THE story of a “Willy Wonka” experience gone wrong at a venue in Whiteinch has gone global.

Priced at £35 a ticket, the ‘Willy Wonka Chocolate Experience” promised a “paradise of sweet treats” as well as “mind-expanding projections and optical marvels”.

However, one parent has told how their eight-year-old child was left in tears at the experience as organisers pulled the plug halfway through the first day after being met with a furious reaction.

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Parents were left “shocked” by the “pathetic” event as one explained how their children “received two jelly babies and a quarter of a can of Barr’s limeade”.

How did everything start?

The story was first reported in the Sunday Mail at the weekend, and was then picked up by a number of Scottish outlets including Glasgow Live, STV and the BBC.

It became one of the biggest stories of the day with the House of Illuminati issuing an apology to all those who attended as well as issuing refunds.

The boss behind the event, Billy Coull, later posted his own video in which he apologised for the “shambolic” day and pointed to “technical issues” for the event’s failure.

The National:

Rather than what was promised, those attending found a “mini-maze of random props, a candy station that dispersed one jelly bean, and a terrifying character that scared a kid to tears”.

Going viral

Despite taking place in Whiteinch, a number of outlets around the globe have picked up on the story.

This includes the likes of The New York Times, The New York Post and Rolling Stone as well as The Hollywood Reporter.

The story has also garnered attention from the popular social media account Culture Crave, which has more than 400,000 followers.

The National:

The Hollywood Reporter described it as an “epic let down” and noted that one person had “compared it to a meth lab”.

It also stressed that the event was in no way connected to the recent film Wonka, starring Timothée Chalamet. 

Culture Crave also shared a video of a “made-up villain” at the event who was described as “an evil chocolate maker who lives in the walls”.

An actor who worked at the event has claimed the script was “AI-generated rubbish” while the posters for the event look to be the same.

Actor speaks out

The story doesn’t end there though, with an actor now speaking out about the event.

Actor Paul Connell posted on his TikTok account that he was one of the actors hired to take part in the event.

He said he “felt” for anyone who had bought tickets for the event and said people expecting a magical experience “instead got me in a top hat in a warehouse in Glasgow”.

The actor said: “The first red flag for me was when I was cast as Willy Wonka. Anyone who looks at me who thinks Willy Wonka and not Oompa Loompa is out of their mind.

“I give off major Oompa Loompa energy but not like a good Oompa Loompa, like one that’s at the back during the dance numbers like falling over like your aunt at a line dancing class on holiday.”

He went on to say he got cast on the Thursday and needed to learn a 15-page monologue by the Friday of “AI generated gibberish”.

He added that one of his favourite lines was: “There is a man who lives here. His name is not known so we call him the unknown.”

Connell then added that he had no idea what this meant.

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“Does he make evil chocolate or is he an evil man who makes chocolate? And what do you mean he lives in the walls,” he said.

He then joked about performing this line with “validity” and said “that was a challenge as an actor”.