The actresses who played Oompa Loompas at the failed Willy Wonka immersive event in Glasgow have since become social media stars and appeared on national television.
Kirsty Paterson, 30, and Jenny Fogarty, 25, have racked up millions of views on TikTok as they revealed that they were in fact the two women behind the viral memes.
This time last week the pair were going about their routine as normal. But since the catastrophic experience went viral less than a week ago, people around the world know their names and faces as the ‘sad Oompa Loompas’.
Ms Paterson took to the social media app yesterday and admitted that she ‘never’ wanted the joke to go this far.
The clip, captioned ‘It’s the real Oompa Loompa girl here, thought I’d come on and say hi,’ was viewed by more than 1.4 million people.
She said: ‘I’m actually a very private person, I don’t even really use social media.
Kirsty Paterson, 30, and Jenny Fogarty, 25, have racked up millions of views on TikTok as they revealed that they were in fact the two women behind the viral memes
Kirsty Paterson, who played the popular orange character, went viral after a picture of her dressed in the cheap looking outfit circulated online
Jenny is pictured looking unimpressed at the failed Willy Wonka event in Glasgow
Kirsty Paterson took to TikTok to reveal her identity after getting attention from across the globe
‘I feel like I need to have my say about what’s been going on because I’ve got every right to since [it went global].’
She said that her friends and family have been laughing about the situation, adding that the whole thing was ‘bizarre’.
The fire performer and trainee yoga instructor claims she has been subjected to hateful comments since the picture of her dressed as the popular orange character was plastered all over the internet.
‘The comments are savage. Very very savage and not very nice. I think people need to be a bit more kind and realise that people are just human beings.
‘It was the worst acting job I’ve ever done in my life.’
Parents were left furious when the ‘immersive’ Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow closed down early on Saturday and left children in tears when they were given a lollipop instead of a chocolate river.
They slammed the £35-a-ticket event as ‘an absolute shambles’ after being promised ‘a universe where your dreams come true’ and would ‘make memories that will last a lifetime’.
The image of Ms Paterson behind an experimental table in her ‘cheap’ costume has been shared widely online and she has revealed what really happened when that picture was taken.
Speaking to Vulture, she said: ‘In the exact moment of the photo, they’d told us to abandon the script.
‘They had this ‘Jellybean Room,’ but they eventually ran out of jelly beans. I was already rationing the jelly beans to three per kid, and that was me being generous.
Kirsty Paterson spoke to Kate and Richard on Good Morning Britain today and said she was thinking of leaving the event
Ms Fogarty has racked up around 10.8 million views on her TikTok so far, poking fun at the situation
Jenny Fogarty, another actress hired to be an Oompa Loompa said they were told to improvise when it came to makeup
The Oompa Loompa outfits were branded cheap online. Pictured: Jenny wearing the costume
The event was cancelled halfway through on Saturday as angered mothers, fathers and grandparents demanded refunds
Jenny shared that she had been featured in several news articles globally
Ms Fogarty is also now no stranger to fame, with her videos about the Willy Wonka experience racking up a whopping 10.8 million views on TikTok
‘I wanted to give the kids all the candy. So we had no jelly beans, and people were coming up to me. It was just humiliating. I was starting to get angry.’
Ms Fogarty is also now no stranger to fame, with her videos about the Willy Wonka experience racking up a whopping 10.8 million views on TikTok.
She poked fun at the situation, uploading clips of her expectations of the event versus the reality to viral sound bites.
In one of the videos, she wrote: ‘Getting hired for what I thought was a cute character event,’ before cutting to pictures of the dull function.
The production designer and small business owner, who now lives in Glasgow but is originally from Dublin, then ended the clip and wrote: ‘Absolute joke, hope everyone gets a refund soon!!’
The pair even appeared on national television together on Good Morning Britain today to discuss their ordeal.
Ms Paterson spoke to Kate and Richard on Good Morning Britain today and said the only thing that stopped her leaving was seeing how excited the children were, adding that she did not want to let them down.
She said: ‘I got given the £1, Poundland inappropriate Oompa Loompa outfit and then I tried it on and we were all just laughing. Then I was contemplating, do I just walk out? This is just too much I can’t deal with this.
‘The other actors were amazing and I didn’t want to let them down and then I starting seeing the kids coming in and they were all dressed up and all cute and I just didn’t want to let them down.
‘It was just such a shame.’
Ms Paterson spoke on Good Morning Britain today and said the only thing that stopped her leaving was seeing how excited the children were, adding that she did not want to let them down
Kirsty said she never wanted this attention, but admitted she can see the funny side
The staff were told to hand out just a couple of jelly beans to each child
The actresses have only been paid half of their wage, with parents still waiting for refunds
Ms Paterson also revealed that the staff were given their scripts the night before the start of the event
The actress also revealed that the staff were given their scripts the night before the start of the event.
‘They told us this was going to be a pantomime style and that we were going to perform,’ Ms Paterson said.
‘They gave us the scripts the night before and I remember on the Friday when I went it looked like that… [an empty rubbish warehouse with nothing in it]. And I kind of thought to myself, surely they must have people working throughout the night for this to be better with lights and everything like that.
‘It was tablecloths and a bunch of Ikea mirrors.’
Jenny Fogarty, another actress hired to be an Oompa Loompa said: ‘When we were asked about makeup, we were told to improvise, just to do our makeup as crazy as we wanted. There was no direction.’
The event was cancelled halfway through on Saturday as angered mothers, fathers and grandparents demanded refunds. Organisers have promised to give people their money back.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said officers were called to the cancelled event and ‘advice was given’.
‘We walked out to the pub, all actors, went to the pub and when we came back there were four police vans. It was just wild.’ Ms Paterson added.
Ms Fogarty added: ‘I don’t think we got the brunt of the abuse, I think we got mostly confusion from the parents.’
The pair even appeared on national television together on Good Morning Britain today to discuss their ordeal
Speaking to MailOnline on Tuesday, Ms Fogarty claimed her and the other actors have not been paid for the event, even though she was quoted £400 for the weekend. None of the actors have been paid as of yet,’ she said.
‘I actually feel really really bad because they’ve not had any refunds either especially in a cost of living crisis, it’s a lot of money to people these days,’ Ms Paterson said on GMB.
The duo have gotten half of their wage but they are still waiting for House of Illuminati to pay them the rest.
Attendees have also formed a Facebook group to exchange information on the refund process.
The lead actor at the catastrophic experience has also spoken out about the event’s ‘red flags’ such as a lack of professionalism and low-rent budget.
Paul Connell said that he felt sorry for the customers who spent £35 to attend the ‘fiasco’ and added that playing Willy Wonka there was ‘one of the most embarrassing things that’s ever happened to me’.
Mr Connell said: ‘ We were told to hand out one jelly bean per child, and a quarter of a cup of Tesco own-brand lemonade. That was what the children got – no chocolate!’
He also spoke about his experience of the lack of professionalism both before and on the day of its launch, beginning with how he was given just one day to learn a 15-page monologue of ‘AI generated gibberish’ after he was cast as the famous chocolatier.
He proceeded to read some of the bizarre lines which deviated from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory plot, perhaps one unfamiliar to AI, such as: ‘There is a man who lives here. His name is not known, so we call him the unknown. The unknown is an evil chocolate maker who lives in the walls.’
This comes as thousands of people have signed a petition to reopen the failed experience.
A petition has emerged calling for the event to reopen – calling it ‘beloved’.
Organiser Dylan Roberts said: ‘I, along with countless others, have been deeply affected by the closure of the Glasgow Willy Wonka Experience.
‘This unique attraction has brought joy and wonder to thousands of visitors since its opening. It is more than just a tourist spot; it’s a place where dreams come alive and imaginations run wild.
The petition, signed by 3,048 people at the time of writing, is being hosted on Change.org.
It calls for action by Glasgow City Council.
Children in a viral clip groaned as ‘the Unknown’ emerged from behind a mirror in the disappointing ‘Willy’s Chocolate Experience’
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.’
They said refunds would take about 10 working days.
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