The Willy Wonka Experience actors have become unwitting internet sensations after social media users took pity on the sad-looking Oompa Loompa and nightmarish "Unknown" character pictured at the event.
People became invested in the story of the Willy Wonka Experience after photos from the hilariously bleak event in Glasgow, Scotland, emerged online, along with reports that scorned attendees of the £35-a-ticket (roughly $45) experience ended up calling the police and demanding refunds because it didn't meet expectations.
The Willy Wonka event had actors following AI-generated scripts and handing out rationed sweets but not a single square of chocolate despite being branded as a "chocolate experience." It faced a lot of backlash but has also given rise to a couple of internet heroes at the center of viral memes and much hilarity in recent days.
The depressed Oompa Loompa and the Unknown are the perfect Halloween couples costumes ??? thank you glasgow willy wonka experience pic.twitter.com/n6IPwPUiz6
— jackie (@drawckie) February 28, 2024
One of those characters is the Oompa Loompa, who was photographed in her "science lab" at the sparse warehouse. Some people claimed it was the "photo of the year," and in no time, a mock poster surfaced for "Oompanheimer," riffing on Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, part of last year's Barbenheimer phenomenon.
Kirsty Paterson, the Oompa Loompa actress at the center of the viral images from the event, didn't sugarcoat the experience, telling Vulture that she was "close to walking out" but she didn't want to let people down, so the cast tried their best to put "sprinkles on s**t" despite standing in "an incredibly, shockingly bad set."
This photo from the Willy wonka experience is single handedly the photo of the year. I know it’s only February but close the vote there’s no topping this. Please find this woman she needs to be interviewed ASAP pic.twitter.com/97wsodLLpQ
— ?? (@agneponx) February 27, 2024
#oscars #WillyWonka pic.twitter.com/JrZsbcizhK
— Jamie (@jami0mckay) February 28, 2024
This is how it feels to get a slack notification pic.twitter.com/WRtFEJ7N3c
— Rose Dommu (@rosedommu) February 27, 2024
“I hope this email finds you well.”
— No Context Brits (@NoContextBrits) February 28, 2024
How the email found me: pic.twitter.com/ft30HpGEd0
— Colin the Dachshund (@DachshundColin) February 28, 2024
The Oompa Loompa's at the Glasgow Willy Wonka Experience https://t.co/o2B6cWLdhF pic.twitter.com/faGR9kBp1w
— Pabst Blue Musk ?? (@owwmypeepeehurt) February 28, 2024
The second character up for Halloween costume consideration is the "Unknown." Visitors of the experience and online spectators called out the entirely made-up character, who never appeared in any of the Roald Dahl books or the film adaptations, as one of the more traumatising aspects of the whole experience.
An actor hired to play Wonka at the event said he received "15 pages of AI-generated gibberish" for a script, with some dialogue about the newly created villain. "I had to say, 'There is a man we don't know his name. We know him as the Unknown,'" he revealed. "'This Unknown is an evil chocolate maker who lives in the walls.'"
Seeing footage of the unknown at the Glasgow willy wonka experience for the first time pic.twitter.com/iUuRIlwUCS
— Michael M Jr. (@michaelmjr117) February 29, 2024
The Unknown waiting for their part at the willy wonka experience pic.twitter.com/FVypelfWV2
— kara ?? (@knmccc) February 28, 2024
BREAKING‼️First look at Doctor Doom on the set of ‘Fantastic Four’
— Wong Updates (@WongUpdates) February 28, 2024
(via: @DEADLINE) pic.twitter.com/XhjhEAbj8N
'Yeah, there were chocolate particles found next to the body. What's your point?'
— Ross Sayers (@Sayers33) February 29, 2024
'Do I need to spell it out for you, Scully? This was clearly the work of The Unknown.' pic.twitter.com/ynCXKQB562
Willy Wonka: we are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams.
— goofy broad ?? (@HANTIFA_) February 28, 2024
The Unknown: pic.twitter.com/Lqa7cKNv9N
Wonka: Chocolate dreams turn hauntingly real. pic.twitter.com/L4KAQ1qnl6
— Matt Hilley (@PRBoyMatt) February 29, 2024
It turns out that the emotionless Oompa Loompa and the utterly terrifying Unknown character are the heroes the internet never knew it needed until now, with people online choosing to find the humour in the horror of it all because, as the saying goes, if you don't laugh, you'll cry - and it seems people would much rather laugh about it.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X/Twitter @AdeleAnkers.
