A woman who claimed that a Washington Post restaurant critic exposed her cheating husband has now admitted to lying about the ordeal.

Last month, an anonymous woman said she caught her husband cheating after Washington Post food critic, Tom Sietsema, inadvertently photographed him dining with his mistress for a recent review.

At the time, the woman made a comment during Siestsema's weekly question and answer claiming that he had helped catch a cheat.

'Well Tom your latest review is accompanied by a picture of my husband dining with a woman who isn't me!' the woman wrote.

Last month, an anonymous woman said she caught her husband cheating after Washington Post food critic, Tom Sietsema, inadvertently photographed him dining with his mistress (file image) for a recent review

At the time, the woman made a comment during Siestsema's weekly question and answer claiming that he had helped catch a cheat. 'Well Tom your latest review is accompanied by a picture of my husband dining with a woman who isn't me!' the woman wrote (pictured)

'Once confronted with photographic evidence, he confessed to having an ongoing affair. Just thought you'd be amused to hear of your part in the drama.

'This Thanksgiving I'm grateful to you for exposing a cheat!'

But now, the woman who has been revealed to be a lawyer in Washington, DC, admitted to making that scenario up following a couple of drinks at happy hour.

'I’ve used a lot of dating apps, and there are a lot of married men on them. Those men ask you out to public places. 'And I'm like, "What are you thinking?"' she told The Washington Post, adding that she thought the story was funny, but she never imagined it would go viral.

'I think I had just come home from happy hour,' the woman, who is in her 40s, said.

But it did go viral and Sietsema, who has been the Post's critic for the last 19 years, replied to her initially: 'Please, please, please tell me this is a crank post. I'd hate to learn otherwise.'

'I file two reviews a week, for Food and the Magazine, so I'm not sure which restaurant this is,' he added.

At the time, nobody came forward to identify themselves as being involved.

On Saturday Sietsema (pictured) also tweeted about the woman lying: 'The woman from my @washingtonpost chat claiming she caught her husband cheating in a restaurant-review photo admits: She lied'

His tweet was met with several others who couldn't believe the woman told a fib and some who knew it was a lie all along

Sietsema himself posted an image of the chat on Twitter, writing: 'Cheaters, take heed!'

The message quickly went viral, and was liked 1,900 times and retweeted more than 330 times.

But on Saturday, the Post revealed that the woman had confessed to the lie via email.

Sietsema also tweeted: 'The woman from my @washingtonpost chat claiming she caught her husband cheating in a restaurant-review photo admits: She lied.'

His tweet was met with several others who couldn't believe the woman told a fib and some who knew it was a lie all along.

'OMG ... 2019 people are the worst,' one user tweeted.

'A lawyer? Not cool bruh,' a person wrote.

Another tweeted: 'I knew that when I read the chat. Almost all these things are hoaxes these days.'