Oompa Loompa actress at Willy Wonka farce breaks silence: ‘A complete and utter shambles’
Organisers of the Willy Wonka event in Glasgow have cancelled the event after parents demanded refunds on tickets that cost up to £35
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Your support makes all the difference.An Oompa-Loompa actress at the centre of a widely criticised Willy Wonka chocolate factory experience has spoken of the “complete and utter shambles” of the event.
Kirsty Paterson broke her silence after a photograph of her in a ”science lab” conducting supposed experiments for paying customers at Willy’s Chocolate Experience went viral on social media.
She was one of several actresses and performers who were hired for the event organised by House of Illuminati at Hubbox on Saturday.
The events company, which had promised a world of pure imagination, has since cancelled the show after parents, paying up to £35 each, turned up to find a sparse warehouse decorated with a rainbow and bouncy castle.
Organiser Billy Coull has offered refunds to 850 people, claiming they’ll be paid this week.
But it’s not just the parents who are upset - workers offered £500 for two days’ work at the event have also spoken out.
Ms Paterson told MailOnline she had not yet been paid for the role she was not properly briefed on before the event.
“The whole thing’s just been a complete and utter shambles. It was shocking honestly,” she said.
“I was angry at the time because I felt like this is embarrassing for me, and I felt bad for the people coming in as well.
“I actually ended up shouting at the guy. I just said to him he’s a joke and this is like embarrassing, and how can we basically live with himself, doing this to people.
“This is really embarrassing for me. My job is teaching kids yoga and I go into schools and stuff and I do kids’ entertainment.”
Ms Paterson said she was supposed to hand out jelly beans as she carried out experiments from the “science lab”. But after running out of beans, she said: “I was just trying to make slightly exciting for the kids.”
“Then I walked off scene because I was so embarrassed,” she added.
“I went mental about the guy and feel awful about the whole thing, like I really honestly do, and I walked off because I was just like feeling so shit for the kids. The whole thing has just been awful”
Ms Paterson’s outburst on the event comes after Wonka-esque impersonator Paul Connell, 31, spoke to The Independent about how he got the gig and how the chaos unfolded.
“I was Wonka and it’s my face everywhere. But I am just a last-minute actor, really, I didn’t organise anything,” he said.
“People were shouting, people who put on the event were crying. There were arguments, people running around everywhere – the set had been trashed.”
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