Follow us on Google News
Get the latest updates directly in your Google News feed
Are you a fan of Willy Wonka?That seems unimportant if you were at a Willy Wonka-themed event in Glasgow. The event turned out to be so dire, so terrifying, and so extremely unsettling that the attendees actually called the police.
Ultimately, as we now know, it turned out to be something seriously disappointing. Families shelled out more than $40 for a ticket to explore a warehouse full of cheaply decorated sets, actors who looked disheveled, a terrible script, and worst of all, no chocolate! On the internet, a thousand new jokes and memes surfaced after angry attendees called the cops.
Fans Tracked Down Rebecca Ferguson’s Infamous Willy Wonka Card and It’s More Horrifying Than Expected
Now, Billy Coull, the man in charge of organizing the event, is coming out to lament how much this debacle has “ruined” his life.
The Sad Story of Willy Wonka Experience’s Organizer
The director of the House of Illuminati group, Billy Coull, who orchestrated theWilly Wonka-themed event in Glasgow, Scotland, was featured in a documentary that chronicled the entire episode. In the interview, he bemoaned the situation and explained why everything went wrong.He began claiming that he had been getting“hundreds and hundreds”of hate mail since the catastrophe.
Coull responded in the Channel 5 specialWonka: The Scandal That Rocked Britain, which aired on March 16.
“My life is ruined. I have lost my friends. I’ve lost the love of my life. I was made out to be the face of all evil. And genuinely, that’s really not the case.”
He continued by outlining the errors that caused the event to fail, such as scheduling an excessively large venue and ordering projection equipment that was never delivered:
“I was gutted. But I believed that we could push on.”
Coull also referred to his reactions to the early shutdown of the event—during which he angrily snapped at disgruntled patrons—as the “worst versions”of himself. He continued:
“The last thing I wanted to see was children to be upset.”
Glasgow’sWilly’s Chocolate Experiencewent viral in late February due to its fraudulent-looking advertising that contradicted the actual event’s conclusion. House of Illuminati’swebsiteadvertised“enchanting environments”, “interactive adventures”,and“sweet delights and confections”as part of the £35 (approximately $44) ticket price.
“I was a wee bit skeptical”: Oompa Loompa Actress Reveals the Real Reason why She Started Working at the Willy Wonka Factory and We can’t Blame Her
The attendees were let down by the poorly decorated warehouse, the sparse candy available for the kids, and the actors who read lines that appeared to have been generated by AI. Coull eventually explained that, even though he used AI to run his scripts, the main objective was to make sure all of the lines were spelled correctly and consistently.
Billy Coull Had Hoped For A ‘Joyful, Happy’ Event
The event was supposed to run the entire weekend of February 24 and 25, but a few hours after it opened, attendeesdemanded their moneyback, so the police were called. Shortly after, the encounter ended, and the House of Illuminati formally apologized. “Today has been a very stressful and frustrating day for many, and for that, we are truly sorry”,the message began with an apology (we learned fromTime).
Billy Coull accepted the repercussions and admitted (viaWonka: The Scandal That Rocked Britain):
“I was sick to the pit of my tummy. I was hoping for an event that would be joyful, happy. I wanted people to experience happiness.”
Attendees and the staff members who worked there came together in a Facebookgroup to air grievancesand devise a resolution.Jenny Fogarty (hired to play an Oompa Loompa) toldThe Scotsmanthat her costume arrived an hour early and that she was given afifteen-page script to readthe night before the event.
“The wigs were very cheap. We were just handed an Amazon box that probably arrived that morning.”
One Unusual Aspect of Willy Wonka Remake Convinced Timothée Chalamet That Movie Wasn’t a “Cynical Money Grab”
According toThe Mirror, the disastrous Willy Wonka Experience will be made into a stage musical in the US.Leading Broadway songwriters and producers have disclosed that they are writing a musical parody of the viral phenomenon.
Siddhika Prajapati
Senior Journalist & Content Head
Articles Published :3310
With over 3,300 articles carved into the digital walls of FandomWire, Siddhika Prajapati excels at creating, curating, and elevating engaging stories. She takes pride in giving these stories a home and, of course, she’s got a Google Knowledge Panel to prove it!Whether it’s reviewing the latest drop on Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Apple TV+, or analyzing the cultural echoes of a streaming hit on Paramount+ or Max, Siddhika is always writing three steps ahead of the discourse.
