Willy Wonka actor breaks silence on viral “embarrassing” experience

An actor who played Willy Wonka in Glasgow’s “embarrassing” Chocolate Experience has spoken out about the viral event, calling it an “absolute mess.”

Are the fires of hell a-glowing? No, but Glasgow produced the next best thing: a so-called “immersive experience” that was meant to transport families into the whimsical, sweet-toothed world of Roald Dahl’s iconic chocolatier.

Instead, they were treated to the antithesis of pure imagination. The AI-generated advertising was the first warning, but when paying customers arrived expecting “wondrous creations and enchanting surprises at every turn”, they were confronted with a cold industrial warehouse, sparsely filled with plastic props and a small bouncy castle. There wasn’t even any chocolate.

Crying children, furious parents demanding refunds, and police eventually being called – it’s fair to describe the event as a disaster. Now, one of the actors has opened up about what happened.

Willy Wonka actor speaks out after “embarrassing” scam goes viral

In a series of TikToks, stand-up comedian Paul Connell talked about being hired for the “fiasco” and how he quickly realized it was a complete shambles.

“I wanted to say before I start that I feel for anyone who bought tickets to this event, people who were expecting a ‘magical chocolate experience’ and got me in a top hat in a dirty warehouse in Glasgow,” he said in the first clip.

“So, the first red flag for me was when I was cast as Willy Wonka. Anyone who looks at me and thinks Willy Wonka and not Oompa Loompa is out of their mind…. but I got cast as the part on the Thursday, and was told that I needed to learn the script for the Friday.”

He explained that he was given 15 pages of “AI-generated gibberish”, talking about a mysterious villain called “The Unknown” (a completely made-up character hides in the walls of the factory). Kids were also given a single jelly bean and a quarter-cup of supermarket own-brand lemonade – but no chocolate.

Willy Wonka actor opens up about the day of the event

When he turned up at the warehouse with the other actors, he said it was a “health and safety nightmare” and there weren’t any special effects “as promised.” This included the “twilight tunnel”, a nod to the original movie’s boat ride – instead, it was just some “chequered flags pinned to a wall with some mirrors that were found… probably in the toilets.”

Soon, they started to suspect they wouldn’t be paid for the event. However, knowing children would be coming regardless, they decided to stick around and tried to make it a good time for those who’d booked tickets. “We did our best with what we had, which was very little,” he said.

After going on his lunch break, “things had got a little bit out of control… rightfully so, people were furious. There was shouting, people filming things on their phone, there were things being broken and stolen, apparently… I was told to hide,” he recalled.

While agreeing that it was an “absolute mess”, he also wanted to “stick up for the actors” who unwittingly signed on for something so feebly and cheaply put together.

Billy Coull, the director of events firm House of Illuminati, has since offered full refunds to everyone who bought tickets. “I’m really shocked that the event had fallen short of the expectations of people on paper,” he told STV News.

“My vision of the artistic rendition of a well known book didn’t come to fruition. For that I am absolutely truly and utterly sorry.”