I was hired for the Fyre Festival-style Willy Wonka ‘experience’ – I felt like I’d been ripped off

Jobs

By Brooke Steinberg

Like Ja Rule did it after the Fyre Festivalhe also felt “pushed, cheated, deceived, deceived, led astray.”

An actor hired to work on the recent disastrous Willy Wonka-themed event in Scotland feels his golden ticket was a scam.

Paul Connell, who played the role of Wonka in “Willy’s Chocolate Experience” at Box Hub Warehouse in Glasgow, said the viral event was an “absolute disaster” and one of the “most embarrassing things” he has ever seen, South West News Service reported.

The calamity, which cost $45 per person, promised guests a “journey filled with wonderful creations and delightful surprises,” but ended with crying children and furious parents.

Guests arrived on Saturday, February 24, to a “dirty” and nearly empty warehouse, which Connell further described as a “health and safety nightmare,” with a printed AI background, a sad bouncy castle and mediocre props.

There was virtually no candy at the “Chocolate Experience,” and Connell said she was told to give the children a candy bar each and a quarter glass of lemonade upon arrival.

The red-headed Connell admitted that a “red flag” immediately went up when he was asked to play Willy Wonka, rather than an Oompa Loompa, which he felt he more closely resembled.

“The first red flag for me was when I was chosen to play Willy Wonka. “Anyone who looks at me and thinks Willy Wonka and not Oompa Loompa is crazy,” she joked. “I give off great Oompa Loompa energy. But not like a good Oompa Loompa, like one who stands in the back during dance numbers, like falling over like your aunt in a line dance class during the holidays.”

He found out that he had been chosen on Thursday, just two days before the opening and just hours before people started arriving, and given a 15-page monologue of “AI-generated gibberish” to memorize for the experience. .

“One of my favorite quotes was: ‘There is a man who lives here, his name is not known, that’s why we call him the stranger.’ The unknown is an evil chocolate maker living within the walls,’” Connell shared.

“What’s an evil chocolatier to begin with? Does he make evil chocolate or is he an evil man who makes chocolate? And what do you mean he lives within the walls? he continued. “I had to perform that line with enthusiasm and validity, and that was a challenge as an actor.”

The strange vagueness may be explained in part by the website of the event’s organizers, House of Illuminati, which noted that the experience “is in no way related to the Wonka franchise, which is owned by the Warner Bros. company.” according to Today.com.

Connell stated that the actors have not yet been paid for their roles, and suspected from the beginning that they would not, but decided to continue doing the best they could for the sake of the children, who were excited to attend the event.

When Connell returned from his lunch break, that’s when the nightmarish experience “got a little out of control,” he said.

“No wonder people were angry, they were shouting. “There were people filming things with their phones, there were things broken.”

Finally, when Connell was allegedly told to “hide,” police were forced to break up angry crowds of visitors expressing frustration toward the House of the Illuminati, which canceled the event within hours of its opening.

“We didn’t get any abuse, but we did get abuse from the people who ran it,” Connell. he told The Independent In an interview. “All this was a lack of respect towards the families and towards us as promising actors.

Organizers were reportedly forced to issue more than 800 refunds to upset guests.

“I really hope everyone gets the refunds they deserve,” Connell said. “It was an absolute disaster. And the fact that I was a part of that is one of the most embarrassing things that has ever happened to me.”

“I feel sorry for anyone who bought tickets to this event, people who were expecting a magical chocolate experience and got me a top hat in a dirty warehouse in Glasgow. “People who wanted Timothée Chalamet and got Timothée Charlatan.”

The House of Illuminati apologized for the horrendous experience in their Facebook page.

“I am very sorry for the upset and disappointment caused over the weekend. Refunds have been issued and will continue to be issued. “This was an event gone wrong, The House of the Illuminati will NOT be holding any other events for the foreseeable future.” the post said.

One user in the comments mocked the event and compared it to the infamous Fyre Festival, writing: “Are you related to Billy McFarland?”