Actors hired for 'shambles' Willy Wonka were given 'sexy Oompa Loompa costumes'

27 February 2024 , 23:16

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Jenny Fogarty in her costume. (Image: Jenny Fogarty / SWNS)

Actresses who were promised hundreds of pounds to perform at a catastrophic Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow say they were given pound store costumes and still haven't been paid, it has been reported.

The event in Scotland made global headlines and resulted in police being called last weekend after furious families who had spent hundreds of pounds on the Willy’s Chocolate Experience were left shocked at the "awful" experience. The website promised "a universe where your dreams come true" with chocolate fountains, performances by Oompa Loompas and interactive experiences inspired by scenes from Roald Dahl’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Instead, they got a couple of jelly beans and a short walk around a nearly empty warehouse. One of the actors hired for the event, Kirsty Paterson, was promised £500 for two days of work but she has not been paid. She told the MailOnline that the whole thing was "really embarrassing" and a "complete and utter shambles."

The Willy Wonka-inspired event that police were called to in Glasgow (Jenny Fogarty / SWNS)

Punters paid £35 a ticket for the ‘immersive experience’ (Jenny Fogarty / SWNS)

Jenny Fogarty, who was also hired to play an Oompa Loompa, said that she was promised to be paid £16.66 an hour, but that she had not been paid yet. She said: "The wigs were very cheap. We were just handed an Amazon box that probably arrived that morning. The costumes that were given on the morning were like hen night kind of sexy Oompa Loompa costumes. It was only just lucky that we were all wearing tights. We weren't told anything to bring. When we asked about costumes, we were told oh we have costumes. We weren't told to bring a T-shirt to wear underneath because they're quite revealing or anything like that."

Another actor, Paul Connell, told STV News that his "heart sank" looking around at the warehouse. He continued: "We were told to hand the kids a couple of jelly beans and a quarter cup of lemonade at the end." Connell said that when he asked the organisers what he should do with the script he was told to improvise.

Mysterious ball of light seen hovering over UK city 'too complex to be manmade'

The cavernous empty hall that left people shocked (Jenny Fogarty / SWNS)

Janine Yardley, who travelled with her husband and two sons from Motherwell in North Lanarkshire, said to Sky News she stood in "utter disbelief" at the state of the event after being promised an immersive adventure. She said her son was "really angry" as he "didn't even get a bit of chocolate - not even a Freddo".

The event organiser, the House of Illuminati, addressed the complaints on Saturday, saying in a statement that it recognized the event was a disappointment and that it should have cancelled it earlier. In a post on its Facebook page which has since been removed, they said: "Unfortunately, last minute we were let down in many areas of our event and tried our best to continue on and push through and now realise we probably should have cancelled first thing this morning instead." The organisers said that full refunds would be given to customers, which could take up to 10 days.

Rachel Hagan