'Suspicious signs' clown spotted that saw him stand up 'pitiful' Willy Wonka gig
A professional entertainer offered £500 to perform at the pitiful Willy Wonka experience has spoken of his relief to dodge "a disaster".
Tom Whiston, who is a clown and a comedian, was on the verge of a role at the much-maligned event which left parents furious and the police called. The 27-year-old performer has shared his relief at spotting three signs he "spotted something fishy" hours before the event.
Police were called to the event in Glasgow, as children were left in tears and furious families complained about the quality of the experience. The families said they were promised a fun day out, and said the venue was meant to feature an "enchanted garden containing giant sweets and mysterious sculptures". When they arrived they said their children were given just a handful of jelly babies instead of the "paradise of sweets" they were promised.
Tom, who lives in the Merchant City area of Glasgow, was set on the gig but made a U-turn after become suspicious about the event. Alarm bells rang on around February 14, approximately just one week before the experience, after eagle-eyed Tom did some digging online. He felt House of Illuminati's website and social media gave the Willy Wonka experience "a circus vibe".
Speaking to The Mirror, the comedian said he noticed three warning signs; images on the House of Illuminati website seemed "AI-generated", language on it referred to "immersive experiences" and he was concerned about communication from the firm, which is based near Old Street, Central London.
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The 27-year-old entertainer, pictured last year, was on the verge of taking a role at the Willy Wonka event (Dave Nattriss)Tom, who has been in performance for around eight years, said: "It was actually a couple of days after having submitted it and, looking them up online and their website, I was concerned. Specifically, the website appeared to be AI generated. It had generated images, quite clearly, sketchy things. I think that as soon as I noticed, I didn't take it seriously. I guess it's just subconscious. I've seen the website and it says 'we want to create immersive experiences', all that kind of stuff. It had got this kind of circus vibe to it.
"Only a couple of days after, I think via Facebook, doing a bit of digging, that we found the tickets for the Willy Wonka event. I wasn't aware this was it until then. So I get the email offering me the position, which I just ignore because I'd taken another gig at this point and the whole thing seemed really fishy."
Tom said the communication to recruit him was left late before the event's start date of February 23. The clown had applied to a vague advert asking for "short-term entertainment and events performer" and, after applying with his standard CV, he was offered a position on February 20th - just three days before the gig. It's said a representative left it until February 21st to call Tom, after he ignored the email the previous day, but he declined the offer after becoming suspicious.
Families arrived to a barely furnished warehouse in Glasgow (Glasgowlive)"I stood up the event, obviously didn't want to say, 'that's really sketchy.' That was the impression I had... They've seemed to have done this with good intentions. It doesn't look like it was intended to be a scam. It just seems really terribly organised," the funnyman, who grew up in Sale, Greater Manchester, added.
And he dodged a disaster as actors who did agree to work have since told of the "complete and utter shambles" they experienced at the warehouse. Like Tom, each performer was offered £500 for a maximum of 30 hours of work, a sum Tom describes as "fairly decent". Yet, some performers have claimed they've not been paid for their time so far.
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. Parents were, though, furious as the event was in a barely-furnished warehouse, despite coughing up to nearly £35 for each ticket. Refunds are now being offered to disappointed families.
Furious parents blasted the gig as a 'shambolic' event (Jenny Fogarty / SWNS)
Punters who paid £35 a ticket for the ‘immersive experience’ were left fuming (Jenny Fogarty / SWNS)Tom is sympathetic with the families and performers caught up in the fiasco. He said: "I feel for those who have taken work and probably won't get paid and I feel for all of the parents and their kids who I'm sure were probably very excited. I feel for the faces plastered all over the internet for being associated with this disaster. There is this one performer who's in a photo that's going around on social media. They won't want this mass exposure.
"Doing comedy, I've done some really bad gigs. I think every comedian does... I think if this did happen to me, I'd like to think personally this would be hilarious. Even if you've got an hour out of this, it could be generous material for comedians to be talking about personal experiences like this. That could be seen as great. I know one of the performers a bit and I'm sure he'll use it as jokes in his material and it'll go down well."
House of Illuminati has been approached specifically for comment regarding Tom's concerns he noticed. A spokesperson for the company previously said: "Today has been a very stressful and frustrating day for many and for that we are truly sorry. Unfortunately, at the 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. We fully apologise for what has happened and will be giving full refunds to each and every person that purchased tickets.
"We planned a fabulous event and it just did not take shape as planned and for that we are truly sorry, we are devastated at how this has turned out and understand people's anger and frustration that everyone has had, refunds have already started being issued and the rest should be over the coming days, again we are truly sorry to everyone."
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