The actor who played Willy Wonka in the failed ‘immersive’ experience in Glasgow has said that he was embarrassed by the gig, adding that he has not had the same amount of opportunity as the viral Oompa Loompas.
Parents were left furious when the event in Glasgow closed down early and left children in tears when they were given a lollipop instead of a chocolate river last month.
Today, Michael Archibald, 18, who played the main chracter of ‘Willy McDuff’ went on Good Morning Britain and said that he initially applied for the job because he needed money.
He said: ‘For me, this started off as a little bit of a job search.
‘I live on my own and I’ve been estranged [from my family] since I was 17.
‘I’m currently 18 I said I’m going to get out there and get a job, make money and move out there for the summer and it went downhill from there.
Michael said he thought an acting job seemed fun and came across the Willy Wonka experience and was intrigued by the gig.
‘There wasn’t even a chocolate bar in sight,’ he added.
‘I was very embarrassed. I was in front of all these people and a lot of folk were like “wow he’s so unenthusiastic” but it was because I didn’t want to be there in the first place.’
The Oompa Loopmas went viral online for their unimpressed facial expressions at the event and their ‘cheap’ looking costumes.
Kirsty Paterson, 30, who played one of the orange characters, admitted that the attention from the failed event has given her more opportunities.
She said: ‘For me the media has been amazing, it’s opening doors for me that I never knew could be opened. My dream was to always be a kid’s presenter and work with charities.’
Jenny Fogarty, 25, who played another Oompa Loompa, said that the response from the media attention has been ‘hugely positive’.
‘It’s wild, none of us could’ve expected this result,’ she added.
The pair have racked up millions of views on TikTok since they revealed that they were in fact the two women behind the viral memes.
But Michael, who played the main character in the experience, said he has not received as many opportunities as other actors and actresses.
‘What really sucks as well is for myself I’ve not gotten a lot of opportunities out of this. The documentary and whatnot is because people were really late in releasing videos of me and nobody has really reached out,’ he said.
The event was cancelled halfway through as angered mothers, fathers and grandparents demanded refunds. Organisers have promised to give people their money back.
Kirsty previously said that all the actors went to the pub after their experience and came back to find four police vans at the venue.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said officers were called to the cancelled event and ‘advice was given’.
House of Illuminati, the organisers of the event, said they were going to be refunding families within a 10 working day period.
But Jenny says she has not seen many being processed.
Kirsty said: ‘Parents were going up to me on the day and saying that this is what they got their kid for Christmas and that just doesn’t get out of my brain and they’ve not got the refund.’
Michael added that the organiser of the event has ‘gone completely MIA’ since it took place last month.
In a statement on the House of Illuminati Facebook page, they said: ‘Today has been a very stressful and frustrating day for many and for that we are truly sorry.
‘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 had 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 truely [sic] sorry to everyone.’