A NUDE lewd rude dude shocked prudes trying to enjoy food at a Darwin shopping centre.

The butt-naked bloke was spotted casually strolling through Casuarina Square yesterday afternoon.

On-looker Dee Smith said the starkers shopper was a sight to behold as he walked through the area around 3.30pm.

“It was hilarious,” she said.

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“We were at the Coffee Club having a cuppa when this guy strolls past very calmly, he didn’t look stressed whatsoever.”

The reason for the cheeky appearance hasn’t been discovered but Ms Smith thought the man must have been put up to it by mates.

“It was probably a dare, there are a lot of end of footy season parties happening at the minute, or he just likes to get naked,” she said.

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Reactions from other patrons were a mixed bag.

“We cracked up with laughter, there were a couple of shocked looks from the people sitting near us, a couple of 15 year old girls were screaming,” she continued. “It was a bit of an eye-opener.”

But the ballsy display didn’t last for long.

“Security came through with mean looks on their face so he got out of there pretty quickly,” Ms Smith said.

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Despite making an arse of himself, the man evaded capture and was long gone by the time NT police arrived at the scene.

Duty Superintendent Robert Burgoyne said coincidentally there was a report of a drug affected man who had left Royal Darwin Hospital half an hour earlier with a similar description.

The 28-year-old man had left RDH before receiving medical treatment.

But it couldn’t be determined whether the two were the same person.

“The only connection between the two was that they both had a beard,” Duty Superintendent Burgoyne said.