The end of February saw the Willy Wonka Experience in Glasgow break the internet, with crying children, furious parents, memes for days and even a petition to re-open the event. Now, Channel 5 has released a brand new documentary about the disastrous experience, featuring an interview with the Willy Wonka organiser Billy Coull.
The Glasgow Willy Wonka Experience was advertised as “a world of pure imagination” by The House Of Illuminati, promising a magical immersive experience that never arrived. People turned up to a half-empty warehouse filled with tiny props with their £35 per head tickets, witnessing the disaster first-hand.
The House Of Illuminati owner Billy Coull spoke to Channel 5, saying he is “not a scam artist” and that his “life is ruined”.
“It’s not a nice feeling to be under the microscope. I was getting hundreds and hundreds calling me the most awful names saying I’m a villain, I’m a horrific dad, I’m better off dead, I should kill myself.”, Billy said, “My life has been turned upside, my life is ruined. I was devastated and I was sick to the pit of my tummy, I had a whole host of emotions.”
Spaking of the AI-generated script which created a brand new character The Unknown, which is now getting its own horror movie, by the way, Coull claimed he wrote the script himself and ran it through AI to check for “spelling, grammar and continuity”.
The Willy Wonka Experience Glasgow organiser continued: “Because of everything that had happened it ran into my personal life, I have lost my friends and the love of my life. I was made out to be the face of all evil. When genuinely that is really not the case.”
Commenting on the customers complaining not to have received a refund, Billy Coull said: “I am not a scam artist, I am not a con man or anything like that.”
“I have gone through the transactions individually, they are still ongoing, if people haven’t received a refund, I have gone through many emails and said to people if you’ve not had your refund, contact your bank as they may have processes in place to be able to help it. […] I genuinely done what I can.”