Late last month in Glasgow, child fans of Roald Dahl — and their paying parents — were treated to something called Willy’s Chocolate Experience. They did not have a good time. Instead of an immersive dive into a world thrice turned into popular movies, they got a spartan warehouse, miserable-looking performers, and barely any candy. Who would foist this upon kids? His name is Billy Coull, and he’d like very much if everyone knows he didn’t mean to upset (or at least amuse) everyone.
Per E! News, Coull — director of House of Illuminati, the scary name of the organization behind the event — opened up about the aftermath during a Channel 5 special called Wonka: The Scandal That Rocked Britain. He explained the pratfalls that led to a cartoonishly underwhelming to-do. For one thing, he admitted he booked too large a venue. For another, some projection equipment he ordered never showed up. As for charges that actors were reading from AI scripts, Coull claimed he only used the technology to check spelling and continuity.
Looking back on a fiasco whose notoriety went viral, Coull can’t help being a little dramatic.
“My life is ruined,” Coull said. “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.”
As the event went sideways, Coull admits he let the “worst versions” of himself loose. At one point he even snapped at parents as they demanded refunds. (The cost of admission was a whopping £35 a ticket, or about $44.) Still, though he said its failure left him “gutted,” he still believed at the time that they “could push on” and make it work. They couldn’t, and the “Experience,” intended to run for three days, was shuttered mere hours after it began.
Still, Coull maintains that his intentions were pure, saying, “The last thing I wanted to see was children to be upset.”
But upset they were, which has in turn upset Coull. “I was sick to the pit of my tummy,” he said. “I was hoping for an event that would be joyful, happy. I wanted people to experience happiness.”
Perhaps they will, sort of. The disaster, which has already led to social media merriment, is already being turned into both a horror movie and a comic musical.
You can watch more information on the documentary about the Experience below:
(Via E! News)