Billy Coull has opened up on the backlash in a new documentary.
The organiser of a now-notorious immersive experience event has said a viral public backlash over cheap sets and depressed-looking actors has ‘ruined his life’.
Billy Coull is director of House of Illuminati, the events firm behind the recent Willy’s Chocolate Experience furore. He has spoken out for the first time in a new Channel 5 documentary about how the controversy affected him personally.
He said: ‘My life has been turned around. My life is ruined.
‘I was hoping for an event that would be joyful and happy. I wanted people to experience happiness.’
It follows after Mr Coull announced he had cancelled a dream destination wedding that was due to be funded with ticket sales, as well as moving out of his family home.
The Willy Wonka Experience, organised by Mr Coull’s company, went viral after what had been billed as a magical, Roald Dahl-inspired day ended in disaster, with children crying and police arriving at the venue to calm crowds of furious families who had gathered to demand a refund from the firm.
With tickets £35 a pop, organisers had promised a ‘chocolate fantasy like never before’ and ‘charming characters singing original catchy tunes.’
Instead, hundreds arrived to discover a near-empty warehouse decorated with a few plastic mushrooms and a pink bouncy castle, featuring poorly-costumed and depressed-looking actors whose appearance earned them such monikers online as the ‘Meth-lab Oompa-Loompa’.
In his recent interview, Mr Coull said he has since received hundreds of messages encouraging him to kill himself and accusing him of being the ‘devil’, a ‘villain’ and ‘terrible father.’
After the footage aired, some people took to social media to express sympathy for the organiser.
One person wrote: ‘I feel genuinely sorry for [him,] he looks broken.’
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Another person wrote: ‘I know this was a bad experience and I agree they should get their money back and it’s not ok to upset kids, but I genuinely hope Billy is ok.
‘This is someone’s mental health and life we are talking about, we say time and time again, be kind, he doesn’t deserve death threats.’
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