a hot date.
Instead, the guys were gobsmacked when Aponte appeared on stage and revealed they were all there to date her — and she began dismissing those who didn’t meet her criteria and asking the others to battle it out in contests to win the actual date.
“Half of you people here are in relationships, so those people should leave now,” Aponte is shown telling the crowd in a video taken by a DJ at the event.
“Statistically, people who are on dating apps, half of them are in relationships. So those people should leave.”
“The first elimination is if you think you can support Trump and date a Puerto Rican, now’s the time to leave. If anyone’s a tourist or doesn’t live in this country, you should leave too. Also anyone named Jimmy. I don’t enjoy the name Jimmy,” she continued,.
Men with beer bellies, long beards, khakis and Toms shoes were also dismissed — before those still hoping for that date willingly competed in a running race.
Bliss wouldn’t reveal much more about the project, but said “no product or service of any kind” was involved, and that Aponte is a real single woman who is “passionate
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