WEBVTT - We Didn't Start the Fyre: Fabulous Festival Failures 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:05.160 Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio Zarin Elizabeth. 0:00:05.200 --> 0:00:05.720 How are you? 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:07.440 I'm doing good? 0:00:07.600 --> 0:00:07.960 Me too? 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:09.240 I'm doing really good. 0:00:09.320 --> 0:00:09.640 Me too. 0:00:09.680 --> 0:00:10.880 That makes two of us. 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:11.880 Oh glad for us. 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:13.520 It's happy, it's fun. 0:00:13.960 --> 0:00:15.920 Yeah, it's done. 0:00:17.120 --> 0:00:18.079 You know what's ridiculous. 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:20.880 I'm so glad you asked me too. I got a 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:24.400 question for you. If you were a telephone scam artist, 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:27.840 who would be probably the worst target for you to pick? 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:28.480 Hmmm? 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:31.520 Probably you because you never answer your phone. 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:33.800 That's a good one. Yeah, no, But okay, who's the 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:35.320 second worst target you could. 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:38.840 Pickh an FBI agent? 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:42.400 How about the former chief of the FBI and also 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:46.200 former boss of the CIA. Oh right, that'd be bad. 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:47.200 That's very bad. 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:49.800 So there was this guy, Kaneil Thomas, twenty nine years 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:53.000 old from Jamaica, and in twenty fourteen, he got on 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:54.680 a call and he's like, let me go scam these 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:56.720 old people. And so he calls up this old couple, 0:00:57.080 --> 0:00:59.880 and the old couple happened to be former CIA by 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:05.479 and former FBI chief William Webster Noyes. So he identifies 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:07.520 them himself as David Morgan, which is a lie, and 0:01:07.560 --> 0:01:09.640 he says he's the head of Mega Millions lottery, and 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:12.960 that Webster had won fifteen and a half million dollars 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:17.600 and a new car, a twenty fourteen Mercedes Benz. So 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:20.000 he had no idea that who he was targeting was 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:22.640 actually the former director of the FBI and this and 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:26.560 then later the CIA under Jimmy Carter and later Ronald Reagan. Yeah, 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:30.400 and Webster was like now in his nineties, he told 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:34.000 Lester Holt from the NBC Nightly News. At the time, 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:36.400 it seemed to me that something wasn't quite right. This 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:38.600 was pretty obvious to me that there was something fishy 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:39.279 about it. 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:41.840 It's like, I'd never play the lottery. That's number one. 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:44.400 And then this guy, the scammer, tells him, you can 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:47.000 win this Mega millions or whatever, but you have to 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:49.800 pay fifty thousand dollars to cover the taxes on the price. 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:52.120 And so then he's like, this sounds a little hanky 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:54.560 to me. And so his wife, she said it terrified 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:58.000 me because he then starts threatening them, and he says, 0:01:58.080 --> 0:02:00.440 he tells the couple he's been spying on them and 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:03.280 if they don't pay, he's gonna does she put it. 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:05.880 He told me that what the sniper's bullets would do 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:08.040 to my head and the blood go down on my 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:12.160 white house. He's like threatening the wife of that. Yes, 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:15.520 he's just a phone scammer. So he got busted when 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:18.519 he landed a JFK International and unaware that he is 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:21.040 a wanted man because the FBI had been looking for him. 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:21.440 Yeah. 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:24.560 So yeah, So if you're a phone scammer, do a 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:26.919 little research and make sure you're not calling the former 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:27.720 head of the CIA. 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:30.880 Imagine you're just a regular like civilian, you're and you 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:33.239 get that kind of call and you're not particularly tech savvy. 0:02:33.280 --> 0:02:36.639 He's talking about a sniper's bullet. Yeah, oh my god, 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:37.960 that's ridiculous. 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:38.600 So there you go. 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:39.560 That is ridiculous. 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:40.480 I thought you enjoy that. 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:44.160 He want to know what else is ridiculous? Junkie jubileese, 0:02:44.440 --> 0:03:10.359 flopping fetes, pooped parties. Yeah, yeah, sure, this is ridiculous 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:15.359 Crime a podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, hes and cons. 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:18.680 It's always ninety nine percent murder free and one hundred 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:20.280 percent ridiculous. 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:21.799 Damn right, do. 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:24.480 You remember when I told you all about the fire festival? 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:28.040 Fy I forget It's good times right right to the 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:30.560 episode not the fire festival itself. 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:31.160 Yeah, thankfully. 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:32.960 Do you remember that the episode? 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:35.800 Oh yeah, the jaw rule of it all, those terrible 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:36.880 sandwiches of it all. 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:39.279 It was your second favorite part of the story. 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:42.280 The people who like fled and tried to fight to 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:45.520 get housing on the island. Yes, that was I could 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:46.320 imagine that. 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:47.000 That was really good. 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:49.360 And like the four wheelers, like them, like going around 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:51.600 the site and like, yeah, me and Jaw Ruler just 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:53.760 like hanging out of four wheelers in the sand man. 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:57.400 It was just tons of nonsense. Well what was your 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:00.280 favorite part? Now? What was your second favorite part? 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:03.240 My second favorite part, like you said, the sandwiches, I 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:05.240 like the maybe I think that was my first the 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:09.600 pictures of the sandwiches, prison food. The second favorite part, 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:11.240 I think is jaw rules involvement. 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:13.880 Yes, how do you deny the jaw rules? So good? 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:17.600 It wasn't the first time and it wasn't the last 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:22.240 that a festival went sideways. I have hand picked three 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:26.000 other failed festivals for you today. Really yeah. Rude Dude 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:29.919 Rose from Instagram suggested a couple of these. She's a 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:33.120 font of ridiculousness general awesomeness, so hats off to her. 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:36.840 For the hot tip. Thank you Rose that said I 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:38.560 would like to start in a city I love. 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:41.080 Is this rude dude Rose who sent me the pennies? Yes, 0:04:41.200 --> 0:04:44.760 Oh my goodness, the very same hero friend of the show. 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:48.360 I've enjoyed those so much. He sent them like with 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:50.320 their own little seals, like they each had like a 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:53.360 cardboard backing. It was amazing, incredible. 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:56.279 Solid rude dude right there. So I'm going to start 0:04:56.520 --> 0:05:01.400 in a city that I love. I used to live there, Glasgow, Scotland. 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:03.840 Oh you do love that? I do love God, I 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:06.080 I can barely pronounce it. You love it, I do. 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:09.280 So I'm eager to go back and visit. It's been 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:09.800 too long. 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:11.680 Oh yeah, we should do like a rude dude trip. 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:14.640 We should do a live episode. There's a great art 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:17.080 scene there, I mean, like Glasgow School of Art is 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:22.160 like a serious powerhouse like many other former industrial cities, 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:26.120 though there's a place for artists. They aren't priced out 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:28.880 just yet, although it gets more and more expensive all 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:31.880 the time, does it. But then they add to the 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:34.680 character of the city, and then there's like the humor 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:38.159 and the personality of the city. So you obviously can't 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:41.280 paint the people of a place with too broad a brush. 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:45.760 But the culture of Scotland and Glasgow in particular is 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:52.120 terribly funny and sharp. There's amazing wordplay, playful insults, and 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:56.120 at the same time, really there's all this warmth and camaraderie. 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:58.480 Its kind of like a Philadelphia of Scotland. 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:01.159 Yeah, well I'm just and even just Scotland writ large 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:03.520 is kind of like this. There's the love the underdog. 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:05.360 But yeah, it is like that. I always say that 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:12.720 Glasgow is the Oakland to Edinburgh's Cisco. Okay, there's gallows humor, 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:16.120 like this dark, self depreciating wit. We saw it when 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:20.760 the Tartan Army came to the States. Everyone fell in 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:21.360 love with them. 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:23.480 Aren't They also the ones who like shout stuff at 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:25.120 you and you're wearing like a I don't know, like 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:27.800 a funny hat or like I tried wearing. 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:32.040 Well, there's that one Twitter famous Twitter threat of all 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:36.360 the Irish insults trench coat and was like, oh how 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:39.160 you doing, inspector gadget like they can take the wind 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:41.640 out of But the Scots are the same similar. Yeah, 0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:44.560 they take the piss, as they say, sometimes self directed 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:48.560 when something is deserving of mockery. They have like perfected 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:52.000 the dog pile, you know, like riffing, like they say, 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:54.719 you know them in the Irish so they can just 0:06:54.839 --> 0:06:57.719 unload hilarious insult after hilarious insult. 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:00.320 They have great Is there like a Celtic sense of humor? 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:04.520 I think so? Yeah, And there's great kind of random 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:12.080 insult names like yeah absolute cabbage. It's just amazing. So 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:14.800 it's in Glasgow that we begin today. I want to 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:19.360 tell you all about something called Willy's Chocolate Experience chocolate 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:22.440 also known as the Glasgow Wonka Disaster. 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:25.560 Oh Willy Wonka. 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:29.239 Wonka, Willy's Chocolate Experience, which by the way, was spelled 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:35.840 Willy's Choclate like c h O c l ate Experience 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:37.640 on the on the official. 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:42.240 Website Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate. Is that for like legal reasons? 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:47.840 No, it was this unlicensed, supposed immersive all ages event 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:50.280 that was going to be at the box Hub warehouse 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:54.120 in Glasgow February twenty twenty four. The whole thing was 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:57.080 the creation of a guy named Billy Cool, Billy c 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:02.800 o U L L Cool and his company House of Illuminati. 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:05.040 Oh yeah, so right there, like. 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:07.480 Edgy, Yeah, we were talking serious like Red. 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:11.360 So it was clearly designed to ride the wave of 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:13.520 the recent Wonka film at the. 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:15.840 Time, Oh the Timothy Shall yeah, the. 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:18.960 Tim Ota, but it had no affiliation with the roll 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:22.880 Doll estate or the movies, and that brings up licensing 0:08:22.880 --> 0:08:26.120 issues off brand. Yeah. So to get around this, the 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:30.920 event's chocolate heer was named Willie McDuff and he was 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:37.320 assisted by green haired Walka Doodles. So the villain was 0:08:37.400 --> 0:08:41.320 called the Unknown and was an evil chocolate maker who 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:42.840 lived in the factory walls. 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:46.000 Wow, okay, like one person, not like a spirit. 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:51.040 It's just the Unknown. We don't know factory okay. So 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:52.800 this is all supposed to go down on the weekend 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:56.000 of February twenty fourth and twenty fifth in twenty twenty four, 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:59.160 and the promotional materials went hard. They were supposed to 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:03.160 be like a laborate sets inspired by roll Doll's story 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:09.800 and treats scattered throughout like fun. Yes, and the ticket 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:12.160 prices were up to like thirty five pounds of person. 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:14.360 So it's supposed to be like Willie Wanka's chocolate factory. 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:17.400 You walk in and that's exactly where we are. And 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:20.000 as I said, it's immersive like you feel like you're there. 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:23.880 And what made the marketing instantly notorious was that both 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:27.199 the website and the ads were built from low quality 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:31.920 AI generated images that were just riddled with like garbled 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:38.600 pseudo words instead of catchy tunes car chie tons, instead 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:41.080 of a paradise of sweet treats that said a pacea 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:42.680 dice of sweet teats. 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:45.199 So nobody looked at anything. 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:48.080 No, and then some of the print cat gased it, 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:56.200 cat gag caading, Yeah, exercis dre supposed to be, they 0:09:56.240 --> 0:09:59.719 don't know. So you know, there's a restaurant storefront next 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:02.360 to my brothers bar. It's a burger joint that's going 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:03.480 to go in there, and they have a sign in 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:08.000 the window advertising it's a very AI poster, you know 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:12.160 the look, and someone graffitied over the window your AI slop. 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:15.719 And this cracked my brother up. And now every time 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:18.520 I see AI R, that's all I think about. That's 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:22.280 just the phrase in my head. So anyway, even before 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:27.400 opening day of the Chalclate experience, a Reddit user who 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:30.600 saw the Facebook ads flag the event as a likely scam, 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:34.079 and they were amazed that people were buying tickets in 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:37.920 the first place, like look at this AI slop. Rolling 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:39.400 Stone later figured. 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:44.640 It amilies right, rave community. 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:47.600 Thirty five quid. Oh wow, so you know you got kids. 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:50.360 It's racks up middle family minimum. 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:50.800 Yeah. 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:55.679 So Rolling Stone figured that the House of Illuminati's websites 0:10:56.160 --> 0:10:58.680 and event copy they you know, they they're like, okay, 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:01.520 it's an AI chat wrote the whole thing, and then 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:04.120 as a result, a town in South Dakota no longer 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:10.120 has water. Fun fact, so the organizer's background was like 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:14.240 red Flag City. Cool had previously been involved with a 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:17.160 charity that was forced in twenty twenty one to remove 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:21.160 false advertising for a gala that it was throwing because 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:25.600 they were claiming that this TV personality Gakwan was going 0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:28.840 to be making an appearance. He's this really interesting brit 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:32.360 who does like fashion consulting, writes books, host TV shows, 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:35.800 just a general personality. He had absolutely nothing to do 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:38.400 with the gala, but they were putting his name all 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:41.840 over the place images and they're like, no, okaypelled correctly, Yeah, yeah, 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:46.040 it spelled correctly at least if the guy also cool. 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:50.000 He also claimed a doctorate from a fake metaphysical university. 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:52.360 He also claimed that if you attended the gala, you 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:53.360 signed away body. 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:58.760 Parts exactly twenty twenty three. He self published seventeen books, 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:03.599 seventeen all of them AI generated all of them, and 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:06.640 some of them were like pushing vaccine conspiracy theories. 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:09.920 Oh nice, yeah, great, God. So this guy Max, he 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:10.800 hadn't read his book. 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:15.319 No whatever, just whatever's hot in the moment. This guy 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:18.959 Max Waterfield, he was operations manager maybe still is, of 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:23.080 box Hub. The venue, he said, House of Illuminati, gave 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:27.439 these really detailed plans starting in February for this big 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:31.000 family friendly event. It sounded great on paper, sure, and 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:33.800 so the venue rented the space but had no role 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:36.960 in the production, like he keeps emphasizing, we had nothing 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:38.800 to do with that, like whew, And. 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:41.079 Charlotte has always good at front loading something. 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:44.240 Yes, exactly. And that brings us to opening day, February 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:47.839 twenty fourth, twenty twenty four. So ticket holders they come in, 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:53.520 they find this sparse scattering of props in a grungy warehousehouse. Yeah, 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:57.280 there were like a handful of dioramas with parade float 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:02.400 style lollipops and candy canes like shake front yard Christmas decorations. 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:06.840 The quote unquote factory was basically a glass chemistry set 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:10.839 on a table. There was one table. There was a 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:14.120 single bouncy castle, so you know the noise of that too. 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:17.280 There were supposed to be rivers of lemonade, and they 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:21.280 were actually half filled plastic cups of store bought lemonade 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:23.760 on a table that was the river of lemonade. 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:26.559 It wasn't even a continuous flow. It was just like, look, 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:30.680 there's one and another cup and another, and I know. 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:33.040 What you're thinking, like there had to be amazing chocolate, 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:40.520 though right there was amazing. There was essentially no chocolate 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:44.080 at the chocolate experience. Kids got a couple of jelly 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:45.760 beans and a small drink at. 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:47.920 The apples not packets. 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:54.319 Individuals warm from the hand. One account noted that organizers 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:57.280 had to rush out and buy a microwave because this 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:00.880 small chocolate fountain that they brought didn't actually melt the chocolate. 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:04.360 So they's had chunks of chocolate sitting and should be 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:08.199 found clogged up like he just crumbled like Hershey's bars 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:09.080 just on top of them. 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:11.040 What would be a chocolate There was supposed to be 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:12.959 a forty five minute The whole thing was gonna be 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:16.079 like a forty five minute to hour long immersive experience, 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:19.360 and then they came outside. They're like, it took us 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:21.960 two minutes to walk through this thing. There's nothing to see, 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:25.840 there's nothing to One person described it as quote absolute shambles. 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:27.600 Yeah, I mean it seems like it's the most not 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:30.120 only embarrassing but depressing thing. It could come and bring 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:30.800 their children to. 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:33.760 Well, and the actor's experience became a story in itself. 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:35.640 This Oh my god, there's actors. Oh yeah. 0:14:35.720 --> 0:14:39.440 Comedian Paul Connell, he was hired to play the Wonka 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:43.200 figure Willie McDuff. He said he got this last minute 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:47.760 script that was just fifteen pages of AI generated gibberish 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:49.200 that he was supposed to model. 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:51.080 To memorize and to say at random times. 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:54.720 And then he looked around he saw no chocolate fountain anywhere, 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:57.280 which I feel like is how Travis Kelsey felt at 0:14:57.320 --> 0:15:02.480 his wedding reception. Where's where's the chocolate? Connle quit conna 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:06.720 quit mid event along with some of the phony OUPLUMPA performers. 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:08.880 Oh yeah, He's like, I'm out of here. So the events, 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:13.720 like supposed dramatic climax, featured the unknown and this like 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:18.840 mysterious malevolent force was played by Felicia Dawkins, a sixteen 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:23.120 year old schoolgirl. I don't know. She popped out from 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:26.320 behind a mirror in a silver mask to frighten children 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:30.760 and then that was it. She's like okay, and so she, 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:35.040 like Rolling Stone, published a piece called Justice for the Unknown. 0:15:36.240 --> 0:15:40.520 So by mid morning, kids are crying, parents are furious. 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:46.160 Police Scotland get called and officers showed up after the 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:48.280 event had been canceled because they just had to call 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:51.040 it off. Yeah, but they said, you know, this is 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:54.400 a civil matter. We can't recover your money from that. 0:15:55.640 --> 0:15:59.200 After they stopped laughing, the event manager Waterfield he said, like, 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:03.440 families start showing up, you know, And there was immediately 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:06.680 a problem right away. They're irritated. It was supposed to 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:08.160 go all all weekend long. 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:10.920 I have a big empty warehouse with like five tables 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:12.720 with some jelly beans on them and cups of lemon. 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:15.320 It was supposed to go all week long, all weekend long, 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:18.040 but it got shut down that more than hours of Yeah, 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:21.800 and then photos from the thing went viral. There's like 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:24.880 the contrast between this lush Ai promotional art and then 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:25.880 the barren warehouse. 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:26.400 Oh god. 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:30.000 And the most iconic image was the photo of actress 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:34.520 Kirsty Patterson in a green wig and oompahloomp a costume. 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:38.200 She's like the Mona Lisa of twenty twenty four. So 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:40.040 let's take it in. We're gonna put the picture on 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:44.000 Instagram otherwise google it. It's worth it. But here's my 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:48.120 description of it, my takedown, my dogpile. We have a 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:52.640 woman being paid allegedly to guard a table that answers 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:56.080 the question what if a Victorian pharmacy and a middle 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:59.440 school science fair had a custody battle over some jelly beans. Oh, 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:02.920 and then the fog machine is doing the heaviest lifting 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:06.320 of anyone on the payroll. It's working double shifts, trying 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:09.120 to obscure the fact that the factory walls are garbage 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:10.680 bags stapled. 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:11.800 To a warehouse garbage bags. 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:14.760 There's a strip of hazard tape in the corner that 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:18.240 is a set dressing choice that says immersive and also forklift. 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:21.960 And then there's her face, right, it's not this expression, 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:25.600 it's her resignation letter. The thousand yard stare of someone 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:28.960 who is just handed fifteen pages of AI gibberish the 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:33.560 night before and realize the script the posters probably her 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:35.320 contract all written by Grock. 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:37.920 This is like probably one of her first acting gigs professionally. 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:41.399 Yeah, she was very excited. I say I have a degree, 0:17:42.200 --> 0:17:44.440 Like it's so bummer, and then her white gloves say, 0:17:44.720 --> 0:17:48.440 I will be sanitizing this memory later. So she's like 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:52.159 looking through everything. The best part is like she's the 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:55.119 most professional thing in the frame. Like the set, the 0:17:55.359 --> 0:18:01.560 pacide of sweet Teats, you know, it's just diculous. So 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:06.119 the organizer is like, there are technical issues. This was 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:09.240 our problem. They're technical issues. Someone plug well and some 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:13.040 of the attendees compared the set dressing to a meth lab. 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:18.280 A Facebook group called House of Illuminati Scam gathered around 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:21.600 like three thousand members within a few days. The event 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:24.159 was globally dubbed a fire festival for kids. 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:26.119 You know. 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:29.880 A House of Illuminatis posted that it had been let 0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:32.359 down to the last minute in many areas and like, 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:35.119 in hindsight, they should have canceled that morning. Rather than 0:18:35.200 --> 0:18:39.240 pushing on cool, he did a bunch of personal statements. 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:42.399 He told STV news that he was so sorry, blamed 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:43.280 technical issues. 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:44.440 Technical yeah. 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:47.879 He later posted on Facebook that all eight hundred and 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:52.560 fifty tickets would be refunded and with screenshots, offered his proof. 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:56.920 He then, like March thirteenth, he posts again saying, Okay, 0:18:57.000 --> 0:18:59.680 some of you guys are still waiting for refunds. Some 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:03.560 of you you know, received them. The actors not paid. 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:06.840 They were supposed to get five hundred pounds apiece, and 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:08.880 then all of a sudden, the House of Illuminati went, 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:10.720 event websites gone, and he. 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:14.480 Said, like guest certificates to the next Illuminati event. 0:19:14.640 --> 0:19:18.879 Well, then everyone goes after him certificate interviews. He did 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:21.960 an interview for Channel five documentary Wonka, the scandal that 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:25.040 rocked Britain. He said he lost friends. 0:19:24.800 --> 0:19:27.520 And his partner and he was a romantic partner. 0:19:27.800 --> 0:19:30.880 Yeah, his romantic partner. You've been cast as the face 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:35.159 of all evil. Had received hundreds of messages, including ones 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:40.280 telling him to end himself. The documentary itself got bad reviews. 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:42.160 And so they well made. 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:43.840 Guardian gave it two stars. 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:49.280 Yeahmentary documentaries, oh god. 0:19:49.400 --> 0:19:51.919 Yeah. And so the strangest legacy is like how kindly 0:19:52.160 --> 0:19:56.320 it treated the performers. So Felicia Dawkins, she gets invited 0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:59.080 to train and make guest appearances at the London Dungeon. 0:20:00.320 --> 0:20:02.639 And then so people in real communities reached out to them. 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:05.639 You've got heart, like this spokesperson is like she has 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:09.359 a natural talent for scaring people. Kirsty Patterson. She became 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:14.440 a minor celebrity in she appeared at the unaffiliated Willie's 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:18.400 Chocolate Experience, LA cocktail evening that was staged in Los 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:21.600 Angeles by a bunch of artists. Okay, the props found 0:20:21.640 --> 0:20:25.320 in Afterlife backdrops were rescued from the garbage and auctioned 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:29.159 on eBay by this Glasgow record shop, Monorail Music, and 0:20:29.240 --> 0:20:33.800 they raised two thousand pounds for Palestinian Aid. Yeah, so 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:36.680 bright Spot, crappy event. Let's take a break and we 0:20:36.800 --> 0:21:00.760 come back. More festival failures. Zara from Elizabeth, I have 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:01.440 a question for you. 0:21:01.720 --> 0:21:03.679 I love questions. I don't love answers. 0:21:03.760 --> 0:21:07.280 I love question questions. I hate answers love questions. Do 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:08.240 you watch Bridgerton? 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:09.640 Is that a show? 0:21:10.240 --> 0:21:10.359 Oh? 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:12.159 Yeah, the one with the regency period? 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:12.440 Yeah? 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:15.879 Yeah yeah No, No, me neither. For those unaware like 0:21:16.000 --> 0:21:21.080 I Bridgerton. Netflix period drama series first came out December 0:21:21.119 --> 0:21:24.479 twenty twenty. It's based on Julia Quinn's series of romance 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:28.399 novels Ah and it's produced by Shondaland a Shonda Rhyme's 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:31.479 production company. That's one of Netflix's biggest hits ever. 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:33.040 I'm sure it's very enjoyable. Yeah. 0:21:33.080 --> 0:21:37.520 It follows the eight Bridgerton siblings, an aristocratic family in 0:21:37.640 --> 0:21:41.720