Actor hired for Fyre Festival-esque Willy Wonka ‘experience’ disaster says he felt scammed: ‘It was an absolute mess’

nypost.com:

Ja Rule did in the wake of the Fyre Festival, he also felt “hustled, scammed, bamboozled, hood winked, lead astray.”An actor hired to work at the recent, disastrous Willy Wonka-themed event in Scotland feels his golden ticket was a scam.Paul Connell, who played the part of Wonka at “Willy’s Chocolate Experience” at the Box Hub Warehouse in Glasgow, said the viral event was an “absolute mess” and one of the “most embarrassing things” he’s ever seen, South West News Service reported.The calamity, which cost $45 a person, promised guests a “journey filled with wondrous creations and enchanting surprises” — but instead ended with kids in tears and furious parents.Guests arrived on Saturday, Feb.

24, to a “dirty,” near-empty warehouse — which Connell further described as a “health and safety nightmare” — with a printed AI background, a sad bouncy castle and lackluster props.There was also virtually no candy at the “Chocolate Experience,” and Connell said he was told to give kids one single jelly bean each and a quarter of a glass of lemonade upon arrival.Red-headed Connell admitted that an immediate “red flag” came when he was asked to portray Willy Wonka, rather than an Oompa Loompa — which he felt he better resembled.“The first red flag for me was when I was cast as Willy Wonka.

Anyone who looks at me and thinks Willy Wonka and not Oompa Loompa is out of their mind,” he quipped. “I give off major Oompa Loompa energy.