If a picture ever captured something more perfectly, it was taken at Willy’s Chocolate Experience one year ago in Glasgow. A young woman, wearing a green wig, with a bored look on her face standing next to what looked more like a meth lab than a world of pure imagination.
The event had been advertised with AI- generated images and poorly written descriptions containing made-up words and real words with obvious spelling errors. It was held in the Box Hub Warehouse in Whiteinch, an industrial part of the Scotland city. The warehouse was sparsely decorated with AI-generated images pinned to the wall and a small bouncy house.
But the true kicker of it all was there was no chocolate anyway despite the name. No, people who paid the tickets which cost 35 pounds per customer (or $44) were only given two jelly beans and a quarter of a cup of lemonade each. And even the jelly beans ran out.
Kristy Patterson, who played the bored Oompa-Loompa look-alike, said she went to the location the night before on Feb. 23, 2024 for a dress rehearsal and was told a production crew would work on it throughout the night. That obviously didn’t happen.
A character called The Unknown, played by teenager Felicia Dawkins, wore a silver mask and a dark cloak and scared the young children. The event was supposed to last over the two day weekend. But after the morning attendees alerted authorities, it was closed down. For legal copyright reasons, there was no real mention to Willy Wonka or Roald Dahl’s book and his characters. The Oompa-Loompas were actually called “Wonkidoodles.”
And people were treated to Willy McDuff instead of Willy Wonka. Paul Connell was one of the actors hired and given one day to learn the script but even though he was supposed to be given a 15-minute break every 45 minutes, he ended up working the entire three-and-a-half hours it was open to the public. Also, all the actors had to endure the displeasure of the attendees even though they were just working for someone.
And that someone is Bill Coull, a man with a questionable reputation over the years. Patterson says her costume for the event was given to her in an Amazon box that had probably arrived that morning. Coull has said he would refund the people, some of which drove long distance to a canceled event, but the actors have reportedly only received half of what they were to get.
The event has brought some popularity as The Unknown is scheduled to be the subject of an upcoming horror movie. And both Patterson and Dawkins have done some other performances that are legitimate.
Three months later across the pond in Las Vegas, Dirt Dog made the mistake of underestimating the popularity of Bluey, a popular animated cartoon character who is a female. Well, a man with very visible facial hair was dressed in a shoddy and revealing costume that one attendee said was “a grown man in PJs.” The organizers apologized saying they only expected 60 people.
But they admitted there was no intention of a fraud or scam. It was a free event so no one paid to attend. Still, the organizers did say they would work to put on a family-friendly event but nothing has been reported if it actually happened.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 